FAQ for international students:
Application and admission

Please see the following overview of all application options.

You apply online only (exception: medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy, see separate question). Please do not send us any documents by e-mail or post. Only in exceptional cases is it possible to hand in documents by e-mail to the application advisors within the application deadline.

You can apply for up to three study programs at the University of Tübingen simultaneously.

You can find an overview of the application deadlines here.

No.

If you have EU citizenship:

All applicants for admission-restricted Mono-Bachelor's programs and “Staatsexamen Rechtswissenschaft” must first register on Hochschulstart before they can apply via the ALMA portal. The allocation of study places for these subjects is carried out via the Dialog-Oriented Service Procedure (DoSV). Information on the DoSV can be found here.

Applicants for admission-restricted combined Bachelor's degree programs consisting of a major and minor subject as well as for B.Ed. apply only via the ALMA portal (without registering at Hochschulstart).

If you do not have EU citizenship:

All applicants apply only via the ALMA portal (without registering at Hochschulstart). There is a special quota for Non-EU applicants.

EU citizens apply for medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy exclusively via Hochschulstart. After submitting your online application, you will be asked to send your documents by post to Hochschulstart.

Non-EU citizens can apply for medicine, dentistry and pharmacy ONLY via the ALMA portal.

Information on how to apply for a higher semester can be found on this website of the Student Administration Office. Please contact the faculty course advisor of your new study program in advance to clarify if previous study achievements can be recognized, and for which semester you can apply.

This procedure is not necessary if you wish to transfer from a university in Germany to the University of Tübingen within the same field of study (Hochschulwechsler*innen). In this case, a certificate of enrollment certifying your current semester is sufficient. However, both study courses must be more or less identical.

If you would like to apply for a higher semester in a medical degree program, you must first apply at the responsible state examination office for recognition of your previous study achievements. For medicine and dentistry, please send the translated and certified documents to the State Examination Office for Medicine, Psychotherapy and Pharmacy of North Rhine-Westphalia. Applicants for pharmacy should contact the Hessian State Examination Office for Health Care.

Information on how to apply for a study visit without a degree can be found here.

In the database Anabin (German) as well as in the admissions database of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) (German/English) you can check your certificates yourself in advance. Should any doubts remain, you can contact the application advisors. Ultimately, the university will decide on the recognition after your application.

You can find an overview of the documents to be uploaded here.

No. The Admissions Office for International Students will check your certificates and convert your grades.

If your certificates are written in a language other than German or English, they have to be translated into German or English by an officially certified translator. When applying online, please upload scans of the translations along with scans of the originals of your certificates. For enrollment, you must submit the certified translations along with certified copies of the originals.

You do not need to take the TestAS.

However, in admission-restricted undergraduate programs (Bachelor, State Exam), applicants from non-EU countries can improve their average grade by above-average TestAS results. You can find more information about possibilities to improve your average grade here.

If you have obtained your university entrance qualification in China (except Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao), India, or Vietnam, you must submit a certificate from the respective Academic Evaluation Center with your application.

No. The required documents must be uploaded with the application. Only in justified exceptional cases it is possible to submit documents later and by e-mail, but within the application deadline.

Information on recognized German language certificates can be found here.

Different degree programs require different levels of English proficiency. Please check the list of study programs for the language certificates required by the specific degree program you are interested in. For further information please see the brochures Foreign Language Requirements for Undergraduate or Master's Programs.

No.

No.

You can check your certificates in the database Anabin (German) as well as in the admissions database of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) (German/English). If you are still in doubt whether you will need to attend the Studienkolleg, you can contact the head of the Admissions Office for International Students.

Information on how to apply for the “Studienkolleg” (foundation course) and the corresponding application form for admission can be found at the bottom of this website.

If you apply to study in Tübingen and are required to attend the “Studienkolleg” (foundation course) and take the final assessment exam (Feststellungsprüfung), you will be assigned to the Studienkolleg Heidelberg. If you have any questions, please contact the head of the division Admission of International Students.

Applicants must take a written placement test. It usually takes place in October for the winter semester and in April for the summer semester. You can find more information about the test on the website of the Studienkolleg Heidelberg.

As a rule, yes. However, graduates of some “Studienkollegs” can only study in a certain federal state or at a certain university. Please ask your “Studienkolleg” where you may study.

No. As these programs are highly competitive, it is not possible to apply for admission if you still have to attend the “Studienkolleg”.

An overview of the selection limits of the last semesters can be found here. Please note that the selection limits only apply to EU citizens.

For non-EU citizens there is a special application quota with separate selection criteria (see the next two questions).

In undergraduate programs with restricted admission (Bachelor and state exam), there is a quota of 5% to 10% of the available study places for non-EU citizens.

Prospective students with an EU citizenship apply in the application procedure for Germans. You can find more information here.

In Master programs, there are no quotas for international students.

In Bachelor and state exam programs with restricted admission, applicants* from non-EU countries can improve their average grade by the following achievements:

1. Above-average German language skills: by 0.5 or 1.0 of the German grading scale (1-4).
2. Above-average TestAS examination: from 0.1 up to 1.0
3. Professional training or professional activity (at least 1 year) by up to 0.2. The achievements can also be cumulative.
4. Other related work (internship, study, etc.) (at least 1 year) by up to 0.2. The work can also be cumulative.

For a detailed overview, please refer to the appendix of the "Statutes of the University of Tübingen for the Admission of Foreign Study Applicants" (Official Announcements No. 33 - 2020, and No. 2 - 2024).

You must submit a transcript of records from your bachelor's degree by the application deadline, proving that you have already earned at least 80% of the credit points. The average grade is calculated on the basis of the achievements available at the time of application. The final Bachelor certificate including transcript must be submitted within the 1st semester.

If your Bachelor's certificate shows that the course was studied entirely in German, this is recognized as proof of German.

However, it is not sufficient if you have studied German or German Studies as a major subject, but in a language other than German.

This depends on the respective Master's program. Please check the list of study programs or the website of the respective program for information on the required language skills.

Admission law does not differentiate between recognized refugees and other international students, and they are treated the same. For more information, please see the website of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

You can find out more about the specifics of residence law and similar topics in the brochure Hochschulzugang und Studium von Flüchtlingen.

You have the possibility to participate in an examination to prove your previous education. To do so, please contact the head of the Department Admission of International Students.