Can You Study Medicine in English in Germany, France or Spain?
No — and the same is true of 13 more European countries. Here is the list, the reason for each, the official admission portal, and where the English-taught programs actually are.
Quick Answer
No. EuroMedGuide tracks 37 European countries and finds verified English-taught Medicine, Dentistry or Pharmacy programs in 21 of them. Germany, France and Spain are among the 16 with none, along with Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, all four Nordic countries, Iceland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Slovenia and Montenegro. The reason is the same almost everywhere: the degree is taught in the national language and entry runs through a national admission system built for domestic applicants — German through hochschulstart.de, French through Parcoursup, Spanish through the national entrance-grade route. This is a statement about what we could confirm on official pages, not proof that no English-taught option exists anywhere in those countries. What it does mean is that if you want to study in English, the 21 countries that do have verified programs are where to look.
Source Status
Country-by-country reasons and official admission-system links are taken from the coverage notes checked on 2026-07-12 and shown on each country page. Program counts are computed from the verified catalog.
Quick Take
- 21 of 37 European countries have verified English-taught programs; 16 have none.
- Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland are all in the second group.
- In nearly every case the degree is taught in the national language through a domestic admission system.
The 16 countries with no verified English-taught program
Each of these has a medical faculty. None of them has a complete English-taught Medicine, Dentistry or Pharmacy degree that we could verify on an official page. The reason is listed for each, because "no" is not a useful answer on its own:
| Country | Why | Official starting point |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | Public faculties teach medicine in German; seats go through the national numerus clausus | hochschulstart.de |
| France | The PASS / L.AS pathway is taught in French, entered through Parcoursup | parcoursup.gouv.fr |
| Spain | Public medical degrees are taught in Spanish, with seats set by the national entrance-grade system | UNED accesoextranjeros |
| Austria | Taught in German, with admission through the MedAT aptitude test | medizinstudieren.at |
| Netherlands | Taught primarily in Dutch, and clinical training requires Dutch | Studielink |
| Belgium | Taught in French or Dutch, with competitive community-level entrance exams | Flemish admission exam |
| Switzerland | Taught in German, French or Italian under a numerus clausus, largely restricted to residents | swissuniversities |
| Denmark | Taught in Danish | optagelse.dk |
| Norway | Taught in Norwegian | Samordna opptak |
| Sweden | Taught in Swedish | universityadmissions.se |
| Finland | Taught in Finnish or Swedish | studyinfo.fi |
| Iceland | The single faculty teaches in Icelandic, with an Icelandic-language entrance exam | University of Iceland |
| Slovenia | Ljubljana and Maribor teach in Slovene | University of Ljubljana |
| Montenegro | The University of Montenegro faculty teaches in Montenegrin | University of Montenegro |
| Luxembourg | A French/German Bachelor in Medicine only, with studies completed abroad | University of Luxembourg |
| Liechtenstein | No medical faculty at all | University of Liechtenstein |
Liechtenstein is the only one on that list where the answer is structural rather than linguistic: the country has no medical faculty, so there is nothing to teach in any language.
Why the language barrier is not the part that stops you
People assume the obstacle is the lectures. It usually is not. Even where a country runs some English-language teaching, two other things bind harder.
The admission system is built for domestic applicants. Germany's numerus clausus allocates seats by school-leaving grade through hochschulstart.de. France runs PASS and L.AS through Parcoursup. Austria uses the MedAT. These are national machinery, and they assume a national school-leaving qualification. Being fluent in the language does not put you inside that system.
Clinical training happens in the national language regardless. This is the point that catches people who find a partly English-taught option somewhere. You can sit through preclinical lectures in English. You cannot take a history from a patient in a language you do not speak. The Netherlands entry above says exactly this — clinical training requires Dutch — and it is true well beyond the Netherlands. It is why clinical language requirements deserve a look before you fall in love with a country.
So the honest version of the question is not "can I find English lectures in Germany" but "can I complete a recognized medical degree there, as an international applicant, in English". For these 16, we could not confirm that you can.
Where the programs actually are
The 21 countries with verified English-taught programs are where the entire rest of this site lives. By volume:
The United Kingdom has by far the most at 88 programs, then Italy and Poland at 25 each, Romania at 22, Ireland at 17, Czechia at 14, Hungary at 12 and Bulgaria at 11. Below that come Serbia (8), then Croatia, Cyprus, Greece and Slovakia at 6 each, Lithuania at 5, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Malta and North Macedonia at 4 each. Albania has 2, and Estonia and Portugal have 1 each.
If you came here searching for Germany, the closest substitutes on teaching style and cost are Hungary, Czechia and Poland — those are the three the site suggests on the Germany page. For France, the suggestions are Romania, Italy and Malta. For Spain, Italy, Portugal and Malta. For the Nordics, the Baltic states. Those are proximity and structure matches, not claims that the degrees are equivalent.
What this list does not say
Two limits worth being explicit about, because the difference matters if you are deciding a year of your life on it.
Absence here means we could not verify one, not that none exists. This catalog only lists programs where the teaching language, entry requirements, tuition and official source page could all be confirmed. A program that exists but publishes nothing verifiable would not appear. If you have found an official university page for an English-taught medical degree in one of these 16 countries, send it to corrections@euromedguide.com and it gets checked.
Nothing here is about quality. Germany, France, Switzerland and the Nordics have excellent medical education. The barrier for an international English-speaking applicant is language and admission structure, not standards.
And a country having no English-taught medical degree does not mean it has none in other subjects. This site covers Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy only.
What to do next
If your target country is on the 16, you have three honest options.
Learn the language and apply domestically. Realistic, and people do it, but budget one to three years to reach clinical fluency plus whatever the national admission system requires. The official portal for each country is in the table above — that is where to start, not with an agent.
Move to a neighboring country with English-taught programs. This is what most applicants in your position actually do. Start from all 21 countries with programs or run the program explorer with your budget applied.
Reconsider the goal. If your reason for wanting Germany was cost, note that several English-taught programs elsewhere in Europe are cheaper than relocating and studying in German would be — see programs under €10,000. If it was prestige, compare against what the most expensive programs in Europe actually charge.
FAQs
Can I study medicine in English in Germany?
Not in a program we could verify. German public medical faculties teach the degree in German and allocate seats through the national numerus clausus system at hochschulstart.de. If you want an English-taught degree, Hungary, Czechia and Poland are the closest alternatives with verified programs.
Is there English-taught medicine in France or Spain?
Not that we could confirm. France's PASS and L.AS pathway is taught in French through Parcoursup; Spanish public medical degrees are taught in Spanish with seats set by the national entrance-grade system. Romania, Italy and Malta are the suggested alternatives for France; Italy, Portugal and Malta for Spain.
What about the Netherlands, Belgium or Switzerland?
All three are in the same group. Dutch medicine is taught primarily in Dutch and clinical training requires Dutch. Belgium teaches in French or Dutch with community-level entrance exams. Switzerland teaches in German, French or Italian under a numerus clausus, and places are largely restricted to residents.
Are there any English-taught programs in Scandinavia?
None we could verify. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland all teach medicine in the national language through national admission systems. The Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — are the nearest countries with verified English-taught programs.
Does this mean no English-taught program exists in those countries at all?
No. It means we could not confirm one on an official university page. This catalog only lists programs where teaching language, entry requirements, tuition and the official source can all be verified. If you find an official page for one, send it to corrections@euromedguide.com.
Which European countries do have English-taught medical programs?
21 of the 37 we track: the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Romania, Ireland, Czechia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia, Lithuania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Malta, North Macedonia, Albania, Estonia and Portugal.