The ranking holds 3 schools with an international accreditation or an authorised programme. International Baccalaureate programmes are taught at 3 of them. A year of school costs from €10 165 to €16 865.
We do not take reviews from maps and directories: their terms forbid it, and nobody checks the quality there. Everything below comes from the official registers of the accrediting organisations and from the schools' own sites, and every fact carries its source and the date of the check.
| Cheapest | $11 484 a year | Dresden International School |
| Median | $19 053 a year | top of the fee range at 1 school with a published fee |
| Most expensive | $19 053 a year | Dresden International School |
| Free | 2 schools | Bertolt-Brecht-Gymnasium Dresden, Sächsisches Landesgymnasium Sankt Afra zu Meißen |
Figures are converted to dollars at a weekly rate; schools publish their fees in their own currency. One-off charges, meals, transport and uniform are not included unless the school says otherwise. Fees for schools in Dresden are taken from published price lists, not from what third parties say.
1 of the 3 schools in the ranking is private. The other 2 are state schools, set out below. The type of school does not affect the score: private and state schools sit in one list and are scored by the same formula, and only verifiable data moves the number.
2 schools in Dresden teach an international programme with no tuition fee: Bertolt-Brecht-Gymnasium Dresden, Sächsisches Landesgymnasium Sankt Afra zu Meißen. On value for money such schools get the top score, because they sit outside the price range altogether.
2 schools with an international accreditation are funded by the state: Bertolt-Brecht-Gymnasium Dresden, Sächsisches Landesgymnasium Sankt Afra zu Meißen. Admission to these schools is usually competitive, and tuition is free or markedly cheaper than at a private school. In the ranking they stand alongside private schools and are scored on the same nine criteria.
Schools in Dresden with an IB programme (3): Dresden International School, Bertolt-Brecht-Gymnasium Dresden, Sächsisches Landesgymnasium Sankt Afra zu Meißen. 1 of them runs the full three-stage cycle: PYP, MYP and DP. Authorisation is confirmed against the International Baccalaureate register.
These schools stand in the suburbs, up to 23 km from the centre of Dresden. Each card names the school's own town; they are gathered here because a family in Dresden chooses between them as between districts of one place.
A facility counts only when the school names it outright on its own site: a modern campus is not a swimming pool. Boarding: 1 school.
Comparing schools on a single feature is useless: the most expensive is not the best, and a famous name says nothing about what is backed by documents. The score is therefore built from nine criteria with different weights - from academic programmes and accreditation to facilities, clubs and fees relative to other schools in the country.
A criterion counts towards the score only when there is verifiable data behind it. That is why every score says how many of the nine criteria were counted: at schools in Dresden that is 8 out of 9 on average. A school with a detailed site and a school with no site cannot earn an equally reliable score, and that is shown rather than hidden.
Ratings and reviews from Google Maps and other map services are not used: their terms forbid aggregation. Only verified reviews left here count. Full methodology →
Published fees run from $11 484 to $19 053 for a school year. The cheapest is Dresden International School, the most expensive Dresden International School. The median for the senior stage is $19 053 a year. Tuition is free at 2 schools: Bertolt-Brecht-Gymnasium Dresden, Sächsisches Landesgymnasium Sankt Afra zu Meißen. Fees are converted into dollars at a weekly rate; schools publish them in their own currency.
Dresden International School comes first with 78.8 points out of 100, counted from 8 of the 9 criteria. Next come Bertolt-Brecht-Gymnasium Dresden (76.1) and Sächsisches Landesgymnasium Sankt Afra zu Meißen (74.8). The score is built from data anyone can check: accreditations found in official registers, programmes, facilities and published fees. A place in the ranking is not for sale.
The ranking holds 3 schools: 1 private and 2 state (Bertolt-Brecht-Gymnasium Dresden, Sächsisches Landesgymnasium Sankt Afra zu Meißen). Private and state schools go into the ranking on equal terms.
International Baccalaureate programmes are taught at 3 schools: Dresden International School, Bertolt-Brecht-Gymnasium Dresden, Sächsisches Landesgymnasium Sankt Afra zu Meißen. 1 of them runs the full three-stage cycle: PYP, MYP and DP.
The earliest intake starts at 1 year old. 1 school has a preschool section.
The score of every school adds up from nine criteria with different weights: academic programmes, accreditation, facilities, clubs, the fee against other schools in the country, reviews, university destinations, safety and teachers. A criterion counts only when there is data behind it that can be checked, so every score says how many of the nine were counted. Right now that is 8 out of 9 on average. We do not use reviews from maps or directories.