Application to study abroad at partner universities
Next application rounds
| Application rounds | Deadlines | Information |
| Application round I | October 6th, 2025 - November 26th, 2025 (noon) |
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| Application round II | April 15th, 2026 - May 27th, 2026 (noon) |
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Important Informationen
- Who can apply? Only students who are enrolled as full-time students at Paderborn University and will remain so during their stay abroad are eligible to apply.
- Choosing partner universities: Before applying, visit our partner university portal and check the details of your preferred partner universities to find out whether the institution has any special conditions, what are the possible languages of instruction, what are the available semester dates, and whether the university meets your wishes in terms of subject and location. Here you will also find the websites of the partners as well as experience reports from students who have already been there. Furthermore, you will find the contact persons for the respective partner university in the International Office and in your faculty (departmental coordinators) if there are any questions.
- When should I apply? The application period for a semester abroad at our partner universities is one to one and a half in years in advance. Applications can be submitted at the earliest after completing the first semester of the BA program. In exceptional cases, applications from students who have not yet completed their first semester will also be accepted for selected partnerships. If it is possible to apply during the first semester of your BA program (for a stay abroad in the third or fourth semester of your BA program), this will be noted in the respective partnership on the partner university portal. Master's students can apply from the first semester or even at the end of their bachelor's program.
- Key aspects of the application: In one application round, you can submit ONE application in your field of study with up to FIVE partner universities. You prioritize these yourself according to your own preferences. If you are studying several fields of study (e.g., teaching) or interdisciplinary subjects (e.g., WING, IBS, etc.), you must choose ONE field of study for the semester abroad in the corresponding application round. Please note that you cannot change the prioritization of the partner universities after submitting the application form. If you want to go to two different partner universities in one academic year, you must first apply in application round I and then again in application round II.
- Choice of semester: In the application form, you will be asked to specify your preferred period for your stay abroad (winter semester and/or summer semester). If you indicate in your application that you are available for a semester abroad in both the winter and summer semesters, the faculty will decide which semester you will attend during the selection process. Please note that some partner universities only offer exchanges during certain semesters or for a full academic year.
Please note: Semester dates in some regions may differ significantly from the German academic calendar and may overlap with our semester dates. You must attend the entire semester abroad and cannot arrive later, so please be aware of this when applying. Therefore, please research the semester dates and other conditions of your desired universities in advance on our partner university portal. In our application process, you can apply for the semester dates specified there. To avoid confusion, regardless of how the semesters are originally titled at the respective university (e.g., winter term, spring semester, fall term, summer semester), in Paderborn University's internal procedure, you always apply for the winter and summer semesters, which does not always correspond to the terms used by the partner universities for the specified periods.
- Application documents to be submitted: Our homepage on application documents explains all the documents required and how to submit them via our Mobility Online system.
- Studying with disability: You can find information on this in our preliminary considerations.
- Acceptances and rejections: If you receive an acceptance and decline it, you will be blocked from applying in subsequent application rounds in the same academic year. If you receive a rejection, you may apply again in the next round.
- What happens after I submit my application? Our website on the selection process provides transparent information about the next steps.



