Finding Scholarships

Application requirements

What requirements must be met?

What requirements must be met?
Please check if the following criteria are fulfilled:

• As a rule, your university degree should not date back more than 6 years at the time of the ap-plication deadline. Please read our important information for scholarship applicants / Section A, point 2.
• The legal and subject-specific admission requirements for a Master's degree programme in Germany must be fulfilled. Please note that Master's programmes at German universities are gen-erally consecutive. This means that the Master's programme builds on the Bachelor's pro-gramme.
• Please note that you yourself are responsible for ensuring your application for admission to the German university for your chosen study programme is submitted by the due date. It is therefore important that you find out about admission requirements, application and enrolment deadlines at your host university and regulations regarding entry into Germany in good time. If you have not yet received notification of admission at the time of application, you must submit this before the funding period begins. A Scholarship from the DAAD is only valid if you have been admitted to study im a Master’s programme in Germany.
• Your application cannot be considered, if you have been resident in Germany for longer than 15 months at the application deadline.
• You must demonstrate above-average academic performance.

Language skills

The language of instruction for study programmes in Germany is German. In international programmes, the language of instruction is English, or German and English. The language requirements are set out in the admission requirements for the Master's programmes of the universities. Please check whether you fulfil the necessary language requirements.
When you apply to the DAAD for a scholarship, you must provide proof of your current level of proficiency in the language of instruction (German, English, or German and English) in your chosen study pro-gram. You must have already reached at least level B1.

• If the language of instruction is German, the following certificates are usually eligible: TestDaF, DSH, Deutsches Sprachdiplom der Kultusministerkonferenz (DSD), Goethe-Zertifikat, Österreichisches Sprachdiplom, telc Deutsch and onSET Deutsch.
• If the language of instruction is English, the following certificates can be submitted, for example: Cambridge English, Cambridge Business, IELTS, ISE, TOEFL iBT, TOEFL Essentials, TOEIC, PTE Academic and onSET English.

Application Procedure

Application deadline

Application deadlines are updated annually in the second quarter. In most cases, they are in the same period as the previous year. You can find the current dates here:

Application documents

Certificates, proof of credits, certifications and translations may be scanned in non-certified form and uploaded to the DAAD portal. The DAAD reserves the right to request certified copies of the documents.
Documents to be uploaded to the DAAD portal:

• Online application form
• Full curriculum vitae in tabular form (max. 3 pages)
• letter of motivation, 1 - 3 pages: statement about the academic and personal reasons for the planned study project in Germany. Please also read our important information for scholarship applicants / Section B, Point 1. Upload the letter of motivation under 'study project/motivation' in the DAAD portal.
• Letter of admission to the study programme at the host university in Germany. If you have not yet received notification of admission at the time of application, you must submit this before the funding period begins.
• Form 'Information about your preferred master programmes', duly completed (you can enter up to 5 Master‘s programmes). Please note that the DAAD does not consider and formally excludes Master's programmes that charge tuition fees. Upload the form under 'course profile' in the DAAD portal.
• Current overview of grades/ transcript of records with individual grades (to be uploaded under 'transcript of records/academic achievements' in the DAAD portal)
• All university degree certificates already obtained, indicating final grade(s) and transcripts with individual grades for all academic years; if you do not yet have your degree certificate, you must submit it prior to the start of the scholarship at the latest. In this case, upload a provisional doc-ument to the portal instead. Please upload your certificate(s) or the preliminary document under 'university degree certificates' in the DAAD portal.
• Certificate of language(s) of instruction of the chosen study programme (should be no older than 2 years), at least level B1. Please refer to 'Application requirements' to find out which certifi-cates can generally be submitted. Depending on the country, specific documents may be required, which are listed below, if applicable. Please submit certificates via the DAAD portal under 'language certificate', even if the university does not require proof of language skills.
• One recent, supporting letter of recommendation (on a DAAD-form) from a university teacher which provides information about your qualifications. Please regard the instructions given on the tab 'Submitting an application'.
• Passport/national identity card and personal data page of the passport/national identity card and, if applicable, other documents containing information about your identity and your current residence status. For refugees: Refugee ID card and UNHCR registration/official proof of asylum. Please upload in the portal under ‘miscellaneous’.
• Other documents you think might be of relevance to your application (e.g. certificates of employment, proof of extracurricular engagement)

The application is made online through the DAAD portal.
Please note that the access to the application portal only appears while the current application period is running. After the application deadline has expired, the portal for this programme is not available until the next application period.

Please note

• Your application is only valid if you submit all the required documents to the DAAD portal by the application deadline.
• The DAAD portal closes at 24.00 hrs. (CET or CEST) on the last application day. If possible, please do not send your application on the final date in case technical problems occur.
• Incomplete applications cannot be considered. Applicants are responsible for ensuring that their applications are complete.
• The application documents remain with the DAAD. Data relating to applicants is saved by the DAAD in accordance with the Federal Data Protection Act and with the EU Data Protection Regulation insofar as this data is needed to process the application.

Contact and Consulting

More detailed information

• DAAD website 'Important information for DAAD scholarship applicants'
• DAAD website section 'Doing a PhD and Research in Germany'
• Website 'Research in Germany'
• Website 'GERiT – German Research Institutions'

Submitting an application

General information on the application via DAAD portal

Applications for this scholarship programme are possible in the period June until the stated application deadline.
Click on 'Application portal' at the bottom of the page to go to the DAAD portal. There you will be provided with an online application form to enter your application data.

This is what you have to do:

1. Register in the DAAD portal (Read notes about registering in the portal >>)

2. Request recommendation form
You can generate the recommendation form in the DAAD Portal as a writable PDF under 'Request recommendation form'. It can only be generated during the application period. Please send it to your university teacher and ask him or her to complete the form in full. When you have received it back, upload it in the portal under 'Letter of Recommendation'.

3. Applying online in the DAAD portal (Read notes on applying in the portal >>)

• Prepare application documents
• If necessary, translate documents (unless they are already in German or English).
• Scan paper documents and save in PDF format. You can only upload PDF files to the portal.
• Fill out the application form and upload the application documents to the portal in PDF format. Translations, if applicable, should be uploaded together with the document issued in the original language.
• Submit the application online.