Studying with a Foreign University Entrance Qualification
You have obtained your school-leaving certificate, i.e. university entrance qualification, abroad or have already studied or even completed a degree abroad and are now interested in pursuing a degree programme at the Karlsruhe University of Education? Feel free to find out more about your options here.
Please note that, with the exception of a few courses, our degree programmes are taught exclusively in German. Therefore, it is essential that you have an adequate level of German language proficiency in order to be able to study at our university. However, it is possible to pursue a doctorate in another language than German following prior consultation with the supervising professor.
In case you have informed yourself on this page and have not found the answers you are looking for even under the FAQ, we will be happy to help you individually:
Requirements
International applicants with foreign certificates must provide one of the following language certificates with the required level in order to be eligible to study at our university:
- DSH-2 Deutsche Sprachprüfung für den Hochschulzugang (certificate stating that you have passed the German language test for university admission for international students) - at least level DSH2;
- TestDaF - Test Deutsch als Fremdsprache (German as a foreign language test) - level TDN 4 in at least 4 sections;
- new Goethe Certificate C2 - Großes Deutsches Sprachdiplom (GDS) or one of the previous exams of the Goethe Institute: Kleines Deutsches Sprachdiplom (KDS), Großes Deutsches Sprachdiplom (GDS) or Zentrale Oberstufenprüfung (ZOP);
- telc Deutsch C1 Hochschule exam (European language certificate);
- DSD II - Deutsches Sprachdiplom (German language diploma of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany; (Kultusministerkonferenz)) - at least level II;
- Deutsche Sprachprüfungen II (German language test II) by the Munich Institute of Languages and Interpreters;
- Certificate of the assessment test
For detailed information on the language proficiency requirements and examination regulations for the various language certificates, please see:
- Proof of language proficiency (in German and English)
- TestDaF language exam
- Goethe Certificate
- Examples of the DSH test
- Information on the telc Deutsch C1 Hochschule exam
Please note: If you are not able to present a valid language certificate by 30 September at the latest, you cannot start your studies at our university. For those starting their studies in the summer semester, the deadline is 31 March.
All applicants wishing to study at a higher education institution in Germany must provide proof of a valid university entrance qualification. This also applies to students with a foreign school-leaving certificate. Therefore, we will examine whether your school-leaving certificate entitles you to study in Germany before you can enroll.
Please note that we charge an administration fee for reviewing your documents.The fee will be waived if you can present a letter of recognition from another institution showing the overall grade that you earned abroad, which has been converted to a grade corresponding to the overall grade you would have obtained in Germany.
For initial information on whether your certificates might be adequate for studying at a German higher education institution, please visit the website of the Central Office for Foreign Education (Zentralstelle für Ausländisches Bildungswesen, ZAB).
| Applicants from the European Union: | A school-leaving certificate that entitles you to study at a higher education institution in your home country normally also enables you to study at a German university.However, the final decision as to whether your school-leaving certificate is sufficient for studying in Germany depends on the subjects you have taken at school as well as on the subjects you would like to study in Germany. Therefore, your certificates will be checked by our International Office before admission. |
| School-leaving certificates of prospective students from non-EU countries: | You need to have your school-leaving certificate reviewed and recognised by our University. The Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (Kultusministerkonferenz, KMK) has issued recommendations in this regard, which our university follows. Our International Office will take care of the recognition . School-leaving certificates from some countries can only be recognised as being equivalent to a German university entrance qualification if you can prove that you have already successfully studied for one or two years at a higher education institution in your home country that is recognised in Germany. In addition to your school-leaving certificate, you will then also need your degree certificate or interim transcript of records, which you must enclose with your application documents both as a certified copy in the original language and as a certified translation.This regulation applies to applicants from those countries in which the university entrance qualification is achieved in less than 12 school years. This applies to the CIS states, in particular. |
| Applicants with certificates from the People’s Republic of China (with the exception of Hong Kong and Macao), Vietnam or Mongolia: | In order to apply to the University of Education Karlsruhe, you always need an official certificate issued by the German Embassy's academic evaluation centre - Akademische Prüfstelle (APS) - in your home country. For further information please contact the: Akademische Prüfstelle Beijing Akademische Prüfstellle Hanoi Akademische Prüfstelle Neu Delhi |
If you have submitted your complete application documents to us and it turns out that your foreign school-leaving certificates cannot be recognised as equivalent to the German Abitur and you meet certain requirements, we will inform you that you can make up for the missing qualifications in a one-year course at the "Studienkolleg" in Heidelberg.
