You can submit your language certificate within five working days of the application deadline if you have submitted all other application documents by the application deadline. A later submission of the language certificate must be agreed with the PROMOS team before the application deadline. Please let us know via email why the language certificate needs to be submitted later.

Please note that your application must be submitted before the application deadline.

Information on language tests in English, French, Spanish and other languages and how to register can be found on the website of the language centre.

If you are planning a research trip in a laboratory, we advise that you consider applying for funding through Erasmus+ Internship. A research trip in a laboratory might fulfill the application requirements for an Erasmus+ Intership. The funding rates for each country through Erasmus+ Internship are usually higher than that of PROMOS. It is possible to apply for both, Erasmus+ funding and for PROMOS funding.  

Further information regarding the funding requirments and contact details for the Erasmus+ Internship team are available on the website of Erasmus+ Internship.

Regardless of whether your studies abroad will exceed the maximum scholarship duration for the applicable category, please enter the time period in your application form when you will actually be studying abroad. Should your application for a scholarship be successful, funding is only possible up to the maximum funding period.

The difference between the two programmes is important because participants in the central direct exchange programme have to submit different application documents for the PROMOS application than applicants in the other categories.

The central direct exchange programme

The direct exchange programme is administered by the central international student mobility team (this is the same institution where the PROMOS team is based). Applications for the direct exchange programmes are submitted to the direct exchange team. The application procedure and the nominations at the partner universities are carried out by the drect exchange team.

• Students participating in the centralised direct exchange apply in the PROMOS category direct exchange.

Departmental exchange (Fachbereichsaustausch)

Departmental exchanges are exchange programmes between departments and international partner universities. The exchange places are advertised by the department or institute. The application procedure and nominations to the partner university are carried out by the department or institute. Some departments refer to their departmental exchange as a 'direct exchange', as the places are exchanged 'directly' with the partner universities on a reciprocal basis. This is not the same as the central direct exchange programme.

• Students taking part in a departmental exchange apply for PROMOS funding in the studies abroad category.

If you are unsure whether in your case a central direct exchange or a departmental exchange is correct, please contact the PROMOS team and send them the letter of acceptance you received for the exchange programme.

It is not possible to give general advice on the likelihood of an applicant being granted a scholarship.

The selection criteria give you an indication of the chances of your application.

All applicants aside from those applying in the category direct exchange (Direktaustausch) must submit a language certificate in the language that their will either learn, or be working in, while abroad. In the case of language courses, this is the language to be learnt and, if applicable, the language in which the course is taught (if it differs from the language to be learnt).

The following documents are recognised as a langage certificate, as long as the date of the test is within two years of the PROMOS application:

• TOEFL and IELTS in English and equivalent standardised tests for academic use for other languages.

• The DAAD language certificate. This must be completed be either the language centre at Freie Universität Berlin or another state-recognised university. 
• Native speakers must submit their passport from a country in which the language in question is an official language and proof of their school leaving certificate or university degree in a country in which this language is an official language. The school leaving certificate or university degree must have been completed in the relevant language. 
• Departmental exchange (Fachbereichsaustausch): Anyone taking part in a departmental exchange can apply in the studies abroad category (Studienaufenthalt) and submit the form for participants in decentralised departmental exchanges (completed and signed by the coordinator of the decentralised FU exchange programme) as a language certificate.

The following documents are not sufficient for a PROMOS application:

• (German) Abitur certificate. For native speakers see above.
• Explanation that you are studying in the relevant language or had to take a language test for the degree programme application or had to prove certain language skills.
• Certificate from a language module. 
• OnSet Test.

If you are unsure if your language certificate is sufficient for a PROMOS application, please email promos@campus.fu-berlin.de 

No, courses held digitally/virtually are not eligible for funding.

Students studying for their bachelor, master or state exam can receive funding for research abroad through PROMOS. Students who are planning to undertake research abroad can apply in the categories study period abroad ('Studienaufenthalt') or preparation for final theses ('Vorbereitung von Abschlussarbeiten"). The trip can be to complete research, field research or similar.

No, PROMOS does not offer exchange places at universities abroad. The PROMOS program funds stays abroad that have been organised by the students themselves. 

Before applying for a scholarship through PROMOS, students must have already been nominated for a study place abroad or organised an internship, language course, academic course or research trip abroad. The student then applies for a PROMOS scholarship to fund the independently organised stay abroad.

Evidence of this nomination, internship etc. must therefore be included with the application. The following documents count as evidence of the upcoming stay abroad:

• For study periods abroad: evidence of acceptance to an exchange programme and/or Letter of Acceptance from a university.
• Internships: Intership contract or confirmation of employment including the following details:
• • Name and place of institution
  • Name and birth date of intern
  • Supervisor/Contact at institution
  • Exact dates of intership duration
  • Signature and stamp of instution
• Language course: Confirmation of language course registration or evidence illustrating the length, time period and weekly hours (minimum 25) of the course.
• Academic course: Confirmation of registration from the foreign academic institution where the specialised course is offered or the preparatory e-mail correspondence and evidence of the respective specialised course offer.

