Step 3: Search for an appropriate course

Once you have decided on a certain study area, finding an appropriate program at a German university should not be that difficult. The universities offer courses in literally every field of education. However before applying make sure you know the different types of universities in Germany and their goal in education (see here for details).

Certified courses: Most often the masters programs offered at universities in Germany are certified by a certifying body (e.g., ASIIN e. V). This ensures that the course offers a high quality of education and maintains certain standards regarding for e.g., integration in industry, efficient teaching procedures, properly qualified faculty, international reorganization etc. Although this doesn’t mean that ‘non-certified’ courses are of lesser standards; when available it is wise to choose a certified course over an uncertified one.   

There are many possible ways of searching for a relevant program. The list below covers the most efficient methods.

Search in DAAD database

DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst – German Academic Exchange Service) maintains an updated list of international degree programs both in masters and bachelors level. You can key in your subject area, course type, preferred location in Germany, preferred language of instruction and type of university, and the page shows a listed search result of related programs with links to the department/university home page.

It is also a very good source of looking for scholarships and related information. We advise you to keep coming back to this web page for new updates.

Link: http://www.daad.de/deutschland/studienangebote/alle-studiengaenge/06539.en.html

Google (or Bing!) a course

Google for course offers in your preferred area of study. Try to optimize your searches by including specific keywords. Don’t search for an over generalized phrase e.g., computer engineering, since that will result in millions of pages most of which won’t be related to your purpose.

Search at special search engines

If you still couldn’t find a suitable course, you can search at some specific course search engines in Germany. One such good example is http://studieren.de/study-in-germany.0.html. In addition to information about individual courses, you can find information about the course structure, university, location and nearby cities.

Ask Us

You can ask us for advice or questions that you may have through the comments section. Simply key in your questions together with your e-mail address (optional) and someone from us will contact you shortly.¹

Some useful tips:

What to look for when searching for a course?

When you have found a relevant course, navigate through the website until you find the program’s individual webpage, or the webpage of the department offering it. There you can look at the modular structure of the program in detail. Pay attention to the subjects they teach and decide whether those suits you. If you see some deep subjects (for example, in mathematics), and if you are sure you want to apply to this course then start knowing the subjects beforehand. You can start learning related topics right now from your home country. This will give you a head start over your to be colleagues and hence your chance of getting a job or excelling at the exams increases.

How many courses to look for?

You should at least look for three courses in three different universities. You would want to have options open in case of rejection from any one. In addition, once you are in Germany, you can choose from any one of the programs should you change your mind.

What is the importance of location?

While searching, pay attention to the location of the university offering the course. As we will see in next section, universities at the western and south-western part of Germany are preferred over their eastern counterpart. Similarly you will also like to choose a university in the vicinity of a major city; a one hour of train travel time is enough. Although almost all the German towns weather small or not, are self sufficient, you will want to live close to a major city to stay connected with, for example, people from your own country. If you are from Asia or east Asia, then it all makes more sense, since the major cities have Asian stores where you can buy ‘stuffs’ from your country!

STEP 4

BACK TO STEP 2

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