If we talk about German higher education, first of all it is necessary to say that there are only 429 higher education institutions in Germany for 83 million people.
Of these, only 106 have the status of classical universities (dt. Universität), and the rest are so-called universities of applied sciences (dt. Hochschulen or Fachhochschulen). German universities of applied sciences also provide higher education, but with a more applied focus, which is focused on practical activities, and not on scientific and research activities, such as studying at a classical German university. In addition, German applied universities have fewer students than classical German universities.
Moreover, it must be said that there are certain majors that can only be studied at German classical universities (dt. Universität) in Germany, such as medicine, pharmacy, physics, chemistry, etc., and there are also majors that can be studied only in universities of applied sciences (dt. Hochschule), e.g. marketing, management, business consulting, finance, etc.
As for German private universities, they are also included in this list of 429 universities, but their status must be specified separately each time, since there are private universities in Germany without state accreditation. Studying at German private universities is not cheap, from 220 euros to 1,000 euros per month.