Please send your application documents as early as possible to clarify potential questions or issues on time. Feel free to come by during our office hours for a personal consultation.

You will find specific program requirements for each specific exchange program. Generally, these are the documents you will need for an application:

1 - Online application form

Here is the link to the online application form, which is open about 4 weeks before the application deadline.

*should you have any problems with the form as it is only available in German at the moment, please do not hesitate to get in touch, we are happy to help.

2 - Certificate of enrollment

With details of your study program and about which semester you are currently in. You can download your current certificate of enrollment from the student’s administration website.

3/1 - Unofficial transcript print-out from Campus Management

“Leistungsübersicht über begonnene und abgeschlossene Module” – available in your Campus Management under the tab “Noten & Punkte”.

3/2 - A copy of your undergraduate certificate (only for graduate and PhD students)

Including a transcript of records with all completed courses. The copy does not need to be certified.

For non-german undergraduate certificates: please also submit the grade conversion document from your uniassist procedure.

3/3 - Acceptance of your doctorate program (only for PhD students)

A copy of your admission to a doctorate program.

4 - Letter of Motivation

A letter of motivation written in the language of the host country or language of instruction at the partner university (exceptions possible, please consult individual program websites for more detailed information), no longer than 2 pages.

The motivational letter should include detailed study plans in your top three institutions of choice. The following questions could serve as guidelines:

What made you choose your program of study? Why do you want to study in the country you’re applying for? What classes would you like to take while abroad? Which area of study in your field would you like to focus on during your time abroad and why? Which specific programs or courses interest you? What advantages can you take from this direct exchange for your studies? Which criteria did you have when picking the different partner universities? Why would you especially benefit from a stay in one of your top 3 choices?

5 - Proof of language proficiency

It is necessary for applicants to have very good knowledge of the language they will be studying in, in order to be able to follow the classes while abroad. An official language certificate is mandatory as proof of language proficiency. Language certificates may not be older than 2 years, the relevant date concerning this is the application deadline of the program. You can find further information on our program sites.

6 - Letter of recommendation

One or two letters of recommendation by lecturers of Freie Universität Berlin are required. You can find further information on our program sites. Due to the Corona pandemic, new graduate students at Freie Universität Berlin do not have to submit a letter of recommendation by lecturers of Freie Universität Berlin. All lecturers should use our form.

Please send this form to your lecturer (fillable PDF format). The letter of recommendation should be sent as a PDF-document to the International Student Mobility office directly by your lecturer. After the application process, the letter of recommendation will be archived; we do not hand out the letters of recommendation to students or transmit them to others.

Declaration of consent about multiple applications (graduate students International Relations)

Students of the M.A. International Relations are required to submit the declaration of consent about multiple applications form.

Please name each document as follows: YourLastName_DocumentTitle (e.g. Schmid_LetterofMotivation). All documents should then be sent as separate PDF-documents within one zip folder, which should also have your last name.

Please send us your application from your Zedat mail address (firstname.lastname@fu-berlin.de, not user@fu-berlin.de). If not already available, you can create such an alias (firstname.lastname@fu-berlin.de) to your existing Zedat account. Please note that this alias is set for you as both sender and recipient. Instructions on how to do this can be found at https://www.zedat.fu-berlin.de/Vorname-punkt-Nachname.

You will receive a confirmation of receipt within a week of handing in your application. Should you not have heard back from us after a full week has passed, please contact us as soon as possible. However, please refrain from sending several emails after having handed in your application, as this slows down our working process.

Please familiarize yourself with the deadlines and send your documents in time. The full application should be sent to auslstud@fu-berlin.de .