45 universities, compared honestly

Germany’s premier public technical research university, with 182 degree programmes across 15 schools and more than half its students from abroad. Selective: the overall acceptance rate is about 8%.

One of Europe’s oldest universities with 51,600+ students across 18 faculties and 300+ programmes, including 27 English-taught masters and seven double degrees.

Germany’s largest technical research university: 47,200+ students, 13,300 of them international, and 170+ masters programmes across 16 fields on a 620-acre campus.

A national research centre and university in one — 46th globally for natural sciences and 48th for engineering, with about 4,000 international students among 18,000.

A seven-faculty technical university in Charlottenburg with 115 programmes, 25 of them English-taught masters, and a quarter of its students from abroad.

A research university of roughly 33,000 students with 11 departments, 178 courses, six graduate schools and a library system holding 8.5 million volumes.

One of Germany’s oldest universities, with 36,200+ students across nine faculties, 189 disciplines and 63 postgraduate programmes.

Germany’s oldest university — twelve faculties, roughly 100 disciplines, 31,000+ students, and 100 masters programmes across three campuses in the Old Town, Neuenheimer Feld and Bergheim.

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen: seven faculties, 335 degree programmes and 27,100+ students, with a strong life-sciences and economics profile. No application fee.

Albert Ludwig University: 11 faculties, 250+ programmes and 24,000+ students, with 22 English-taught masters and real strength in biology, computer science and neuroscience.

Switzerland’s flagship technical university — 24,530+ students from 100+ nations, 16 departments and more than 20 Nobel laureates including Einstein. Tuition is the same for EU and non-EU students.

A lakeside engineering powerhouse where about half the student body is international. Twenty-nine masters programmes span computer science, robotics, data science and life sciences engineering.

Switzerland’s oldest university, with 13,325 students and a 27% international share. Strong in actuarial science, biomedical engineering, data science and economics & public policy.

Eight faculties, 11,000+ students and 76 postgraduate programmes in the Swiss capital — with a graduate employment rate around 93%.

Switzerland’s only bilingual university — French and German, with English-taught options — hosting 11,000+ students and 66 masters programmes.

A small, highly international university — 1,800 of its 2,700 students come from abroad — with 23 mostly English-taught masters in business, finance, communication, informatics and data science.

An applied-research university with 5,800 students, 30% of them international, running 17 graduate courses across architecture, business, design, engineering/IT, health and social work.

Hospitality specialist with degrees awarded through the University of Derby, students from 80–90 countries, and QS subject ranking of #3 in hospitality.

THE-ICE and NECHE accredited hospitality school ranked #5 by subject, with about 1,690 students and paid internships built into every programme.

The world’s oldest hotel management school, with 4,000+ students of whom 72% are international, and alumni at Tesla, LVMH, Apple and Nestlé.

Part of the Swiss Education Group, with about 800 students a year and a one-year MA in International Business in Entrepreneurship awarded with the University of Derby.

Home of Mannheim Business School and consistently Germany’s top-ranked business faculty, with 60+ programmes and eight English-taught masters.

Triple-accredited private business school (AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS) with about 3,000 students and an MBA acceptance rate near 40%.

A 44,180-student public university whose single MBA specialisation — Health Management — leads into one of Germany’s best-paid graduate markets.

A compact Bavarian university of 13,300 students offering the MBA full-time, part-time and online — with a free application and a €109.60 semester fee.

One of Germany’s oldest universities, with 29,000+ students and an MBA priced between €15,000 and €25,000 for the full programme.

A 31,000-student public university 30 minutes from Frankfurt, with 289 programmes and no tuition for first-degree students.

A private, fully English-taught business school partnered with the University of Derby, reporting 95%+ graduate employment across its Munich, Geneva, Montreux and Barcelona campuses.

An engineering university of 23,800 students — 30% international — with 73 bachelor and 95 masters programmes in the heart of German automotive industry.

The oldest university in the English-speaking world, with 400+ programmes and 42 scholarships open to Indian students. Postgraduate acceptance is around 30%, and 16.8% for international applicants.

A 41,000-student London university with 675 postgraduate programmes, 29 Nobel laureates and 95% postgraduate employment.

Half of LSE’s 12,000 students come from outside the UK, drawn by 118 masters programmes and a #6 world ranking in social sciences and management.

A federation of eleven institutions including ENS and Collège de France, counting 28 Nobel laureates and 11 Fields medallists among its lineage.

A ten-to-twelve month MBA that produces more CEOs than any school except Harvard, with 64,000+ alumni and campuses on three continents.

The business school of Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, running executive MBAs in Paris, Beijing and Istanbul at €19,500 a year.

A triple-crown grande école (AMBA, EQUIS, AACSB) in the French top ten, with an International MBA and an MBA in Leadership & Coding run with Le Wagon.

Ireland’s highest-ranked university — 81st in both QS and THE — with roughly 18,000 students and a 25% postgraduate acceptance rate.

Ireland’s largest university, ranked #18 globally for social sciences and management, with a roughly 20% acceptance rate.

One of Europe’s largest universities with 115,000+ students, ranked #1 in Italy and 134th globally — and an acceptance rate of 82%.

The Netherlands’ largest research university — 40,000 students, 4,800 of them international — with a 4–6% international acceptance rate and 90% employment within six months.

The world leader in agriculture and forestry (#10) and environmental sciences (#4), with 12,000+ students and a 25% masters acceptance rate.

Norway’s oldest and largest university with 30,000+ students and a 5–10% acceptance rate — many programmes still carry little or no tuition.

Western Norway’s oldest university, ranked #95 by QS and rated the country’s best, with 30,000+ students and a 29% acceptance rate.

Poland’s largest university — 36,477 students across 25 faculties, with 44 English-taught programmes and 22 double degrees.

A young trilingual university of 7,000+ students from 100+ countries, ranked 25th among THE’s young universities, with a mandatory semester abroad for all bachelor students.