Applying to UK universities from Germany, Austria and Switzerland

How many apply from Germany, Austria and Switzerland

UCAS publishes the number of applicants who applied by the 30 June deadline each year, broken down by country of domicile. For Germany the number has roughly halved since Brexit: 3,080 applicants for 2020 entry, 2,050 for 2021, the first year without home fee status for EU students, and 1,570 for 2026. Austria fell from 540 to 350 over the same years. Switzerland stayed almost level at 1,360 and 1,250 and now has only about a fifth fewer applicants than Germany.

German higher education statistics show the same picture. According to Wissenschaft weltoffen 2025, published by DAAD and DZHW, around 9,600 German students were enrolled in the United Kingdom in 2022. That number has fallen by about 32 per cent since 2019, while Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland have taken more German students.

For you this means two things. First, the route to the UK has narrowed but not closed: since 2022 the number of applicants from Germany has held steady between 1,550 and 1,750 a year. Second, much of the German-language information online dates from before 2021 or before the new personal statement format. If a page says EU citizens pay home fees, or talks about studying without a visa or a free-form essay, it is out of date.

Applicants by the 30 June deadline of each cycle, all age groups, rounded to the nearest ten by UCAS. The year is the year of entry.

Tuition fees and the visa after Brexit

Since 1 August 2021, students from the EU and Switzerland no longer get home fee status in England automatically. If you have no status under the EU Settlement Scheme and do not fit one of the exceptions UKCISA lists, you pay international fees. Each university sets these itself, and they are typically well above home fees. The exact amounts are on each course page under “International” or “Overseas”.

On top of that comes the Student visa, which you now need with a German, Austrian or Swiss passport unless you hold status under the EU Settlement Scheme. According to gov.uk, an application from outside the UK costs £558, the Immigration Health Surcharge for students is £776 a year, and the earliest you can apply is six months before your course starts. You need a place with a licensed university, enough money for fees and living costs, and English at the level the university requires.

Budget for these costs before you choose five courses. Older guides still quote a cap of £9,000 a year; in most cases it does not apply to you. Whether you qualify for home fees after all, for example because you have lived in the UK for some time, is explained in UKCISA's guidance on fee status.

• UKCISA: fee status categories for higher education in England
• GOV.UK: Student visa

The UCAS application on one page

You do not apply to each university separately but once, centrally, through UCAS. One application covers up to five courses, at different universities or at the same one. All five see the same personal statement. That is why you do not name a university in it, and why the five courses should fit together: a statement that tries to argue for law and computer science at once convinces neither reader.

The application also carries a reference from your school and predicted grades for every qualification you have not yet completed. The school enters both, not you. At international schools the university counsellor does this. At a German Gymnasium or an Austrian or Swiss school you often have to find a teacher who will write the reference and the prediction, and explain to them what UCAS needs.

For 2027 entry there are two deadlines, each at 18:00 UK time. By 15 October 2026 you apply for Oxford, Cambridge and most courses in medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine. By 13 January 2027 you apply for almost every other course. If you are reading this after 15 October, 13 January is your deadline. Applications received by these dates get equal consideration. UCAS still forwards later applications up to 30 June 2027, but without that right, and popular courses are often full by then. Your school usually sets an internal deadline some weeks earlier, because it still has to add the reference and predictions.

Since 2026 entry the personal statement consists of three fixed questions: “Why do you want to study this course or subject?”, “How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?” and “What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?” Together you have 4,000 characters including spaces, and each answer needs at least 350 characters. The guide linked below explains each question in detail; this page covers what is different for applicants from the German-speaking countries.

One rule to know from the start: when you submit, you declare that your statement has not been copied or provided from another source, explicitly including artificial intelligence software. UCAS checks statements for similarity with other texts and may notify the universities if it finds matches.

• The three UCAS questions explained in detail
• UCAS: key dates for 2027 entry

What applicants from the German-speaking countries often get wrong

The following six mistakes come up again and again in applications from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Most of them come from applying the rules of a German Motivationsschreiben to a UCAS statement.

• The tone of a Motivationsschreiben. A salutation, a closing formula and sentences such as “It is with great interest that I apply” use up characters and say nothing. A personal statement starts with content: a question about the subject that keeps you thinking, or something you have read, built or investigated. Nobody expects formal courtesies.
• The CV in sentences. Listing internships, prizes and volunteering wastes space. Question 3 asks you outright why your experiences are useful. Pick two or three experiences and write what they taught you about your subject.
• School terms translated word for word. “Performance course” for Leistungskurs, or “W-Seminar” without explanation, means nothing in the UK. Write “advanced course in Chemistry” and say in half a sentence what you did in it. The same goes for a Facharbeit, a Seminararbeit, a Swiss Maturaarbeit or the written project for the Austrian Matura.
• Explaining the system instead of your own work. A paragraph on how the Abitur works helps nobody; universities know it and convert it themselves. What the reader cannot know is your own biggest piece of work. If you wrote a Facharbeit or a Maturaarbeit, say briefly what it was (your own research question, its length, who supervised it) and then what you found. It is often your best evidence for Question 2.
• “Why the UK” in the wrong place. Many applicants open Question 1 with their enthusiasm for British universities. Question 1 asks about the subject. UCAS advises international applicants to give their reasons for studying in the UK in Question 3.
• German English and American spelling. UK readers notice “program”, “analyze” and sentences such as “Since two years I am interested in” at once. Use British spelling (programme, analyse, behaviour), short sentences and a matter-of-fact tone. Strong adjectives such as “passionate” or “fascinating” are no substitute for evidence; one precise sentence about what you did reads stronger.

