“I am very excited to welcome our new students for the first time as Rector of Leipzig University at the enrolment ceremony in the Gewandhaus. The continuing high number of applicants and first-semester students shows that our Alma mater Lipsiensis is a sought-after place to study. We stand out from the crowd with our wide range of subjects and excellent study conditions, not to mention the extremely appealing environment that the city of Leipzig has to offer. I would like to extend a warm welcome to our new students,” said Rector Professor Eva Inés Obergfell.
Fifty-two per cent of new German students come from the western states and 48 per cent from the eastern states. Currently, there are around 30,000 students enrolled at Leipzig University. Of these, about eleven per cent come from abroad, including more than 100 from Ukraine at present. As in previous years, the top countries of origin are China, the Russian Federation and Syria.
Psychology is the programme that received the most applications at Leipzig, closely followed by the teaching degree programmes. About 4000 young people applied for the 60 places on the bachelor’s degree programme in Psychology. The selection criteria here are the student’s Abitur grade (90 per cent) and how long they have been waiting since leaving secondary school (10 per cent). Once again, the Communication and Media Studies, Political Science, and Sociology programmes experienced large influxes of students. The Psychology and Global Studies master’s programmes were particularly popular. The largest number of new students, just under 700, is on the Law programme. Around 1300 young people have started a teaching degree programme. However, they are now spread across five school types and degree programmes. To date, about 800 international applicants have accepted a place at Leipzig University.
“After the decline in the number of applications and first-semester students from Germany and abroad due to the pandemic, there is a slight upward trend again. This is encouraging, but the figures are still well below pre-COVID levels. Besides the pandemic, however, one important reason for this is demographic change: there has been a marked decrease in 17 to 22-year-olds across the population,” says Vice-Rector for Talent Development: Study and Teaching, Professor Roger Gläser.
On 1 November 2022, Saxony’s higher education institutions will collect the final data for the State Statistical Office. As in previous years, the statistics will include latecomers who have accepted their place but have not yet submitted all the necessary documents or have not yet paid their semester fee.
The enrolment ceremony will take place physically at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. Notable guests at the ceremony, which will be broadcast live in lecture hall 8, will include Saxony’s Minister of Science, Sebastian Gemkow. It will be moderated by newsreader Aline Abboud from ARD’s “Tagesthemen”, who is an alumna of Leipzig University. The programme includes informal chats as well as music by the University Choir, the Leipzig University Orchestra and the UniBigBand Leipzig. The Great Hall of the Gewandhaus can seat 1900 guests. Following the ceremony, the Rector invites all new students to the Moritzbastei for a beer.