Admission Requirements

All students from abroad must apply for admission to a German university. This applies to freshmen, postgraduates and doctoral candidates alike. The admissions procedure ensures that applicants fulfil the necessary requirements to study at an institute of higher education.

If you wish to study at a German university, you need a so-called Hochschulzugangsberechtigung (HZB), or higher education entrance qualification. This is a secondary school-leaving certificate that corresponds to the German Abitur and entitles you to study.

Students from abroad must apply for admission from the university of their choice. For your application, you will require

for a Bachelor’s degree:

• a school-leaving certificate (also known as “university entrance qualification”, e.g. High School Diploma, Matura, A-Levels, Bachillerato, Atestat, baccalauréat) or
• proof that you have passed the university entrance examination (if required in your home country)

for a Master’s degree and PhD programmes:

• recognition of your university degree from your home country or another country.
• Not all higher education entrance qualifications apply to all study programmes. There is a general qualification (“allgemeine HZB”) which entitles students to study all subjects at universities and universities of applied sciences, and a subject-specific qualification (“fachgebundene HZB”) which entitles students to study certain subjects only.