Ad­mis­sion re­quire­ments

If you would like to study at Paderborn University, you must have a school-leaving certificate or an equivalent qualification that entitles you to attend a German university (= higher education entrance qualification).

Not every school-leaving certificate entitles you to study in Germany.

You can find information on this

You can also obtain further information on the specific admission requirements for your country from the German embassy in your home country or the Goethe-Institut. However, the final decision as to whether admission is possible is made by the university!

Paderborn University mainly offers degree programmes in German. Some Master's degree programmes are taught entirely in English and therefore require little or no knowledge of German, some of which can be acquired during your studies. Paderborn University offers you the opportunity to acquire the necessary German language skills on site in language courses. The following link provides further details on the language requirements for admission.

There are no entrance examinations except for the subject areas of music, art and sport. Further information can be found here.

For some degree programmes, the number of applicants far exceeds the number of places available. This means that only those applicants with the best final grades in their school leaving certificate are accepted and these degree programmes have an admission restriction ("Numerus Clausus" degree programmes). You can find a list of these degree programmes here.

A certain grade point average is required for admission to such degree programmes. Foreign final grades must first be converted into the German system. This is done using the Bavarian formula.

If you have already studied at a university in your home country, you may be able to have your examination results credited to your new degree programme, provided that there are subject-related course achievements. For credit transfer, you should list all the coursework you have completed during your degree programme in detail and specify all the courses and lectures you have attended to date. It is important that you enclose the relevant supporting documents and assessments with your details. Please note that the more detailed and complete your list is, the better it will be assessed by the university.

The Examination Board of your chosen degree programme at Paderborn University will decide whether or not credit transfer is possible. The review of the documents usually begins before your enrolment; the examination of your competences may not be completed until after you have started your courses here in Paderborn. You will initially be provisionally assigned to a semester by the examination board until the grades or certificates you have already obtained have been assessed in detail by the individual professors. If you intend to study in a higher semester from the outset, the recognition process must precede your enrolment.

If you have obtained a Bachelor's degree in your home country, you may be eligible for admission to an advanced degree programme in the same or a related subject area. If Paderborn University offers a Master's degree programme in this field, you may be granted direct admission to this, provided your Bachelor's degree is recognised as equivalent by the examination board.