Blog

Scholarship for DAAD Master Science, Ph.D., & Post doctorate Application. Due to the mystery and nightmare faced by some qualified and interested international students; I have here, compiled a comprehensive and detailed list of available opportunities in Germany. DAAD Scholarship

Focus is placed on: The DAAD scholarship

Benefits (what the scholarship covers)
Requirements
Course eligible for funding
Eligible countries
How to apply
Possible German Universities
When to apply/possible application start date as well as deadlines &
Useful links

The review will cover the Master’s, Ph.D., and Post Doctoral applications.

While, in my next article, I will cover the following topics: Tips for contacting prospective supervisor (for Ph.D., postdocs, etc., applicants) and also, I will give some universities internal links for Ph.D. and post-doctoral vacancies, and further provide hunts on Fully Funded Ph.D. opportunities (without DAAD scholarships/sponsorship), most of which have even better benefits as compared to what DAAD offers.

Brief comment

First, I will like to mention here that the “DAAD Scholarship” is different from the normal “Tuition-Free” educational system in Germany for international students. This simply means that international students can study in Germany for free, even without been offered the DAAD scholarship. You can check up our article on “Studying in Germany”, to know more about studies in Germany and the German Free Education Policy for international students. That said, let’s now dive into the DAAD scholarship.

The DAAD Scholarship

DAAD which is an abbreviation for Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (English: German Academic Exchange Service), is a full scholarship offered to international students from all over the world to pursue a Master’s, Doctoral, post-doctoral studies, and short term educational visits in Germany.

Are you thinking of studying, carrying out research, or learning German in Germany, is funding your challenge? then think no further… DAAD is here for you…

On a yearly basis, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) sponsors more than one hundred thousand (100,000) German and international students and researchers from around the world to study or carry out research in Germany. This makes DAAD the world’s largest funding organization as regards research and educational sponsorship.

Different awards are granted based on the interest and qualifications of applicants:

Grant for a full doctoral program. This is offered to candidates from developing countries (based on the OECD-DAC list). Scholarship for MSc degrees in Germany is offered primarily to persons from industrial nations.

Research grants – Short Term Grants for Ph.D. students and postdocs who are already studying/researching in different countries/home countries.

Research grant – One-year Grants for doctoral candidates from almost all countries of the world. There exist also the so-called “Sure-place and Third Country Programs”, where students, young scientists, and researchers are offered the DAAD funding to undertake graduate programs, doctoral or postdocs in their home country or region.

Watch Video

The DAAD scholarship is awarded to both Germans and international scholars with a large proportion being allocated to international applicants. The DAAD scholarship is aimed mainly at graduates, doctoral students, and postdocs and is awarded for study research and visits to universities and non-university research institutes in Germany. Funding is also offered for internships, in some programs.

The scholarship is awarded to scholars who:

• would like to have access to the best study and research opportunities
• has the goal to develop or extend their international network of academic contacts
• finds important to assume global responsibilities
• would eventually like to contribute towards the development of their home country with their expertise and networks

Benefits (what the scholarship covers)

It is a prestigious fully-funded scholarship, meaning no tuition fee, and it also covers all expenses including travel allowance, health insurance, monthly allowance, and all necessary facilities needed to make your studying or research in Germany worthwhile. A breakdown is given here:

Tuition fee                                                                                                     No tuition fee (free)

Monthly allowance for graduates (eg. MSc) students                                    €861 Euro

Monthly allowance for doctoral candidates & postdocs                                 €1200 Euro

Short-Term visits by Academic, postdocs, Professors                                    €2100 Euro

Travel Allowance from home country to Germany                                         €1200 depends on the country

Health insurance, accident, and personal liability insurance (monthly)         €50

And depending on the scholarship program, DAAD also provide additional benefits such as;

Study allowance (twice – at the beginning & end of study)                            €460

Research allowance                                                                                         €500/year (depends on program)

Family allowance                                                                                             Spouse: €300, Children: €200/ month

Fund for language course (one-off)                                                                  €2800

In general, no matter which category of scholarship you fall into, DAAD scholarship benefits and allowances are enough to successfully and comfortably live and study in Germany.