The Studienkolleg is an institution of the Heidelberg University. Over the course of one year, you will acquire the necessary level of language proficiency and subject knowledge to pass a final examination, which is equivalent to the German "Abitur" and entitles you to study at a university in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Please be aware that you cannot apply directly to the Studienkolleg yourself, but first need to apply for a degree programme at our university. We will then register you at the Studienkolleg for an entrance examination. In order to ensure that you have a good chance of being admitted to the Studienkolleg, you should have completed at least 750 hours of German language lessons and be able to provide documentary evidence of this. The Studienkolleg decides whether you are admitted on the basis of an entrance examination (language test).
For more information about the Studienkolleg, please visit the website of the International Study Centre (Internationales Studienzentrum, ISZ) of Heidelberg University.
Applying
The application deadline for all bachelor's and master's programmes (except for the master's programme in Teacher Education) is 15 July for the following winter semester, which begins in October.
Admission to these degree programmes only takes place in the winter semester. Some subjects of the programmes in Teacher Education have special admission requirements, including an admissions test for Music, Sports and Arts and special admission requirements for the Bilingual Course (BLL/CLIL).
The following deadlines apply for the master's programmes in Teacher Education:
- Application deadline for the winter semester: 15 May,
- Application deadline for the summer semester: 15 November.
Since the winter semester 2017/18, the Land of Baden-Württemberg has been charging tuition fees for international students who are not citizens of a member state of the European Union or another state that is party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. For all information regarding tuition fees, exceptions and exemptions from the requirement to pay tuition fees, please see the act on fees in higher education of the Land of Baden-Württemberg (Landeshochschulgebührengesetz, LHGebG).
Please submit your application via our online application portal.There you can see which documents you have to submit as hard copies and which ones you only have to upload to the portal.
Required documents
Please apply online via our application portal. Please remember to sign the application form as instructed. You need to submit:
- a copy of your school-leaving certificate in the original language (including a transcript of grades),
- an officially certified copy of the translation of your school-leaving certificate (including a transcript of grades) - not required for certificates in English, French or Spanish,
- a copy of your degree certificate or the provisional certificates in the original language (if available), including a transcript of records,
- an officially certified copy of the translation of your degree certificate or the provisional certificates, including a transcript of records. For certificates in English, French or Spanish, no translation is required.
- A copy of a qualified proof of language proficiency (may be submitted by 30 September at the latest),
- proof of payment of the administration fee for having your certificates reviewed and recognised by the University of Education Karlsruhe,
- proof that you have successfully passed the Career Counselling for Teachers.
- Depending on your personal qualifications and the subjects you choose to study, you may need to submit further documents, for example, proof of having passed the admissions test for Sports or Arts, proof of an adequate language skills for studying a Bilingual Course (BLL/CLIL), proof of adequate levels of English or French language proficiency for secondary level I or proof of religious affiliation if you choose Theology as a subject.
Please apply online via our application portal. Please remember to sign the application form as instructed. You need to submit:
- a copy of your degree certificate or an officially certified copy of the provisional certificates (if available), including a transcript of records,
- an officially certified copy of the translation of your degree certificate or the provisional certificates, including a transcript of records. For certificates in English, French or Spanish, no translation is required.
- A copy of a qualified proof of language proficiency (may be submitted by 30 September at the latest),
- proof of payment of the administration fee for having your certificates reviewed and recognised by the University of Education Karlsruhe,
- participation in an individual aptitude check for teachers. Please note that you must register for a reflection on aptitude at our university! For more information, please see the website of the Centre for Teaching Practice.
- All other documents you need for your application (if applicable, proof of further language skills, proof of credit points (CP) earned - please carefully read the selection statutes of the respective degree programme , in particular, section 3 "Zugangsvoraussetzungen" (admission requirements) and section 4 "Form des Zulassungsantrags" (form of the application for admission).
Please apply online via our application portal. Please remember to sign the application form as instructed. Please be aware that for the degree programmes in Childhood Education and Physical Activity, Health and Recreation, an additional registration via hochschulstart.de is required. You need to submit
- a copy of your school-leaving certificate in the original language (including a transcript of grades),
- an officially certified copy of the translation of your school-leaving certificate, including a transcript of grades. For certificates in English, French or Spanish, no translation is required.
- A copy of your degree certificate or the provisional certificates in the original language (if available), including a transcript of records,
- an officially certified copy of the translation of your degree certificate or the provisional certificates, including a transcript of records - not required for certificates in English, French or Spanish,
- a copy of a qualified proof of language proficiency (may be submitted by 30 September at the latest),
- proof of payment of the administration fee for having your certificates reviewed and recognised by the Karlsruhe University of Education,
- proof of professional qualifications, internships, work experience etc. that are relevant to your degree programme as well as
- proof of having completed the general higher education orientation test.
Please apply online via our application portal. Please remember to sign the application form as instructed. You need to submit:
- a copy of your school-leaving certificate in the original language (including a transcript of grades),
- a copy of the translation of your school-leaving certificate (including a transcript of grades) - not required for certificates in English, French or Spanish,
- a copy of your degree certificate or an officially certified copy of the provisional certificates in the original language, including a transcript of records.
