In 2026, North Rhine-Westphalia will face a serious drop in the number of upper secondary school graduates: 40,000 fewer than usual - almost minus 60% of the usual flow. The situation is similar in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, where the number of applicants is also predicted to drop significantly. The reason is simple: both states are switching from a 12-year to a 13-year school system. A similar reform took place last year in Bavaria - at that time, the upper secondary schools produced 26,000 fewer graduates than in previous years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What does this mean for enrollees? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Due to the sharp decline in the number of applicants, many universities are already announcing plans to cancel the competition (NC) in a number of areas and significantly simplify admission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tip from UniApply Germany:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Take a closer look at universities in North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein - in 2026 there may be particularly good chances of admission even for popular majors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A plus for those seeking dual education: Fewer graduates - higher demand from companies. This can be a real advantage for applicants planning to enroll in dual programs.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 2026, North Rhine-Westphalia will face a serious drop in the number of upper secondary school graduates: 40,000 fewer than usual - almost minus 60% of the usual flow. The situation is similar in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, where the number of applicants is also predicted to drop significantly. The reason is simple: both states are switching from a 12-year to a 13-year school ... Continue reading Big changes in admission to German universities in 2026<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":189993925,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","content-type":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[232150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-232150"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcd2VE-1Jh","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniapplygermany.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniapplygermany.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniapplygermany.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniapplygermany.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/189993925"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniapplygermany.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6651"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/uniapplygermany.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6653,"href":"https:\/\/uniapplygermany.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6651\/revisions\/6653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniapplygermany.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniapplygermany.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniapplygermany.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}