At the same time, numbers of international students applying for master’s program scholarships in Germany has risen by some 20% this year, as preliminary analysis recorded more than 5,000 applications from overseas.

“There is a massive increase in interest to perform a stay in Germany or abroad”

Interest from researchers in doctoral scholarships from the subcontinent increased by more than 30% compared to 2019, while students from South Korea, Indonesia and Australia showed an increased interest in DAAD scholarships.

“The current situation due to Covid-19 gives rise to a paradox: The pandemic strongly restricts international academic exchange, while at the same time there is a massive increase in interest to perform a stay in Germany or abroad,” DAAD president Joybrato Mukherjee said in a statement.

“On the one hand, German students do not let the coronavirus, or political developments in the world, dissuade them from wanting to gain cultural experience and to engage in exchange with other students,” Mukherjee suggested.

“On the other hand, it shows that Germany’s reputation as an academic location has improved further.”

Among German students, Western Europe and North America are increasingly popular and numbers applying have increased by around 60% compared with the previous year.

Master’s program applications grew by more than 70%, reaching around 1,400 – 342 applications for scholarships in the UK marked a 38% increase, 193 to the US +116% and 135 to Sweden +59%.

The US, France and the UK were the top three destinations for German doctoral candidates, and the 190 applications DAAD received by October represented a +30% increase.

The 5,000+ scholarship applications for master’s in Germany is equivalent to an almost 20% increase on last year, with Russia, Azerbaijan and the US applying for the greatest number of scholarships.

Doctoral scholarships for candidates from developing and emerging nations also continue to be sought-after, DAAD added. India (207 applications) is the most represented country.

However, binational doctorates and applications from Germany for the DAAD’s artists program have remained unchanged or decreased slightly.

The organisation noted that it had to suspend a few popular and sought-after programs, such as scholarships for university summer and winter courses in Germany, or scholarships for travel abroad for conferences and lectures, as a result of the global health pandemic.

These programs are expected to resume in 2021.

DAAD scholarships for studies abroad and in Germany remain open for applications on an ongoing basis.