Answering “Why do you want to study in the UK?” in Question 3: UCAS’s tips for international students call Question 3 a good place to say why exactly you want to study in the UK. Keep it to two or three sentences and make each reason specific to you: a course that does not exist in the same form at home, named modules on the course page that match your interest, a course you apply to directly rather than through a numerus clausus, or experience you already have of learning and working in English. A sentence about the country, its culture or its universities in general does not tell the reader anything about you.

How UK universities read the Abitur, the Matura and the IB

IB Diploma. UK universities know the IB best. Offers usually name a total points score and minimum grades in two or three Higher Level (HL) subjects. Where a university asks for UCAS Tariff points instead, the components count separately: HL 7 is worth 56 points, HL 6 48 points, SL 7 28 points. The Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge (TOK) are each worth between 12 and 4 points for grades A to E. CAS carries no Tariff points. Our UCAS points calculator below shows the Tariff value of your result.

Abitur. There are no formal predicted grades in the Abitur. Your school still has to give UCAS an estimate of your final Abitur grade, usually based on your course grades so far. Universities convert the Abitur into A-level grades themselves. Warwick, for example, equates A*AA with an overall grade of 1.3 and AAB with 1.5, and prefers the subjects a course requires to be taken as a Leistungskurs. Oxford states that your teacher must provide predicted grades for any exams not yet taken; without them your only option is to wait for your final results and apply afterwards. So settle in the spring before you apply who at your school will sign the prediction.

Swiss Matura. The Matura is assessed on its overall grade on the six-point scale. Warwick lists an overall 5.1 for A*AA and 4.7 for AAB, but notes that its requirements are under review for the 2027/28 cycle. Whether your course requires a particular subject, such as mathematics at a high level for engineering, is on each university's country page.

Austrian Matura. For the Reifeprüfung Warwick lists an average of 1.3 for A*AA and 1.5 for AAB, with a minimum grade in a named subject for some courses. As with the Abitur, your school has to estimate the expected grade for UCAS.

If you also want to study in Germany with the IB and want to know which Abitur grade your IB score corresponds to, our IB to Abitur calculator helps. For each UK university, its country page for Germany, Austria or Switzerland is what counts, not a general conversion table.

• IB to UCAS points calculator
• IB to Abitur calculator

The timeline along the school year

The table assumes you start university in autumn 2027, so you leave school in summer 2027. If you take a year out after school, everything moves back a year and you apply with your real grades instead of a prediction.

Your school's internal deadline almost always comes before the UCAS dates. Ask about it in September at the latest.

• IB exam dates May 2027, with results day

Proof of English: do you need IELTS?

For the Student visa the UK government requires English at level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference. For degree-level study the university may assess this itself. Many universities accept a good English grade in the Abitur, the Matura or the IB instead of a test, each with its own thresholds and often with different levels for different courses.

Our guide to IELTS with the IB, Abitur and Matura shows what individual universities ask for and when you still need a test. Read it before you book one; an unnecessary test costs money and preparation time in an already full final school year.

For the personal statement itself, universities also read it as a writing sample. If you had bilingual teaching, spent a school year abroad or take subjects in English, one sentence in Question 3 is enough. It sits well next to your reasons for studying in the UK.

• Do I need IELTS with the IB, Abitur or Matura?
• GOV.UK: Student visa, knowledge of English

Where to get help

Your first contact is your school. The counsellor or the teacher in charge writes the reference, enters the predictions and knows the internal deadlines. Ask early how many drafts they can read and when they need the final version.

IB Doctor offers personal statement coaching for IB Diploma students. We match you with an IB tutor in the subject you are applying for. The tutor plans with you which IB evidence belongs in which answer (your IA, Extended Essay, TOK and HL work), comments on your drafts in writing and checks the deadlines with you at the end. It is booked as a bundle of hours; the details are on the coaching page.

The coaching is for IB students only, because it works through your IB subjects. If you apply with the Abitur or the Matura, turn to an advisory service for studying in the UK. Among our partners, UniTarget in Hamburg advises on applications to Oxford and Cambridge and to the US and Canada, and The Red Pen in Mumbai guides applications to universities abroad, many of them in the UK.

One rule always applies with us: tutors comment and ask questions on your draft, and you type every word yourself.

• Personal statement coaching for IB students
• Partner: UniTarget
• Partner: The Red Pen
• All IB Doctor partners