For full details about the benefits for respective DAAD scholarships, please feel free to visit the scholarship database

Requirements DAAD scholarship – Scholarship for DAAD Master Science

Some of the basic requirement for international applicants are:

• Applying for one of the various DAAD scholarship programs: MSc., Ph.D., Postdoc, Language course, short educational visits (for academics, lecturers, and professors), Internship, etc.
• Must not have spent more than 15 months in Germany pro to the application deadline of the selected scholarship program. i.e. as an international applicant, you must not have been residing in Germany for more than 15 months before the application deadline for a given application year.
• Be applying to study or carry out research in one of the public universities, research institutes, or state-recognized university/research institutes in Germany
• At least two years of work experience from your country is required in some of the scholarship categories

Full requirement is given by the respective scholarship categories

Courses Eligible for Funding

• Language and Cultural Studies
• Law, Economics and Social Sciences
• Mathematics/Natural Sciences
• Medicine
• Veterinary Medicine/Agriculture, Forestry, and Nutritional Sciences
• Engineering
• Art, Music, Sport

Different Categories of DAAD Scholarship Program – Scholarship for DAAD Master Science

There are over 190 different scholarship types offered by DAAD and each of these scholarships are applicable to citizens of certain countries. Therefore, you are expected to choose your Programs/scholarship of interest and then check if your country is on the list of countries eligible for that specific scholarship type. If your country is not, then you can check for other scholarship types and repeat your search. (There are over 190 different scholarship types offered by DAAD).

I have listed a few below:

Development-Related Postgraduate Courses for graduates: MSc and Ph.D. applicants
Research Grants – Doctoral Programs in Germany
Research Grants – Short-Term Grants
Research Grants – One-Year Grants for Doctoral Candidates
Research Grants – Bi-nationally Supervised Doctoral Degrees
Research Stays for University Academics and Scientists
Study Scholarships – Master Studies for all Academic Disciplines
University Summer Courses offered in Germany for Foreign Students and Graduates

Full details and links to all the 195 different DAAD programs and their application details can be found at the bottom of this article.

How to Apply – Scholarship for DAAD Master Science

To apply for any of the DAAD scholarships, you are expected to go through the call for applications for your chosen scholarship program in the scholarship database and remember to pay attention to the application deadlines. From the scholarship database, you can navigate to the specific DAAD scholarship of interest and proceed to the application portal if you meet all requirements.

Note:   Video of the step-by-step application and how to navigate through the DAAD scholarship application website and to successfully complete your DAAD application is now available. Full detail is given in the video. Feel free also, to leave your comments after watching the video. Your comments, criticism, suggestion, etc., are well appreciated and will be taken into consideration when preparing follow-up videos, as the case may be. (this red part may be removed if you think its too much text).

An independent and voluntary selection committee is responsible for reviewing all scholarship applications and are in charge of allocating scholarship to prospective winners.  It should be noted that selection is done based on subject-related criteria.

If you have some questions, do not hesitate to either Contact EuroAfConsults or Contact DAAD support team directly.

Some other useful Links

Research Grants – Short-Term Grants for Ph.D. students
Research Grants – One-Year Grants for Doctoral Candidates
University Summer Courses
University Winter Courses
Grant for a full doctoral program
Scholarships for a Master’s degree
Sur-place
Third Country Programmes
Scholarship database
www.funding-guide.de.

Overview of DAAD Scholarship

Links to all the 195 different DAAD programs and their application details can be found here: Over 190 different DAAD scholarship programs

Written by Chukwuemeka L. Ihemaguba

Hello, Thank you for visiting and reading through the article.

My name is Chukwuemeka L. Ihemaguba, the founder and CEO of EuroAfConsults. Having completed my Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Physics, Nigeria, I won a prestigious scholarship and proceeded to the University of Miskolc, Hungary, where I obtained my master’s degree in Materials Engineering with a Distinction. Thereafter, I moved to Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany for further studies, and I’m currently working at this university, as a research assistant at two different institutes: Laser Application Technology  & High Entropy Shape Memory Alloys. I am passionate about helping international students achieve their goal of studying abroad, either on scholarship or self-sponsorship, hence this platform was developed for this purpose.