Top 20 largest universities by students · North Rhine-Westphalia
World, then every country and state with data
Updated · students (students)
Back up to: ↑ 🇩🇪 Germany↑ World
Why these 20
Student numbers as recorded in Wikidata (with the source each editor cited there). Open and affiliating universities count every enrolled student, so they top the world list; drill into a country or state for campuses you may visit.
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1
FernUniversität in Hagen
public research university that is primarily focused on distance teaching based in Hagen, Germany
71,351 · 🇩🇪 Germany
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2
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3
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5
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6
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7
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8
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9
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10
TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences
higher education institution in Cologne, Germany
27,000 · 🇩🇪 Germany
- 11 B
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12
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13
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14
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15
Hochschule Niederrhein
university of applied sciences in Krefeld and Mönchengladbach, Germany
14,511 · 🇩🇪 Germany
- 16 S
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17
How it is measured
Wikidata: universities (public, private) with a student count of 10,000 or more; country and state from the location; the world list is the top 20 of the countries below.
References
- Wikidata query: universities by students, Wikidata (CC0). Checked 2026-10-19 20:21 UTC.
North Rhine-Westphalia: more top 20s here
Photo: Mathematics lecture at the Helsinki University of Technology by Tungsten, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. Pictures in rows: Wikimedia Commons, GitHub and the linked pages.