Why Saxony Has Been the German Leader in Education for 20 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 Beste Bedingungen für Bildung Germany's Forge of Skilled Workers

INSM Education Monitor

Which German federal state has the best education system? You can find out this and more in the Education Monitor 2026, 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.

Graphic: Comparison of the education systems of the German federal states
Source Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW) / Initiative for a New Social Market Economy (INSM)

Best Conditions for Education

The INSM Education Monitor 2026 highlights the following strengths of Saxony's daycare and education system in particular:

  • 85.9 percent of children aged 3–6 receive full-day care in Saxony (national average: 48.2%)
  • 95.4% – High full-day care rates in elementary schools (national average: 51.2%)
  • 85.3 percent – High proportion of pupils attending full-day schools in lower secondary education (national average: 48.6 percent)
  • Highest average skills among ninth-graders in reading, math, and natural sciences
  • Lowest number of at-risk groups in reading, math, and natural sciences
  • Second-highest priority for education in public spending among the federal states

Saxony also focuses on international education:

  • International kindergartens in Dresden and Leipzig
  • International schools in Dresden, Leipzig and south-west Saxony
Children at Dresden International School (Source: WFS / Michael Lange)
Source DIS

Germany's Forge of Skilled Workers

In the area of vocational and higher education, the INSM Education Monitor emphasizes the following strengths of Saxony:

  • 86.5 % - Above-average proportion of vocational school students with foreign language lessons (national average: 49.9 %)
  • 22.3 % (national average: 15.3 %) Proportion of engineering graduates among all graduates - top figure among all federal states
  • Second highest doctorate rate: 7.9 % (national average: 5.5 %)
  • Public expenditure per student in Saxony is a good 2.92 times higher than total state expenditure per capita (national average: 1.70).
  • 18.0 % of students are foreign students (national average: 14.4 %)
  • High research orientation:
    • 307,500 euros in third-party funding raised per professor - highest value in Germany (national average: 187,100 euros).
    • Highest number of researchers at universities in relation to GDP