The article is devoted to identifying the political and geographical interpretation of the boundaries of the Central Asia macro-region through an analysis of higher education programs at German universities. Over the past two decades, Germany has been actively increasing its economic presence in this region. Since the end of the twentieth century, the German government has made systematic efforts to attract foreign students and strengthen the reputation of German universities as leading research and education centers. Analyzing humanitarian educational programs for the study of Central Asia, the priority scale is built as follows: Tibet and Mongolia; China as a part of the Central Asian macro-region; Iran and Afghanistan; Central Asia CIS; countries of the South Caucasus. In philological programs Turkey dominates, with the fragmentary appearance of Central Asian CIS countries. In technical educational programs, the configuration of the macro-region changed the parameters: they include, first of all, post-Soviet countries, as well as Iran, the countries of Central Asia. These programs are developed from the point of view of potential investments in technology industries - therefore, both projects and programs are country-specific. The focus on economic diplomacy in relation to the post-Soviet countries of Central Asia reflects the transition from the diplomacy of democratic progress to the diplomacy of economic sovereignty of the countries of the macro-region.