Press release 2020/285 from

At Leipzig University, teaching will not start until next Monday, 26 October 2020. Around 7000 new students will then begin their studies at the University, around the same number as a year earlier. Two thirds of the new German students come from the eastern German states, and one third from western Germany.

Leipzig University received almost 42,000 applications in recent months. The enrolment process is still ongoing, so the figures are preliminary.

“We are pleased that teaching can begin again and we extend a warm welcome to all our new students,” said Professor Beate Schücking, Rector of Leipzig University. “Your time here will be exciting and, hopefully, very successful. Of course you’re not commencing your studies in the way that would be possible normally without a pandemic. But University staff have worked hard to make sure the start of semester runs as smoothly as possible. We will offer good study conditions, including periods of on-campus teaching.”

The two orientation weeks ending today have shown that the mixture of online formats and physical attendance can work under the general conditions of the University’s Hygiene and Infectious Disease Concept. “I hope that this will allow us to continue to see low infection rates in Leipzig for a while longer,” said the Rector.

The most popular courses among applicants were the teaching degree programmes and Psychology. In terms of applications per place, the bachelor’s programmes in Psychology, Political Science and Communication and Media Studies were in highest demand. The master’s programmes Psychology and Global Studies were particularly popular.

“We have great enrolment figures yet again. This testifies to the unbroken appeal of the University as well as the city of Leipzig,” said Professor Thomas Hofsäss, Vice-Rector for Education and International Affairs. “It is also particularly remarkable that despite the pandemic, we have not seen a collapse in the number of new international students.” The current number of 568 is not too far below last year’s s level (720).

For the winter semester 2020/21, the Leipzig University received 4361 applications with foreign higher education entrance qualifications. At 14 per cent, the decline in the number of applications compared to the previous year is also much less severe than feared. In mid-July, uni-assist – the organisation that assesses international student applications – assumed that the total number of applicants at all 180 German member universities would drop by 25 to 30 per cent. The final enrolment figures will not be known until 1 December 2020.

Currently, there are around 30,500 students enrolled at Leipzig University (in more than 150 courses of study). More than 3200 of them come from abroad. The top countries of origin are China, the Russian Federation and Syria.