- an officially certified copy of the translation of your degree certificate or the provisional certificates, including a transcript of records. For certificates in English, French or Spanish, no translation is required.
- a copy of a qualified proof of language proficiency (may be submitted by 30 September at the latest),
- proof of payment of the administration fee for having your certificates reviewed and recognised by the Karlsruhe University of Education as well as
- all other documents that you have to submit according to the admission statutes of the respective degree programme, for example proof of further language skills, letter of motivation, summary of your final thesis, proof of practical work experience.
Please submit all required documents, together with your signed application, as hard copies to us by the current application deadline at the latest - the date of receipt by post applies! Please note that we cannot consider incomplete applications.
Do not submit any original documents. Please send us only copies or, if required, officially certified copies. Please note that any translations you submit must either have been prepared by a translator officially sworn in Germany or by the diplomatic or consular representation of the Federal Republic of Germany in your home country.
Administration fee
Please note that we charge an administration fee of EUR 50.00 for reviewing your documents and in particular your certificates and transcripts of records. The fee will be waived if you can present a letter of recognition from another institution showing the overall grade that you earned abroad, which has been converted to a grade corresponding to the overall grade you would have obtained in Germany.
To complete your application, please pay this amount to the Karlsruhe University of Education before 15 July. Payment may be made by bank transfer or cash.
Payment by bank transfer:
- Payee: LOK Baden-Württemberg
- Bank details: Baden-Württemberg Bank IBAN: DE02 6005 0101 7495 5301 02 BIC: SOLADEST
- Payment reference: 8971580000885 + name of the applicant
Please enclose the transfer voucher with your application documents.
Cash payment:
If you would like to pay the fee in cash, you can do so at the cash desk of the Karlsruhe University of Education, Bismarckstrasse 10, main building (building I), room 207 (on the 2nd floor). Opening hours are Monday to Thursday 9:30 a.m. - noon and 2:00 p.m. - 3.00 p.m. In this case, please also enclose the receipt of payment with your application or hand it in personally at the International Office (building 3, room 117).
Recognition of coursework and examinations
If you would like to have coursework and examinations from a previous degree programme recognised, please contact the relevant contact person of the respective subject.
Recognition of a Teacher Education degree obtained abroad
If you have already completed a Teacher Education degree in another country, please first contact the Regional Council (Regierungspräsidium) in Tübingen in order to have your Teacher Education degree reviewed and recognised.
This applies to all teaching qualifications for teaching at a Grundschule (primary school), Hauptschule (secondary school that offers lower secondary education (level 2) according to the International Standard Classification of Education), Werkrealschule (secondary school that offers pupils additional lessons in grades 8 and 9 and allows them to qualify after ten years with a final exam which is equal to graduation from a Realschule) and Realschule (secondary school that offers intermediate secondary education and is ranked between Hauptschule (lowest) and Gymnasium (highest)) in the Land of Baden-Württemberg. We recommend that you contact the Regional Council by telephone in order to clarify important questions in advance.
As soon as you have received the final letter of recognition from the Regional Council, you can apply to us for the required additional studies you need to complete. For information on what contents exactly you have to study additionally in order to obtain the teaching qualification in Baden-Württemberg, please see section IV of the letter of recognition.
Since in other countries, degree programmes in Teacher Education often only cover one subject, you may have to study a second subject in Germany, for example. In some cases, the subject you have to study is pre-defined, but sometimes you are free to choose which second subject you would like to study. You will find an overview of all subjects that you can choose from on the Studying Teacher Education page.On the pages of the respective degree programmes, you will find information on which subjects can be studied in which degree programme.
Applying for admission to additional studies
- Complete the application for admission to additional studies required for recognition of your Teacher Education degree. Enter the specifications made by the Regional Council, including the required CPs. If you are free to choose your second subject, please enter the subject that you would like to study at our university and teach later.
- Print out the application form and sign it yourself.
- Please send us your application, including the letter of recognition from the Regional Council of Tübingen and proof of the required language skills, by post or submit it to us in person.
Do you have any more questions?
In case you have not found the answers you are looking for under the FAQ or need support with your application for additional studies, we will be happy to help you individually.
International Office
Paulina Banaszek
montags 11:00 bis 12:30 Uhr (im SSZ)
mittwochs 9:30 bis 12:00 Uhr
(nur nach Voranmeldung über Stud.IP)
donnerstags 10:30 bis 12:00 Uhr
Special services
All international students who are properly enrolled at our university will be supported and supervised by a special tutor. In addition, you can benefit from the support and advisory services for international students provided by the Studierendenwerk Karlsruhe.
