Samia Satti Osman Mohamed Nour

• This paper employs both descriptive and comparative approaches to offer a comprehensive overview of the migration of international higher education students to Germany. It presents an in-depth and recent analysis of international student migration, utilising secondary data from UNESCO on global student mobility in tertiary education and statistics from German institutions on international students in Germany. This study contributes to existing literature by examining migration trends from the perspective of Germany as a receiving country and discussing migration patterns from various global regions. As Germany is one of the most popular destinations for international study, this paper adds valuable insights into the growing intersection of migration and the internationalisation of higher education. Furthermore, it highlights the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international student migration to Germany. The paper explores five key hypotheses: the first hypothesis examines the substantial increase in international student migration to Germany between 2000 and 2023, with considerable regional variation in distribution. The second hypothesis addresses the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on international student migration flows to Germany in 2019-2020. The third hypothesis identifies the pull factors driving the increasing trend of international student migration, including economic incentives (such as low or no tuition fees, scholarships, and employment prospects), educational opportunities (such as high-quality institutions and research focus), and other factors. The fourth hypothesis explores the mixed impacts of international student migration, such as knowledge transfer, brain gain, and skill acquisition for return migrants, but also brain drain for non-return migrants. Finally, the fifth hypothesis investigates how the integration of international students into Germany's labour market benefits the country’s economy.