Germany

The coalition CDU-FDP government in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has confirmed its intention to reintroduce tuition fees for non-EU students.

The German outbound study travel market remained steady last year, according to an annual agency survey, which shows that the number of students going abroad for language study fell by just under 2%.

Work to establish the Eastern African German University of Applied Sciences is continuing apace amid concerns that a regime change before final agreements are in place could scupper the initiative.

The number of international students in Germany reached 340,305 in 2016, according to recent statistics from the German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD, up almost 6% from the year before.

Astur in Fulda and Lingoschools in Frankfurt have joined the German agency association FDSV. A new "Sprachreise-Finder" on the FDSV website now makes it easier to search for courses.

A southwest state in Germany has announced plans to reintroduce tuition fees for international students from next year, in an attempt to fill a funding gap.

We should try to take our kids out of their living rooms, and out of their bedrooms and send them into the world because they need to collect some experiences and they are not going to find that in their mobile phones.

Sprachcaffe has acquired iST, a large German study abroad agency, enabling the company to realise synergies between the outbound business and its network of 30 language schools.

The risk of losing out on collaborative research funding dominated concerns over the impact of Brexit as stakeholders committed to work more closely to lobby governments on both sides of the channel at the EAIE conference in Liverpool.

Germany will need €3.5bn in funds to provide appropriate education to refugees, according to a recent report. Barriers to higher education, including language and academic credit transfers, are high but initiatives have been launched to help ease entry.

A new report from the Centre for Global Higher Education concluded that private education providers serve to massify education, but transparency on value for money and student protection plans are inadequate.

International students at higher education institutions in Germany grew once again last year, increasing by 7% on top of 2014's gains, totalling 321,569, making up 12% of the country’s student body.

Germany and Malaysia have emerged as “top performers” in new research from the British Council which assesses national internationalisation strategies in 26 countries.

Germany’s study travel sector maintained its performance of previous years with bookings declining by only 1.29%, according to agency association FDSV. But, agents reported a rise in later bookings because of security concerns.

Sprachcaffe, a Frankfurt-based language school with branches in 12 countries, will open a new school in Munich answering to increased demand from students to prepare for university study in Germany.