Metadata

Title: Facts, Figures and Rankings: RWTH in Overview
Category: international
UUID: 281bfbf0ebee44d79e7100939459b558

Source URL: https://www.rwth-aachen.de/go/id/enw/lidx/1
Parent URL: https://www.rwth-aachen.de/cms/root/studium/Vor-dem-Studium/~bdpsux/Internationa...
Crawl Time: 2026-03-17T08:05:59+00:00

Facts, Figures and Rankings: RWTH in Overview

Source: https://www.rwth-aachen.de/go/id/enw/lidx/1 Parent: https://www.rwth-aachen.de/cms/root/studium/Vor-dem-Studium/~bdpsux/Internationale-Studieninteressierte/lidx/1/

How many students are currently enrolled at RWTH – and how has that number changed over the years? How many employees keep the University running, from admissions to research support? And where does RWTH stand in national and international rankings? On this page, you’ll find RWTH’s key facts and figures, along with current statistics, trends, and developments.

Facts and Figures
Rankings

Current Publications

These documents and additional PowerPoint presentations can be found in the download section of this page.

Facts and Figures

Key Figures of RWTH Aachen University

Academics in Winter Semester 2025/26

44,382 students in the winter semester of 2025/26
5,699 students in the first core semester for a Bachelor's degree, Bachelor's Teacher Training Programs or Medicine/Dentistry Staatsexamen
2,941 students in the first core semester for a Master's degree or Master's Teacher Training
15,811 international students from 141 countries
7.,458 graduates in the 2025 academic year – winter semester 2024/25 and summer semester 2025 combined

Staff in 2024

569 professors
6,311 other academic staff (including externally funded staff)
2,991 non-faculty staff (including externally funded staff)
435 trainees

Data captured on December 1, 2024

Institutions in 2024

9 faculties
260 institutes
13 Collaborative Research Centers and Transregios, 9 of which are host universities
41 Research Training Programs (including 10 DFG Research Training Groups)

“Excellence Strategy" Competition of the German Federal and State Governments

3 Clusters of Excellence:
The Fuel Science Center – FSC
Internet of Production – IoP
Matter and Light for Quantum Computing – ML4Q. A joint project between the University of Cologne (coordinating university), RWTH, the University of Bonn, and Forschungszentrum Jülich.
Excellence University RWTH: "The Integrated Interdisciplinary University of Science and Technology – Knowledge. Impact. Networks."

Annual Budget in 2024

1,255 million euros total annual budget, including
512 million euros in external funding

RWTH regularly publishes statistical reports that highlight key facts and figures about the University. These resources are designed to present important information clearly and accessibly – for both members of the RWTH community and anyone interested in learning more about us. They also provide the foundation for the University’s planning and management tools.

Table of Figures

The Table of Figures brings together core data from the previous academic and financial years. It offers a comprehensive snapshot of the University, including student enrollment, new admissions, graduates, staff, and financial information.\ Older editions are also available in the download section of this page.

“In Figures” Presentations

The “RWTH in Figures” presentation offers a concise overview of the University’s development over the years, its current structure, and key insights into teaching and research. The data are presented with clear charts and diagrams.

The companion presentation, “The Big Picture in Figures,” focuses entirely on visual data. It highlights statistics on students, graduates, doctoral degrees, staff, and other aspects of the University.

Both presentations are available in German and English in the download section.

Student Fact Sheet

The Student Fact Sheet condenses student enrollment data as of December 1 each year into easy-to-read charts and tables. It provides detailed insights into overall student numbers, their development over time, breakdowns by discipline and degree type – well before the full “Table of Figures” is released.

New Enrollments Fact Sheet

The New Enrollments Fact Sheet tracks first-semester enrollments by subject across different years. It also provides final enrollment numbers for each degree program as of December 1 (winter semester) and May 5 (summer semester).

University Rankings

RWTH performs very well in many national and international rankings - both overall and in individual subject areas.

That said, no ranking can capture the full picture of a university. Rankings provide only a partial view, shaped by the specific indicators the publishers choose to measure. The many facets of a university’s work and performance simply cannot be reflected in a single set of numbers.

For this reason, it’s important to consider not only the results, but also the methodology and intended audience of each ranking. The indicators used can differ widely, depending on the publisher’s focus.

While ranking methods are often debated and their informational value questioned, they continue to attract significant public attention and can serve as a helpful reference point – for example, for prospective students exploring their options.

Ranking Report

The ranking report provides a detailed overview of RWTH's performance in the university rankings for the year under review. The results are also compared with those of previous years to show how the University has developed.

The report is structured in accordance with the organization that performs the ranking. Detailed information on the respective calculation methods is also provided. The ranking report is published twice a year.

Rankings Compact

The "Rankings Compact" set of slides provides a brief overview of the ranking results. This is updated on an ongoing basis.

In contrast to the ranking report, the set of slides only deals with the results of the most important rankings for RWTH. It also includes brief information on the methodology used in each case.

Downloads

Contact

Division 6.3 - Controlling and Information Management

Phone: +49 241 80 94039\ Send Email\