Germany is one of the most sought-after study destinations, primarily because the German education system is one of the best in the world, especially when it comes to engineering. Moreover, tuition fee in Germany is usually so low that study in Germany is pretty much free compared to many other countries around the world. If you’ve decided to study in Germany but don’t know how to find study programmes using DAAD database relevant to your field of studies and how to apply to these programs through uni-assist, this blog will help you out.
How to find international programmes in Germany using DAAD
DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) is the most popular platform to find study programmes and scholarships in order to study in Germany. You can use their filter function to search suitable programmes offered by different universities, documents required for admission applications and application deadlines.
Let’s begin! Go to the international programmes of DAAD and bookmark this link for further use in future. If you want to learn how to navigate through the DAAD website to land at this page, go to www.daad.de. You can change the language to English by clicking at “EN” at the top right corner (see image below). Then click on the menu icon (3 horizontal lines) to see the menu.
Afterwards, expand the “Study & research in Germany” menu by clicking on the “+” sign next to it and then expand the “Courses of study” menu and click on “International Programmes” (see image below).
Now you should be on the filter function, as shown in the image below. After it, you have to select the course type, e.g., Bachelor’s, Master’s etc., then the course’s language of instruction, e.g. English, German etc., and lastly, the field of study you wish to pursue, e.g., engineering, medicine, etc. Please click on the search button, and you will see the results for your criteria (see image below).
At the bottom left, on the filter catalog, you may select the intake: winter semester, or a summer semester. Right above it, you may select the tuition fees per semester. From the type of institution filter, you may select a university (Technical University) or university of applied sciences (FH – Fachhochschule). An example is shown in the image below, in which results for “Computer Science” can be seen.
If you don’t know the difference between a Technical University (TU) and a University of Applied Sciences (FH), here is a quick overview. Technical Universities are generally focused on theoretical knowledge of the subjects and research-oriented coursework. However, Universities of Applied Sciences, as the name suggests, follow a practical and application-based approach.
After applying the filters, click on a course of study you might find interesting. Read out the essential details like the course details, language requirement, application deadline, how to submit an application, semester contribution, etc. We recommend visiting the university’s website and cross-checking all the details because some information about a particular study programme might not have been updated on DAAD.
Admission applications in Germany
Once you’ve selected the study programmes of your choice, let’s move on and discuss different procedures to apply, and the documents required to study in Germany. There are usually three different ways of applying to a German university, which are listed below. Please check the website of the university you wish to apply to in order to know the appropriate procedure to follow for the admission application process.
You have to upload attested copies of your educational documents: linguistic certificates, passport, application form, Curriculum Vitae (CV), Letter of Motivation (LoM), Letters of Recommendation (LoR), etc. on uni-assist’s portal. uni-assist will evaluate your documents according to the criterion set by the university of your choice. If all the requirements are met, uni-assist will forward your application to the respective university.
VPD + university:
You have to upload copies of your educational certificates on the uni-assist’s portal. uni-assist will compare your grades within the German systems of grades, and issue you a Vorprüfungsdokumentation VPD (preliminary review documentation). Next, you have to upload information and documents required by the respective university directly on the university’s admission application portal, and submit the admission application.
Via the university’s admission application portal:
Some universities have their own application portal. You have to submit the admission application with all the required information and documents directly to the university.
Regardless of how you apply, documents can usually be uploaded online. However, in some cases, you might have to send them by post. You will need to know the guidelines regarding document submission provided by the university you’re applying to. If the documents are to be sent by post, make sure that the copies of educational documents are notarized. Furthermore, try to send them ASAP to avoid high delivery fee at the last minute.
Next, let’s have a look at the step-by-step process of creating an account on uni-assist and applying for a study programme in Germany.
How to apply for admission at German universities via uni-assist
uni-assist e.V. provides processing and evaluation for international student applications in German universities that require admission applications to be submitted through uni-assist. Important notice from uni-assist’s website “uni-assist e.V. does not cooperate with commercial agencies in or outside of Germany to mediate the placement of applicants at German universities. Some institutions claim to be connected to uni-assist.”
Disclaimer: we are not connected to uni-assist, always visit uni-assist’s website to inform yourself about the latest information. This blog post highlights basic usage of uni-assist and intends to help students, so that they can apply on their own using uni-assist.
First of all, visit the uni-assist’s website and click on the create a new account. After registration, you will receive an activation link via email. After activating your uni-assist account, you can proceed to sign in to your uni-assist account (see image below).
After signing in, fill out basic information, and educational history (see image below).
After submitting your personal and educational information, you will be redirected to the uni-assist’s homepage, as shown in the image below. You may apply the filters, e.g., type of degree, university, etc., and then choose a study programme that you would like to apply.
After selection, you will click on “Selection List,” which is on the top right corner beside “My Inbox.” Now, you have to pay the admission application fees (see image below). uni-assist charges 75 Euros for the first admission application, and then 30 Euros for each additional application.
After paying the application fee, you will need to upload your documents on the portal or send them by post to uni-assist (see image below). It varies from university to university; some universities accept online applications, whereas some ask to send the documents by post. ui-assist usually take 4-6 weeks to process an application and issue evaluation result.
We hope this blog post would help you with your admission applications in Germany, so that you can fulfill your dream of studying in Germany. By the way, when you apply abroad, it’s usually not just your grade that matters, but rather the overall profile that reflects from your admission documents. On study abroad page of Adifiles, you can find detailed guidance on how to prepare important documents such as CV, LoM, LoR, etc. We also offer document review services that may help you make your admission application stand out. We’d be happy to help.
Good luck with your admission application process!
Authors: M. Abdullah Khan, Adil Ilyas