Which are the best universities in Germany, and how do they compare with Italy's? Since March 2026, ten universities and alliances have been confirmed for continued funding as Universities of Excellence: RWTH Aachen, the Berlin University Alliance, Bonn, TU Dresden, Hamburg, Heidelberg, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, LMU Munich, TU Munich and Tübingen. Since October 2026, five more institutions have joined this elite group: Jena, Cologne, Freiburg, the Rhine-Main university alliance and the Ruhr Innovation Lab of Dortmund and Bochum. The extra funding is dedicated to research rather than teaching.
Yet students look at other criteria too: employability, staff-student ratio and internationalization. The podcast suggests where to go for medicine, engineering, AI and mathematics, then turns to Italy's best universities and hears two Italian PhD students in Berlin and Cologne. Italian students interested in studying in Germany are welcome to contact SIGN and, if they wish, join the network!
COSMO Italiano is part of the international and intercultural radio program of Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in Cologne and Radio Bremen, produced in collaboration with Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB).