Foto: Adobe StockMore people without an Abitur (German higher education entrance qualification) are successfully completing a degree programme. According to the latest available data, the number exceeded the 10,000 mark for the first time in 2024. The number of students who have qualified for higher education through vocational routes also remains consistently high. Studying without an Abitur has, thus, become an established feature of Germany’s permeable higher education system. More than 90 percent of higher education institutions now enroll vocationally qualified students. The federal states leading the way are Bremen, Thuringia, and Hamburg.
More than 100,000 successful graduations since 2009
At present, around 70,000 students without a general or subject-specific higher education entrance qualification are enrolled at German higher education institutions. As in the previous year, this corresponds to 2.4 percent of all students nationwide. There has been a slight increase in the number of first-year students with vocational qualifications. Their number currently stands at around 13,000, corresponding to 2.7 percent of all first-year students. A new all-time high was reached in 2024, when 10,270 Bachelor’s and Master’s graduates without an Abitur or Fachabitur completed their studies. This means that a total of 104,941 vocationally qualified students have earned a higher education degree since studying without an Abitur was introduced nationwide in 2009.
FernUniversität in Hagen again leads among first-year students
The analysis reveals regional differences in comparison of the federal states. With a first-year student share of 5.8 percent, Bremen ranks first for the first time. It is followed by the previous front-runner Thuringia (5.0 percent) and Hamburg (4.5 percent).
In recent years, the main reason for Thuringia’s top position was the private IU International University with its headquarters in Erfurt. Compared with previous years, however, significantly fewer first-year students without an Abitur or Fachabitur enrolled at IU in 2024.
The most popular higher education institution among first-year students without an Abitur is once again the state-run distance-learning university FernUniversität in Hagen (1,128 first-year students), followed by the private institutions FOM University of Applied Sciences for Economics and Management (925) and IU International University (816), which has lost the top position it held in previous years.
Studying without an Abitur is now almost universal across the sector
Students without a general higher education entrance qualification or entrance qualification for universities of applied sciences tend to prefer large institutions. These are predominantly universities of applied sciences with more than 7,000 students, but some universities with more than 25,000 students are also in demand. “Even though some institutions are particularly well adapted to the needs of people without an Abitur, this group of students can now be found on almost every campus,” observes study director Sigrun Nickel.
At 392 of Germany’s 422 higher education institutions, students without an Abitur are enrolled, corresponding to a coverage rate of 93 percent.
Growing demand in health and nursing
The typical first-year student without a school-based higher education entrance qualification opts for a Bachelor’s degree at an application-oriented higher education institution and, at an average age of 30, is significantly older than their fellow students.
In terms of subject choice, law, economics and social sciences continue to dominate, with 50 percent of first-year students, followed by engineering with 19.1 percent. Next comes human medicine/health sciences with 16.6 percent.
“We are seeing particularly strong demand among prospective students without an Abitur in the fields of health and nursing. In nursing science/nursing management and health education, as many as one in four students has now qualified for higher education through vocational routes rather than through a school-leaving certificate,” says Sigrun Nickel. She adds: “We are also now seeing a considerable number of students in medicine and dentistry who have prior professional experience in the healthcare sector but do not hold an Abitur. There are currently around 1,100 such students.”
Further information: Detailed information is available from the online study guide at www.studieren-ohne-abitur.de (only available in German). Here, prospective students without a higher education entrance qualification can find reliable information on admission routes and on study opportunities offered by higher education institutions. In addition, the online portal provides a wide range of up-to-date figures, data and facts on developments at both federal and state level. The analysis is based on data from the Federal Statistical Office for 2024. An overview of current developments in this field is provided in the newly published report CHECK Studieren ohne Abitur 2026 – Daten-Analyse für Bund und Länder. The authors are Sigrun Nickel and Anna-Lena Thiele.