Why Saxony Has Been the German Leader in Education for 19 Years
Since 2006, Saxony has defended first place in the annual comparison of the education systems of the German federal states in the INSM Education Monitor. Find out how Saxony scores.
INSM Education Monitor
Which German federal state has the best education system? You can find out this and more in the Education Monitor 2024, a comparative study conducted by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW) on behalf of the Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft (INSM). The study, which has been compiled annually since 2004, includes 98 indicators. These range from the number of early school leavers per federal state to the number of doctors graduating from a university.
Best Conditions for Education
The INSM Education Monitor 2024 highlights the following strengths of Saxony's daycare and education system in particular:
- 81.9 percent of children aged 3 - 6 are cared for all day in Saxony (national average: 46.6%)
- 93.6 % - High all-day rates in daycare centers and elementary school (national average: 49.5 %)
- 89.3 % - High proportion of pupils in all-day schools at lower secondary level (national average: 48.6 %)
- Highest competencies in reading among young people in the fourth and ninth grades and in mathematics among young people in the fourth grade.
- Highest rate of foreign pupils at general education schools with higher education entrance qualifications (Saxony: 18.1 %; national average: 8 %)
- Only a few young people do not reach the minimum standards in reading.
- Comparatively low correlation between social background and educational success.
Saxony also focuses on international education:
- International kindergartens in Dresden and Leipzig
- International schools in Dresden, Leipzig and south-west Saxony
Germany's Forge of Skilled Workers
In the area of vocational and higher education, the INSM Education Monitor emphasizes the following strengths of Saxony:
- 82.8 % - Above-average proportion of vocational school students with foreign language lessons (national average: 49.9 %)
- 24.6 % (national average: 17.2 %) Proportion of engineering graduates among all graduates - top figure among all federal states
- Above-average doctorate rate: 7.7 % (national average: 5.5 %)
- Public expenditure per student in Saxony is a good 2.84 times higher than total state expenditure per capita (national average: 1.73).
- Highest investment ratio at universities: 16.3 % (national average: 10.4 %)
- 16.3 % of students are foreign students - the third-highest figure in the federal state comparison (average: 10.4 %)
- High research orientation:
- 263,100 euros in third-party funding raised per professor - highest value in Germany (national average: 167,500 euros).
- Highest number of researchers at universities in relation to GDP