Germany targeting Indian students to address labour shortages
Pooja Yadav04/22/2024April 22, 2024
To keep its engineering and IT sectors afloat, Germany is looking to tap into international student talent.
Germany is grappling with a critical labor shortage and aging population, with projections indicating a deficit of 7 million skilled workers by 2035.
With some 700,000 vacancies currently unfilled, the country’s economic growth potential has dropped to about 0.7% now from around 2% in the 1980s. It’s set to fall further to 0.5% if the country fails to resolve this problem, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck has said, stressing the importance of migration in bridging this widening gap.
Engaging the Indian student population in the German workforce may be part of the solution.
Tapping into the international student talent pool
According to the Federal Statistical Office, there are around 43,000 Indian students enrolled in German universities.
International students make up around 14% of all students in the country, according to Michael Flacke, spokesperson for the German Academic Exchange Service. International students are often the “so-called ideal immigrants” because they have already lived in Germany and learned the language.