Foto: succo / PixabayBetween 2021 and 2024, the proportion of female university managers in Germany rose from 25 to 35 per cent. The average age has fallen slightly. There are still few people of East German or foreign origin among the top executives. This is shown by an annual evaluation by the CHE Centre for Higher Education.
More than a third of rectors and presidents of state universities in Germany are women. In December 2024, the proportion of women was 35 per cent, around ten percentage points higher than in 2021. Universities have a female ratio of 41 per cent, while the figure for universities of applied sciences (UAS) is 30 per cent.
“Never before have there been so many women at the top of state universities in Germany – this shows a remarkable dynamic. What I find particularly exciting is that the majority of women are new to their current university – in other words, they haven’t worked there before. This harbours the potential for a breath of fresh air,” summarises Isabel Roessler, who has been analysing developments for CHE since 2019.
A much more uniform picture emerges with regard to the origin of the current management staff. Only nine out of 174 people were born abroad. Most university managers (29) were born in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
12 state universities were headed by people from eastern German states – excluding Berlin – in December 2024. This shows a significant increase since the start of the survey: in 2018, there were no directors of full universities from eastern German states. At universities of applied sciences (UAS), there were seven in 2019.
The average age of university heads in Germany is currently 58 and has fallen slightly compared to the previous year. Around one in ten of them is younger than 50. The dominant subject backgrounds are law, economics and social sciences. Around a third of all full university and UAS heads have completed a degree programme in each of these subject areas.
Around 60 per cent of the university management in office have held their post since 2020. Last year, 24 rectors and presidents were newly appointed.
About the analysis:
The ‘DatenCHECK Hochschulleitung in Deutschland – Update 2025’ provides updated data from the CHE’s previous CV analyses of university leaders. The CVs and press releases of 174 presidents and rectors of state universities published online were taken into account. Vacant or temporarily filled management positions were not included. The cut-off date for the survey and update was 31 December 2024. The author of the DatenCHECK is Isabel Roessler.