Record student applications for Leuphana

University well-prepared for rush of students – Strong interest in new Political Science program

Lüneburg. The number of candidates applying for admission to Leuphana University of Lüneburg has increased by about 35% compared with last year. According to Leuphana’s Admissions Office, more than 10,000 applicants have applied for admission to the first semester at College, starting in the winter semester. This is the highest number of applicants ever in the history of the University. Compared with the previous year, there are 2,700 more young people seeking to study at Leuphana. In view of two cohorts of students leaving upper secondary school and the suspension of compulsory military service, this was to be expected. Therefore, Leuphana has increased the number of places in the first semester by 30% within the scope of the so-called University Pact with the German federal government and the German federal states. In the last year, Leuphana already accepted 9% more applicants, which was far above Germany’s national average rate.

The strongest increase in demand was shown for the major in Environmental Sciences, with the number of applicants increased by about 60%. The highest absolute number of applications was shown for the majors in Business Administration (1,627), Cultural Studies (1,280), and Business Psychology (1,570), the latter being the most favorite one with more than twelve applications for each of the 128 places available. The newly introduced Political Science program had a successful premiere with seven times more applications than places available. With eight and seven applications respectively for each place available, there is a continuing high demand for places in the programs of Teacher Education for Primary, Lower Secondary and Intermediate Schools and of Teacher Education for Vocational Schools. In Lüneburg, all subjects offered are subject to admissions restrictions, i.e. there are only a limited number of places available. This applies to the nine major subjects at College as well as to all subjects offered within the scope of the three Teacher Education programs.

The President of Leuphana University, Prof. (HSG) Dr. Sascha Spoun, is very pleased with the success of offering additional places: “Thanks to the funds received under the University Pact we were able to offer additional places for the first semester in nearly all major subjects. When allocating the places, we based our decisions on experiences made in the previous years. Things have obviously worked out.” Despite the increased number of students, it was very important to maintain comparable quality of studies at Leuphana, said Spoun. The good student-tutor ratio achieved over the past years would also be maintained. However, the University would have to accomplish a logistical feat. The special study model adopted by Leuphana College made it necessary to employ many more lecturers and tutors. The surge of students confronted also the space planning staff with new challenges. “I am very confident that we will again be able to offer all new students starting in the next semester well-instructed and inspiring studies at Leuphana,” declared Spoun.