How satisfied are students in Germany overall, according to the CHE University Ranking?
Students in Germany are largely satisfied with the overall study conditions in their degree programmes. This is the result of the large student survey for the CHE University Ranking, which the CHE Centre for Higher Education conducts annually on a rotating basis in different subjects. In the winter semesters of 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24, a total of 95,962 students on undergraduate degree programmes (Bachelor’s, Diplom or state examination) from more than 40 different subject areas answered the question of how they rate the overall study situation in their degree programme at their current university / higher education institution.
For the CHE Ranking, this information is analysed for indicator overall study situation. As the following figure shows, 28.0 per cent of the students surveyed rated this question with 5 stars and a further 43.4 per cent with 4 of 5 stars. More than two thirds of the students surveyed are therefore satisfied with the overall study situation. In contrast, only around five per cent of the students surveyed rated the overall study situation as very poor or poor (1 or 2 stars).
How do students in Germany rate various aspects of their degree programmes in the CHE University Ranking?
In addition to the overall study situation, students also rate many other aspects of their degree programme for the CHE University Ranking. For each department (i.e. the organisational unit at a university that offers degree programmes in a particular subject), the arithmetic mean of the students' ratings for various indicators is published in the CHE Ranking. Results are only published for a department if at least 15 people have taken part in the survey. For responses between 15 and 50, the response rate is also checked; this must be at least 10 per cent for a result to be published.
The following diagrams show the distribution of departmental results for some selected indicators from the student survey in undergraduate degree programmes. Results from a total of 1,350 departments at 218 universities were taken into account. The median rating for all indicators is 3.9 stars or better, with a large proportion of departments receiving 4 or 4.5 stars (rounded to half stars). Students rate the study organisation and the library particularly highly. With regard to the exam organisation, there is a relatively large proportion of departments that receive less than 4 stars (rounded to half stars).