Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin) is offering new scholarships for expanding access, for which international students currently enrolled at FU Berlin are encouraged to apply. These scholarships are part of the Scholarship and Support Program (STIBET I). STIBET is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the Federal Foreign Office (AA). A total of six students will be awarded with a monthly grant of 250 Euros over a 10-month period from March to December 2024.

Who can apply?

• International students with a refugee background and/or
• International students with a child or children under the age of 12 years old and/or
• International students who are caregivers and/or
• International students with disabilities (with a degree of disability of at least 50 corresponding to the German system) or chronic illnesses that may have adverse effects on academic achievement

Further Application Requirements

International students are invited to apply who:

• have obtained their entrance qualification for higher-education abroad
• are not currently German citizens
• have been regularly enrolled at Freie Universität Berlin and are pursuing a degree (Bachelor, State Exam, Master) (these scholarships are not available for PhD students and exchange students)
• have regularly attended university classes (on average, applicants need to have successfully completed at least one course per semester or attend at least 2 courses if they are enrolled in their first semester). Academic grades will not be taken into account when awarding these scholarships.
• Applicants need to be enrolled at FU Berlin during the entire funding period of the scholarship (March 1, 2024-December 31, 2024)

Please note: Other scholarships and/or income from work may be taken into account when determining the amount of the scholarship. If you receive another scholarship from public funds, additional funding up to the amount of a full scholarship of 861 euros/month is possible. Scholarship holders who work part-time may not exceed the limit of 1,311 euros/month in total (from scholarship and gross additional income). If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Application Deadline

February 11, 2024

Online Application Form

Link to the online application form

Selection Process and selection criteria

All applicants must complete the online application form and submit it online on or before February 11, 2024 to be considered. Applications can be submitted in German and English.

Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of their online application form and personal interviews by a selection committee consisting of representatives from the following departments:

• International Student Support, Center for Academic Advising and Psychological Counseling
• Student Mobility Unit
• Gender Equality Officer, Center for Academic Advising and Psychological Counseling
• Counseling Service for Students with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses

On the Online Application Form, please include a brief statement (max. 4000 characters) that addresses how this scholarship would support your studies, e.g. What would you use the scholarship funding for? How would this funding contribute to your academic success?

After reviewing all online applications, the selection committee will contact selected applicants on February 19, 2024 for an interview. Interviews will take place on February 27, 2024. Those invited to the interview will be asked to provide further documentation. Please see “Required documentation” below.

Required documentation:

Only selected applicants invited for an interview will be asked to submit required documentation between February 19, 2024 – February 23, 2024. Submission of these documents is a prerequisite for attending the interview. The documents, i.e. documentation regarding the applicant’s eligibility to apply and the application requirements, must only be submitted AFTER receiving an invitation from the selection committee. If possible, please have your documents ready in advance. All documentation may be submitted as scanned copies.

Required documentation includes:

• Certificate of enrollment or study certificate (current Immatrikutationsbescheinigung or Studienbescheinigung)
• Documentation of classes attended, such as a current transcript of records (Leistungsübersicht), which can be printed out from your Campus Management account. As described above, applicants need to have successfully completed at least one course per semester or have attended at least 2 courses if they are enrolled in their first semester. Grades can be redacted, as they will not be factored into the selection criteria.
• Copy of entrance qualification for higher-education (such as: high school diploma)
• Document of citizenship (such as: current passport)
• Documentation regarding the applicant’s eligibility to apply (as described in the section “Who can apply?”). The document(s) may be chosen by the applicant and should explain the situation. This may include, for example: official documents, medical documentation, a birth certificate of your child, or a care certificate. Any additional information that is not necessary may be redacted.

If you have any questions regarding the required documentation, please feel free to contact us and we are happy to provide further information to best support your application process.

Contact:

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact:

international@studienberatung.fu-berlin.de