Doctoral candidates can apply for a PROMOS scholarship in the cateogries of language course and academic course and as a participant of group trips and competitions abroad.

Further funding options for doctoral students can be found on our website under 'What if I don’t qualify for a PROMOS scholarship?' (at the bottom of the funding requirements page).

Main enrollment at another university (Hauptimmatrikulation)

Students whose main enrollment is at another university and therefore do not pay their fees at the FU can only apply for PROMOS at the FU for a logical, objective reason. For example, if you are participating in an exchange programme at the FU or are planning research for a thesis for a degree programme you are studying at the FU. In other cases, you should apply to your main university.

Exchange programmes of other universities

FU students with multiple enrolments who pay their fees at the FU (Hauptimmatrikulation) and are taking part in an exchange programme at another university should enquire whether they can apply for a PROMOS scholarship at the other university. If this is the case, they can apply for a PROMOS scholarship at both universities in order to increase their chances. If you receive an acceptance for PROMOS from both universities, you can only accept one grant. Double funding is not possible.

Charité students

Charité students apply for PROMOS at Charité: https://www.charite.de/service/person/person/address_detail/dominique_lacroix/.

No, German citizenship is not a prerequisite for a PROMOS scholarship. 

The following combinations are not possible:

• PROMOS and Erasmus+ 

• PROMOS and other DAAD scholarships (is it possible to apply for both, accept the scholarship with the highest funding and decline the other)

The following combination is possible under specific conditions:

• PROMOS and scholarships funded by german, public funds, when the scholarships have differing funding purposes. For example: 2x travel allowance is not possible, but book allowance and travel allowance is possible.

The following combinations are possible: 

• PROMOS and privately funded scholarships
• PROMOS and the Deutschlandstipendium

Unfortunately, PROMOS does not offer any additional funding for scholarship holders traveling abroad with a child (or children).

Helpful information on studying abroad with a child can be found on the university's diversity and inclusion while studying abroad site (only in German).

For scholarship holders with a degree of disability of 50 or above or a chronic illness, it is possible to apply for a grant for additional expenses incurred in the course of a PROMOS-funded stay abroad if health insurance and other insurances and organisations do not cover the costs. Please contact the PROMOS team directly in good time, as we need at least two months' notice before applying for funding from DAAD.

A PROMOS scholarship consists of a combination of three possible funding components:

1. Partial scholarship in installments (a montly rate to supplement living costs, amount depends on the destination country)
2. One-off payment to supplement travel costs (amount depends on destination country)
3. Course fee allowance (is only awarded for language and academic courses and amounts to a one-off €500 payment to subsidise course fees)

Costs incurred for visas, insurance and other expenditures resulting from the stay abroad are not subsidised.

Tuition fees are not subsidised. Exchange study places worldwide with tuition fee waivers are available in the direct exchange programme.

Full and partial funding

A PROMOS scholarship can consist of one or more of the components listed above. There is no entitlement to a specific component.

The current PROMOS funding rates per country can be found here.

Individual Requirements

For scholarship holders with a degree of disability of 50 or above or a chronic illness, it is possible to apply for a grant to cover additional expenses incurred in the course of a PROMOS-funded stay abroad, if health insurance and other insurances do not cover the costs. Please contact the PROMOS team directly in good time, as we need at least two months' notice before applying for this funding from the DAAD.

• All students who are enrolled at Freie Universität Berlin at the time of their stay abroad are eligible to apply.
• The maximum cumulative funding period is 6 months within one study phase (bachelor's degree, master's degree or state examination) for internships and studies abroad (for example, 2 months funding for an internship and 4 months funding for a semester abroad during a Master's degree).
• Doctoral students are not eligible for funding in the categories studies abroad and internships abroad. Applications for language courses and academic courses and participation in funded group trips are possible for doctoral students.

Yes, language courses between a bachelor's and master's degree are eligible for funding. The applicant must have recieved a pre-admission for a master's degree at Freie Universität Berlin.

All language levels are eligible for funding, aside from languages at beginner level if it is possible to learn the language at a beginner's level in Berlin.

No, the PROMOS team does not keep a list of suitable language schools. If you are unsure whether a language school fulfils the funding requirements, you can send us information about the planned language course and the language school by email in good time, so that the suitability of the course can be checked in advance.

It cannot be guaranteed that an assessment can be carried out shortly before the application period or shortly before the application deadline.

Yes, language courses are only eligible for funding if they comprise at least 25 hours per week.

If the desired language course does not include the required number of hours per week, the programme can be supplemented by another offer in order to achieve the 25 hours per week (e.g. additional conversation lessons, grammar units or similar).