FES Basic Scholarship for International Students

Benefits & funding

• €992 per month during the funded study period.
• Health-insurance costs are covered.
• Scholarship holders with a child receive an additional €255 per month.
• The scholarship does not have to be repaid.
• Non-financial support includes seminars, workshops, skills training, mentoring, personal advice, scholar groups, and thematic working groups.

Eligibility

• Be an international student already studying at a state or state-recognized university or university of applied sciences in Germany.
• Pursue a Bachelor’s, Master’s, Diploma, Magister, or State Examination program.
• Have initial graded university results and above-average academic performance.
• Demonstrate German at B2 level; FES says a certificate is not required.
• Show civic or political engagement and identify with social-democratic values.
• FES’s international-student FAQ defines the target group by eligible regions and excludes OECD countries; it does not publish an exhaustive country-by-country list.
• Bachelor, Diploma, Magister, and State Examination applicants apply after the first semester and no later than three semesters before the end of the standard study period. Medicine applicants apply after the fourth semester or the Physikum and by the end of the sixth semester.
• Master’s applicants apply before or at the start of the first Master’s semester.

Application process

1. 1
   Select the international-student basic scholarship and complete the online form with personal, educational, family, motivation, and engagement information.
2. 2
   Wait for the initial review; within two to four weeks, FES either declines the application or requests documents and references.
3. 3
   If invited, submit a detailed CV, certificates, enrolment evidence, other requested records, a motivation letter, and two academic references.
4. 4
   Complete a subject-related interview with an FES liaison lecturer if shortlisted.
5. 5
   Complete a second interview with a selection-committee member if advanced, after which the committee makes the final decision.

Program timeline

1. After the first semester to three semesters before the standard study period ends

   Application window for Bachelor’s, Diploma, Magister, and State Examination students.

2. After the fourth semester or Physikum to the end of the sixth semester

   Medicine application window.

3. Summer-semester deadline for Master’s applicants.

   31 May each year

4. Winter-semester deadline for Master’s applicants.

   30 November each year

5. Two to four weeks after online submission

   Initial review result or request for documents.

6. Within three weeks of a request

   Applicant documents are due; references may take up to six weeks.

7. Within one week after the relevant committee meeting

   Final decision is communicated.