According to early estimates from the German Federal Statistical Office, the number of students attending German universities decreased during the winter semester of the 2022–23 academic year (Destatis). According to data, there were 1.0 percent fewer students enrolled in institutions across the nation in 2022–2023 than there had been the year before, the first decline in enrollment since the 2007–2008 academic year.
As per Destatis, there are 30,400 fewer students enrolled in higher education in the country during the current winter semester of 2022–23 than there were during the equivalent semester in 2021–2022, when there were 2,946,100 students enrolled.
Matthias Anbuhl, General Secretary of the Deutsches Studentenwerk (DSW), commented on the decline in student enrollment in Germany by stating that students are facing the most difficult social situation in decades and are apprehensive about how they will pay for gas, electricity, and other essentials.
In the 2022/2023 winter semester, there were 1,722,000 students enrolled at universities and comparable universities, a 1.8 percent reduction from the 2021/2022 winter semester.
Additionally, additional pupils have enrolled at the following schools:
- 1,096,400 students are enrolled in universities of applied sciences, a 0.2 percent growth over the winter semester of 2021–2022.
- Administrative colleges have 59,700 students, a 1.1 percent decline.
- 37,600 students attend art colleges, an increase of 1.4%.
German universities have seen a tiny increase of first-year students compared to a year ago, up 0.4%, despite the overall decline in enrollment. According to the initial preliminary figures, 474,100 new students enrolled at German institutions between the summer semester of 2022 and the winter semester of 2022/23.
Since then, fewer first-semester students have enrolled, primarily due to a decrease in the number of children and teenagers in the age groups that are significant to university applicants. Destatis announces the decline in student enrollment in a news statement, claiming that the corona epidemic “had Sean Fraser made the historic declaration that Canada would work to keep families of people with Open Work Permits together. On December 2, 2022, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) made the announcement that spouses of OWP holders would now be eligible for Open Work Permits (OWP)- as quoted by Minister of Immigration Sean Fraser. The opening up of eligibility to OWP spouses is a significant step toward luring more immigrants to work in Canada and perhaps ultimately settle there. The possibility for wives of international students, Canadian permanent residents, and citizens to be sponsored by their spouse for an OWP was already available, but the eligibility expansion for spouses of current OWP holders demonstrates Canada’s openness to welcoming additional immigrants. As a result of this policy change, IRCC anticipates receiving more than 100,000 new work permit applications from spouses of OWP holders.
At the beginning of 2023, the programme is anticipated to be implemented in three stages:
- High-wage stream—For partners of higher-paid employees with an active work visa, such as partners of people with postgraduate work permits.
- For spouses of lower-paid workers in provinces and territories (e.g.: OWP holders under the International Experience Canada program, which recently saw an increase in programme size).
- Families of seasonal agricultural workers are an important employment sector that Canada is working to strengthen as part of its economic recovery. This phase would explicitly address their needs.
These timeframes are still speculative, despite the fact that IRCC is eager to adopt these adjustments to support the revival of the economy. Much of phase two and phase three will still need to be created in conjunction with the provinces and employers, according to Minister Fraser.