A quasi-experiment in international student mobility: Germany’s fee re-introductions

ABSTRACT We analyse Germany’s re-introductions of tuition fees and enrolment of international students. Fees could not be levied before the German Federal Constitutional Court sanctioned them in 2005 and only seven out of the sixteen states took action, thus making a quasi-experimental research design available. Our fixed effects and synthetic control estimators measure the effect of fee-reintroductions on international enrolments. Results reveal that only one state significantly reduced its foreign student intake while the remaining fee-reintroducing states did not lose foreign students. Findings expand upon prior studies conducted on German students and contribute to the debate concerning optimal student taxation policy. A price-discrimination strategy might be available, but its desirability must be more broadly acknowledged in the greater scheme of higher education financing. A theoretical framework is laid out to contextualise the role of tuition fees in international student migrations and fee-subsidy systems.