Some German universities, such as the University of Hamburg, are trying to add more permanent research positions.Westend61 / Getty Images
After 13 years of jumping between temporary contracts at German institutions, Dorothée Goetze, who was a history postdoc, was fed up. So in 2021, when she was offered a full-time, permanent lecturing position at Mid Sweden University in Sundsvall she leapt at the opportunity.
Part of the reason for leaving was simple: the permanence of the new post, a rarity both in and outside Germany. But Goetze says that there were other troubling aspects of German academia that led her to expand her job search. “When I started to look at other countries, I realized that there are other ways to structure an academic system.”
Although Germany has become a hub for international students and researchers, attracting a growing number of foreign scholars each year, those who remain in academia after graduation often face an intensely hierarchical system with few permanent positions. This has led many, including Goetze, to search for jobs at universities and research institutions outside the country — or, in some cases, to leave academia completely.
Nature Career Guide: Germany
Last year, the Postdoc Network of the Max Planck Society published a survey of close to 900 postdocs from 74 of the 85 Max Planck Institutes, in which only one-quarter of international respondents said that they were sure they wanted to stay in Germany after their postdoc (see go.nature.com/486jceo). A similar survey by the postdoc network of the Leibniz Association revealed that some 42% of respondents had considered moving abroad (see go.nature.com/3xesmtz).
“There are a lot of good reasons to embark on a PhD or research career in Germany,” says Shyam Krishnan, a stem-cell biologist at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology in Jena, Germany, and a spokesperson for the Leibniz PostDoc Network. These include the country’s globally respected research profile and ample opportunities for funding and collaborations, according to Krishnan.
However, it is not always possible for early-career researchers to take advantage of these benefits — for example, most are on short-term contracts that don’t align with the long grant-application processes, Krishnan says. “When it comes to career paths, it becomes really difficult, especially for people coming from abroad.”
A popular destination
In 2025, Germany had the fourth highest number of international students globally, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a figure totalling around 423,000 people.
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