Interested in applying to a German university? The admission process here is based on a principle called the “Numerus Clausus.” Let’s have a closer look at what Numerus Clasus means and how it can secure your place as a student in one of the most popular study destinations in Europe.
Germany offers world-class, free education in its public universities to all students who get accepted, regardless of their country of origin. No wonder it ranks high on the list of any student looking to study abroad in Europe.
If you already did some research on how the university admission process works in Germany, you definitely came across the term Numerus Clasus. In this article, you will learn what it means and how it has an impact on your admission.
>> Meanwhile, you can also learn more about life in Germany as an international student.
What is Numerus Clausus
The term is in Latin and translates as “closed numbers.” It is a way to restrict the number of students that are admitted to a university or on a particular study programme.
It may seem a bit difficult to understand what is the Numerus Clausus (NC) principle used by German universities, so to put it simply it’s a system employed by universities to regulate the number of students in certain courses where demand is higher than the available places and resources. NC is a number that shows the minimum score students need to be accepted on a course.
Germany is not the only country that uses the Numerus Clausus principle, other such countries are Finland, France, and Switzerland. However, Germany is different in the way it applies this concept. Let’s dive in.
When they graduate from upper-secondary school, students in Germany take the Abiturprüfung exam. With their exam results and grades from previous school years, they obtain a score, simply known as Abitur. This is the equivalent of a Grade Point Average (GPA) and is used to apply to university.
Numerus Clausus is an average Abitur score calculated based on the scores of all current applications, and it sets the minimum score you need in order to be accepted on a course. The value of this minimum score is not set in advance, only the number of available places. It may seem confusing because universities publish a table with Numerus Clausus for different programmes. But you should know that those tables represent Numerus Clasus values from the previous year, and serve only as a rough guide and not a set-in-place limit.
Breaking down the admission process
Courses with a Numerus Clausus tag essentially receive more applications than they can accommodate. To fairly distribute the limited seats, universities adopt a system that combines several factors, including the student’s Abitur score (the German GPA), waiting period, and specific quotas that determine the number of available seats for each category.
Here are the major factors that determine admission results:
- Abitur Grade: this is the equivalent of your GPA from high school or equivalent. Courses restricted by Numerus Clausus have an Abitur/GPA cut-off, which is called the “NC value.” This value changes every semester based on the Abitur grades obtained by that batch of applicants.
- Waiting Semesters: in Germany, a unique aspect of the selection process is the consideration of the number of semesters a student has waited since their Abitur. The longer the waiting period, the higher the chances of admission.
- Quotas System: each university has a certain number of seats available, but those seats are divided into specific groups. There are three main quotas:
- Students with the highest Abitur grade nationwide (20% of seats for the students with the highest grade in the Abitur exam).
- Applicants with the highest wait time, which means the number of semesters accumulated between the moment they received their Abitur qualification and the moment they apply to university (20% of seats).
- University’s specific admission requirements (the remaining 60%).
However, universities also incorporate advanced quotas such as:
- Hardship quota – for students who experienced particularly difficult life situations before their application to university;
- Non-EU students quota – for international applicants;
- Quota for professional qualifications without the Abitur;
- Quota for students who apply for a second undergraduate degree;
- Quota for underage applicants – students under 18 years of age.
What if I don’t meet the requirements?
It is, of course, possible that you won’t get a place either because you don’t meet the requirements, you don’t have the NC value, or simply because there are no seats left. In that case, you can apply next year, and your wait time will be higher, therefore, your chances to get an offer will also be higher, but there is also an automatic system in place that might still get you on the course that year.
If you weren’t offered a place, you might end up on the waitlist (called Nachrückverfahren, in German). Once all offers are made, it can happen that not all applicants accept the offer to study the programme, which opens up newly available seats on the course. An automatic system gives those seats to applicants on the waitlist. If those applicants refuse their offers as well, and seats are still free, those spots are awarded by lottery to those who submitted a Lottery Application – an application you can make after the deadline.
There are other alternatives you can try as well:
- Look for other universities with lower NC values.
- Take a preparatory course / Studienkolleg: If you’re an international student, undertaking a one-year preparatory course will teach you German and prepare you for the German university environment. This is taken into consideration and gives you extra points on your future university application.
So, what do you think? Is Numerus Clausus something you need to worry about when applying? Probably not. It may seem intimidating at first, but really it’s a well-structured, fair system designed to manage high-demand courses. If you understand the admission process properly, do a bit of planning, and combine it with a dash of perseverance, you have great chances of securing a spot in a German university.