Additional courses, such as "Deutsch als Wissenschaftssprache" (German as an Academic Language, in the winter semester) or "Deutsch für Beruf und Schulpraxis" (German for Work and School, in the summer semester) are offered free of charge. Moreover, if required, tutorials can be organised for particularly demanding lectures or seminars to ensure support in understanding texts and acquiring the academic content.
Within the framework of the STIBET scholarship programme for international students and doctoral candidates, the Karlsruhe University of Education regularly offers a graduation scholarship or a scholarship for especially committed international students that are financed with funds from the Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt, AA). These scholarships are awarded to international students who are enrolled in a bachelor's, Teacher Education, master's or doctoral degree programme at our university. A prerequisite for receiving funding is that the applicants must have performed well and also demonstrate outstanding commitment in an international context at their university. The scholarship will be awarded for a maximum of 12 months. The minimum monthly scholarship payment amounts to EUR 250.00. The International Office will provide you with all necessary details as soon as you have enrolled at our university.
You may also be eligible for being awarded the DAAD Prize for outstanding achievements of international students studying at German universities. The award comes with a prize money of EUR 1000.00. The award is usually presented on the occasion of the university's New Year's reception.
Frequently Asked Questions
We would be happy to check - by way of an assessment without obligation - whether your certificates qualify you to apply for a degree programme at our university. Please contact the International Office for this purpose. For initial information on whether your certificates might be adequate for studying at a German higher education institution, please visit the website of the Central Office for Foreign Education (Zentralstelle für Ausländisches Bildungswesen, ZAB).
No, each higher education institution will check individually whether your school-leaving certificate qualifies you to study at the respective institution. We base our review on the assessment guidelines of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (Kultusministerkonferenz, KMK).
No, when you apply for a study place, we will check whether you have an appropriate university entrance qualification directly at the Karlsruhe University of Education. Only German citizens with a foreign certificate must have it recognised by the Regional Council (Regierungspräsidium) in Stuttgart in order to be able to apply. An exception is the recognition of a completed degree in Teacher Education.
All students studying at a higher education institution in Germany are required to pay a semester fee. In 2022, the semester fee charged by the Karlsruhe University of Education is EUR 164.70. The semester fee is made up of three separate contributions: the Studierendenwerk fee, the fee for the constituted student body and the administration fee.
Since the winter semester 2017/2018, the higher education institutions in Baden-Württemberg have been charging tuition fees for international students arriving from outside the EU and EEA states for the purpose of studying. The tuition fee for international students is EUR 1,500 per semester. International students who pursue a second or further degree in Germany (second degree) must pay a tuition fee for second degree students in the amount of EUR 650 per semester. For exemptions from the requirement to pay tuition fees, please see the act on fees in higher education of the Land of Baden-Württemberg (Landeshochschulgebührengesetz, LHGebG).
With a few exceptions, you do not have to take an admissions test. Only students wishing to study Sports or Arts as part of their Teacher Education programme must take an admissions test. If you would like to apply for one of the Bilingual Courses (BLL/CLIL), please pay attention to the programme's specific admission requirements.
If you are interested in the bachelor's programmes in Teacher Education, please note that certain subjects (for which there is a particularly high demand for teachers at schools) are grouped into different subject groups, so-called "Passungsquoten". This means that a certain number of study places will be available for each of these subject groups and that you can apply for these places with certain electives. So, please be sure to inform yourself about these competency-based quotas. You will find the relevant information on our German language websites.
Yes. In some cases, you are only allowed to study in Germany if you have already successfully studied for one or two years in your home country in addition to obtaining your school-leaving certificate. In individual cases, it may also be possible that your previous coursework and examinations are recognised. Therefore, it is important that you also include documentary evidence of your previous studies with your application.
In Heidelberg, our prospective students attend the "G-Course", which prepares them for pursuing a degree programme in the Humanities (Geisteswissenschaften). This course is not offered at the KIT.
Yes, in the first degree programmes, there is a quota of 8% for international students from non-EU countries.
The International Office has a tutor for international students pursuing their first degree who advises them on a variety of issues. Additional tutorials (on request and provided that there are enough participants) and the supplementary courses "Deutsch als Wissenschaftssprache" (German as an Academic Language) and "Deutsch für Beruf und Schulpraxis" (German for Work and School) are also offered to make it easier for students to adjust to everyday life at the university.
No, unfortunately not. The Studierendenwerk offers dormitory rooms in student residence halls, runs a student housing platform and provides tips and advice on finding accommodation.
The website of the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAAD) provides a wealth of information on scholarships and financing options for studying in Germany.
No, unfortunately not. Whether you are awarded a study place depends on a variety of factors. For example, the number of applicants can fluctuate considerably from year to year. However, whether you get a study place depends, in particular, on your grades and additional qualifications.
No, our university does not offer Psychology as an individual subject, but as part of our Teacher Education programmes.
Please contact the contact person for the respective degree programme or subject. You will find the contact persons and their contact details on the respective web pages.