Google analysis: These study programs top the list of search queries
The lecture period for the new winter semester 2024/25 has begun and numerous first-semester students are starting their new studies. There is a wide range of degree programmes on offer in Germany: but which one is the most popular and how many students actually end up enrolling on it? To find out, we at the Berlin School of Business and Innovation (BSBI) compared Google searches for 147 degree programmes with the current number of students (WS23/24) from the Federal Statistical Office. After all, a Google search is often the first step in the search for the right degree programme.
Studying nautical science is in demand: Nautical science / seafaring is in first place per student
First place in the Google search query ranking is probably surprising: on average, nautical science is searched for 240 times per 100 students. This puts the shipping degree programme in first place, even though there were only registered 1.000 students in the past winter semester 2023/24. This is followed in second place by interior design with 176.4 searches per 100 students, with biomedicine rounding off the top three (98.4 searches). On average, weather forecasters searched for meteorology on Google 93.5 times per 100 students, taking fourth place in the ranking. In fifth place is veterinary medicine (68.9 search queries per 100 students), which was a childhood favourite for many.
Interest in music education and health technology lowest
For every 100 students, an average of only 0.1 searches are made for Music Education (8.263 registered students in winter semester 23/24) or Health Technology (13.392 matriculations). The two study programmes therefore share last place in the analysis. The study of Applied Linguistics is a close second in the negative ranking (0.2 search queries per 100 students), closely followed by the study of New Media with a search activity per 100 students of 0.3. The study of Internal Administration is also not one of the most favoured study subjects: With 0.4 searches on average, it is in the negative fifth place.
Business Administration, Computer Science & Law: High enrolment figures, few search queries
When you think of studying, the usual degree programmes immediately spring to mind — but the study shows that a high number of students does not equal a high average search query. With 232,475 students in WS23/24, business studies is the undisputed leader when it comes to the number of enrolments. According to the analysis, however, there are only 6.4 Google search queries on average per 100 students, putting the subject in 87th place out of 147. The same applies to computer science, which has the second-highest number of students (146,170): It is only searched for an average of 5.5 times per 100 students. The highly regarded Law degree programme (114,515 enrolments) has even fewer searches (2.5) per 100 students, putting it in 123rd place in the overall ranking.