Foto: PixabayEngineering graduates are in high demand in Germany. This is due to both a shortage of skilled workers and a sharp decline in student numbers. The students themselves are very satisfied with their study conditions. This is shown by a survey of young engineers conducted as part of the CHE Master’s ranking. In addition, scientists generate high levels of third-party funding for their universities, amounting to up to €800,000 per capita per year.
Significant decline in enrolment figures exacerbates shortage of skilled workers
As in many other sectors, there is currently a shortage of skilled workers in the German engineering industry. According to the VDI/IW Engineering Monitor, there were around 108,000 vacancies in the first quarter of 2025. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that various engineering disciplines have seen a massive decline in enrolments over the past ten years.
The number of first-year students in mechanical engineering fell by almost 42 per cent between the 2014/15 winter semester and the 2024/25 winter semester. The number of first-year students in electrical engineering and civil engineering also fell significantly, by 24 and 14 per cent respectively.
This cannot be due to the study conditions: ‘The current CHE Master’s ranking shows that the urgently sought-after young engineers are predominantly very satisfied with their studies,’ concludes Sonja Berghoff, Head of National Rankings at the CHE Centre for Higher Education.
‘Tomorrow’s engineering professionals’ give high marks to master’s programmes
Across Germany, almost all engineering departments assessed received a rating of at least four out of five stars from their Master’s students for the ‘overall study situation’. The average rating given by students here is 4.2 stars.
Respondents also gave high marks for the ‘transition from bachelor’s to master’s programmes’, the ‘study organisation’ and ‘teacher support’. Topics such as ‘digital teaching elements’ and ‘support for stays abroad’ received slightly lower ratings from master’s students than the other aspects.
Up to €800,000 in third-party funding raised in mechanical engineering
In addition to student evaluations, the CHE university ranking also includes other indicators, such as third-party funding. Such research funds, which universities raise from companies, foundations or government funding agencies in addition to their basic funding, have long been comparatively high in the engineering sciences.
The frontrunner in terms of third-party funding per scientist in mechanical engineering is the TU Braunschweig with an average of €800,000 per year, followed by the Leibniz University Hanover (€512,000) and TU Bergakademie Freiberg (€503,000). In civil engineering, the Technical University of Berlin and the Leibniz University Hanover are in the lead with over €500,000 per scientist. Third-party funding means greater financial leeway for research projects.
CHE Master’s ranking on the DAAD website
The complete CHE Master’s ranking is now available on the website of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) at https://www.university-ranking.de/.
The most comprehensive ranking of master’s programmes in Germany has been published since 2015 and provides information on 39 subjects. In addition to facts about studying, teaching and research, the ranking includes students’ assessments of their universities. The results of the student survey on the general study situation are clearly presented on a 5-star scale.
This year, the survey focused on the subjects of civil and environmental engineering, electrical engineering and information technology, mechanical engineering, materials and process engineering (full universities) and mechanical engineering/materials technology (universities of applied sciences/universities for cooperate education), and psychology at full universities. More than 8,000 students took part.