General Information for Applicants with Professional Qualifications

Prospective students interested in commencing a degree program who do not hold a higher education entrance qualification (for example, a secondary school diploma like the German Abitur) but who have earned professional qualifications may be eligible to apply for undergraduate degree programs at Freie Universität Berlin if certain requirements are met. This option is open exclusively to applicants who do not have a secondary school diploma or a prior university degree. The Center for Academic Advising and Psychological Counseling at Freie Universität Berlin is happy to provide information and offer consultations to prospective applicants. This guide (which is currently only available in German) published by Berlin’s Senate Department for Higher Education and Research, Health, Long-Term Care, and Gender Equality (Senatsverwaltung für Wissenschaft, Gesundheit, Pflege und Gleichstellung) provides detailed information on potential options for starting a degree program in Berlin if you fall into this category.

In degree programs that have specific admission restrictions (excluding pharmacy and veterinary medicine) eight percent of study places are reserved for applicants who hold professional qualifications. These places are allocated by means of an “advance quota,” which means that the selection is made based on the average grades of the applicants’ higher education entrance qualifications (final grade on certificate from advanced continuing education/vocational school/occupational training program).

Important general information on gaining access to a degree program without a prior higher education entrance qualification in Germany, rules in the individual federal states, and funding opportunities is available in German at www.studieren-ohne-abitur.de

The German federal government’s Aufstiegsstipendium scholarship program provides support for people who have acquired professional experience prior to pursuing their first academic degree: www.sbb-stipendien.de/aufstiegsstipendium.html

Applicants who can show that they completed a professional training program in another country that meets the criteria for group 1 and 2 may also be deemed eligible for admission to the university. Detailed information on the process of obtaining recognition for educational qualifications acquired outside of Germany is available from the websites listed below.

•    Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB)
•    https://www.anerkennung-in-deutschland.de/html/en/index.php

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