Dr.-Ing. Michael Schanz is a labor market expert at the VDE. For his current analysis, he took a closer look at the number of new students from the Federal Statistical Office, among other things. And what he registers does not please him at all.

Despite "still good career prospects" for graduates in electrical engineering and information technology, 14.5 percent fewer new students enrolled in electrical engineering and information technology compared to the previous year. The decline is greater than in mechanical engineering (-9.6 percent) and computer science (-4.8 percent), where the fall was not as drastic.

However, Germany cannot afford a shortage of e-engineers in economic terms, as the effects of disrupted supply chains in the semiconductor industry have shown. "Our industry is still heading towards an unchecked shortage of experts. Demographic change - thousands of electrical engineers will retire in the next few years - and the digital transformation, which has been exacerbated by coronavirus, are widening the gap in the number of electrical engineers. COVID-19 will not change this," explains Schanz, who works on the VDE's"Studies, Careers and Society" committee.

Why the decline? There is a lack of students from abroad in particular

Schanz explains the declining trend by the fact that, on the one hand, there was practically no Abitur year in Lower Saxony in 2020 - the state accounts for just under 10 percent of the population in Germany - due to the switch from G8 to G9. "Secondly, studying electrical engineering and information technology in Germany is extremely popular among foreign students and has the highest proportion of foreign students of all subjects. For example, there are very many Chinese prospective students who take up a Master's degree at a German university," explains Schanz.

The VDE Committee therefore attributes the low number of new students in particular to the coronavirus-related decline in enrolments from abroad. One indication of this is the fact that universities (-18.4 percent) account for the larger share of the decline compared to universities of applied sciences (-11.5 percent). There is at least one small ray of hope: the proportion of female first-year students was maintained at just under 17%.

What remains is the goal of "inspiring more pupils in our schools to train in electrical engineering", the labor market expert demands.