Universities in Germany

Every university on this page accepts applications from students living in Africa, and almost every step - the document check, the application and the blocked account - happens online, from home. Germany has some 420 higher education institutions, from about 120 universities to nearly 250 universities of applied sciences, and this page holds three kinds. Research universities - TUM, RWTH Aachen, Heidelberg, Göttingen, Hamburg, Bonn, Goethe University Frankfurt, Stuttgart, TU Darmstadt and TU Berlin among them - teach every level up to the doctorate, mostly in German for a bachelor’s and increasingly in English for a master’s. Universities of applied sciences - Hochschulen and Technische Hochschulen such as TH Köln, Deggendorf, Coburg, Hof, Heilbronn, RheinMain and Rosenheim - teach in smaller groups and close to industry. And state-recognised private universities - IU International University, SRH University and Brand University - teach largely in English, often admit more than once a year and charge tuition.

German degree names tell you how long you will study and what comes next. A Bachelor takes six to eight semesters (180 to 240 ECTS) - usually six at a university and seven at a university of applied sciences, where the extra semester is a work placement (Praxissemester). A Master adds two to four semesters (60 to 120 ECTS): a consecutive master’s builds on a related bachelor’s and costs no tuition at most public universities, while a continuing-education master’s (weiterbildender Master) expects work experience and may charge fees even at a public one. Medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and law skip both degrees and end in a state examination (Staatsexamen); in medicine only about 5% of places go to applicants from outside the EU, and teaching is in German. A few technical universities still award the five-year Diplom - TU Bergakademie Freiberg does in mining and in mechanical engineering. Every state-recognised degree programme is listed in the Hochschulkompass, the national register kept by the German Rectors’ Conference.

Choose the university by subject, not by its ranking. TUM and RWTH Aachen are Germany’s best-known names in engineering and computer science; Stuttgart is strong in automotive and aerospace engineering, TU Braunschweig in vehicle and transport engineering, TU Darmstadt in cybersecurity and TU Dortmund in logistics. Heidelberg, Germany’s oldest university, is known for medicine, the life sciences and physics, Göttingen for agricultural and forest sciences, Bonn for mathematics and economics and Goethe University Frankfurt for finance. Saarland University runs one of Europe’s leading computer-science campuses, Tübingen is a centre of machine learning, Oldenburg of renewable energy and TU Bergakademie Freiberg of mining and raw materials, while Bayreuth is one of Europe’s leading centres of African Studies. Among the universities of applied sciences, TH Köln runs English-taught master’s in natural-resources and water management for the tropics, TH Rosenheim is known for timber engineering, and Deggendorf teaches entirely in English on its campus in Pfarrkirchen.

Expect more independence than at home. Lectures (Vorlesungen) can fill a hall of several hundred, exercise classes (Übungen) and seminars work through the material in smaller groups, and attendance is rarely checked: most of a module’s mark comes from one exam at the end of the semester, which you register for yourself. Marks run the other way round - 1.0 is the best, 4.0 the lowest pass and 5.0 a fail - so a 1.7 is a very good result. A failed exam can be retaken, but usually only twice: fail a compulsory module for the last time and you lose the right to study that subject at any German university. The immigration office renews your residence permit for as long as you make reasonable progress towards your degree.

The price of a German public university depends on its state, not on its reputation. Most universities on this page charge no tuition at all, only a semester contribution of about €150-€450, which at most of them includes the Deutschlandsemesterticket for buses and regional trains. Baden-Württemberg charges non-EU students €1,500 a semester, so Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Tübingen, Konstanz and Hochschule Heilbronn cost you €3,000 a year, and TUM charges €2,000-€3,000 a semester for a bachelor’s and €4,000-€6,000 for a master’s; private universities start at about €8,000 a year. Whatever the fee, the visa asks for the same €11,904 for your first year, usually in a blocked account. Funding comes from DAAD scholarships, from the universities’ own funds and from the Deutschlandstipendium - €300 a month, open to every nationality. Rent decides the rest: a student-hall room in Paderborn, Magdeburg or Halle costs far less than one in Munich, Hamburg or Frankfurt.

Use this page in that order. Start with the university list above to compare every German university in our catalog by city and number of programmes, then use the subject tiles to see which of them teach your field. Open a university to read each programme’s language of instruction, tuition, duration and intake, and its student reviews, or jump into UniFinder to compare programmes across all of them. Then read the Study in Germany guide for the rules that apply everywhere - the blocked account, the student visa, work rights and the cost of each city - before you pay a single uni-assist fee.

Bachelor’s admission starts with your certificate, not with the deadline. With WAEC, NECO or KCSE alone you apply for a Studienkolleg place through the university you want to attend, usually via uni-assist, and sit its entrance exam, held in German, before the semester begins; a year of related study at a recognised university at home, or a South African NSC with a bachelor’s pass, lets you apply to the degree directly. Most universities close on 15 July for the winter semester and 15 January for the summer semester, some earlier, and many bachelor’s admit only in winter, with lectures from mid-October. Uni-assist alone needs four to six weeks to check a file, so send yours by mid-May for an October start.

Master’s applications go to each university on its own calendar, and the English-taught programmes close early. Many close between January and March for the October start - RWTH Aachen takes non-EU applicants only until 1 March - while others keep 31 May or 15 July, and fewer admit in summer. Several universities want a uni-assist VPD before you apply on their own portal, so order it first. With the admission letter in hand, open the blocked account and book your visa appointment at once - since March 2026 Nigerian applicants file at a VFS Global centre in Lekki, Lagos after registering online. Once you arrive, register your address and apply for your residence permit at the local Ausländerbehörde before the visa runs out. Work back nine to twelve months from the October you want to start.