International students in Germany 2024 - Study in Germany
Pakistani International Students Flocking to European Universities
By Riaz Haq
CA
Recent data shows that nearly 10,000 Pakistani students are attending colleges and universities in Germany. This figure is second only to the United Kingdom which issued over 35,000 student visas to Pakistanis in 2024. The second most popular destination for Pakistani students is Australia which is hosting nearly 24,000 students from Pakistan as of 2023, according to the ICEF Monitor .
This year, Pakistani students won 114 Erasmus Mundus EU Scholarships, the highest number in the world. This makes Pakistan the top country receiving these scholarships for the fourth consecutive year. The Erasmus Mundus Scholarship is a prestigious European scholarship program for graduates, funding joint master's degrees at prestigious universities across multiple countries.
Pakistani students receive the highest number of EU Scholarships in 2025 - EU
Here's the list of top countries of EU Scholarship Winners in 2025:
1. 🇵🇰 Pakistan: 114
2. 🇮🇳 India: 96
3. 🇧🇩 Bangladesh: 95
4. 🇲🇽 Mexico: 93
5. 🇳🇬 Nigeria: 75
6. 🇧🇷 Brazil: 73
7. 🇪🇸 Spain: 65
8. 🇺🇸 USA: 62
9. 🇪🇬 Egypt: 61
10. 🇩🇪 Germany: 61
Pakistan is third, after only China and India, in terms of the size of its college-age population, according to the United Nations. The British Council expects growth in Pakistani outbound mobility to be among highest in the world over the next decade, along with China, India, Nigeria, and Bangladesh.
Acceptance rate in Pakistani universities and degree colleges was just 13.5% in 2022. Only 541,043 students were accepted from 4,085,185 students who applied. The country produced 471,306 university graduates in 2020-21. Of these, 157,102 were in STEM fields , including 43,000 graduates in information technology (IT).
Pakistan’s gross tertiary enrollment (GER) ratio was only 13% in 2023, according to UNESCO. This is much lower than in India, and lower than in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as well. Of 109 countries UNESCO profiled in 2021, Pakistan’s tertiary GER was 100th. Given Pakistan’s huge college-age population, there is a serious unmet demand for higher education, according to the ICEF Monitor.
Recent data on which destinations are hosting the most Pakistani students include:
UK: 34,690 in 2022/23 (+50% y-o-y)
China: 28,000 before the pandemic
UAE: 24,865 in 2020 according to UNESCO
Australia: 23,380 in 2023 (+49%)
US: 10,165 in 2022/23 (+16%)
Germany: 8,210 in 2022/23 (+22%)
Kyrgyzstan: 6,000 in 2020 according to UNESCO
Malaysia: 5,000 in 2023
Canada: 4,750 in 2023 (+101%)
Turkey: 2,385 in 2020 according to UNESCO
Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Sweden, Qatar: At least 4,000 in 2020 according to UNESCO
(Riaz Haq is a Silicon Valley-based Pakistani-American analyst and writer. He blogs at www.riazhaq.com)
