Objective

DAAD scholarships offer graduates the opportunity to continue their education in Germany with a postgraduate or continuing course of study. The scholarships also promote the exchange of experience and networking amongst colleagues.

Who can apply?

Foreign applicants who have gained a first university degree in the fields of Fine Art, Design, Visual Communication and Film at the latest by the time they commence their scholarship-supported study programme.

What can be funded?

In this study programme, you can complete
  • a Master's degree course/postgraduate degree course leading to a final qualification, or
  • a complementary course without degree (not an undergraduate course)
at a state or state-recognised German university of your choice.
This programme only funds projects in the artistic and creative area. Other DAAD scholarship programmes are available for applicants from the field of History of Art or Art Studies or for artists with a scientific project.

Duration of the funding

Master's degree:
  • Between 10 and 24 months depending on the length of the chosen study programme
  • Start: usually from 1st October, of the following year or earlier if a German language course is taken prior to the study programme
  • The scholarships are awarded for the duration of the standard period of study for the chosen study programme (up to a maximum of 24 months). In the case of 2-year courses, further funding is provided after the first year of study, if your academic achievements thus far indicate that you will successfully complete the study programme within a reasonable period of time.
  • Applicants who are already in Germany in the first year of a postgraduate course at the time of application may apply for funding for their second year of study. It is not possible to extend the scholarship.
Complementary studies not leading to a final qualification:
  • one academic year
  • Start: usually from 1st October of the following year, or earlier if a German language course is taken prior to the study programme

Value

  • A monthly payment of 861 euros
  • Travel allowance
  • One-off study allowance
  • Payments towards health, accident and personal liability insurance cover
Under certain circumstances, scholarship holders may receive the following additional benefits:
  • Monthly rent subsidy
  • Monthly allowance for accompanying members of family
  • In the case of a disability or chronic illness: subsidy for additional costs which result from the disability or chronic illness and are not covered by other funding providers: Further information

To enable scholarship holders to learn German in preparation for their stay in the country, DAAD offers the following services:
  • Payment of course fees for an online language course after receipt of the Scholarship Award Letter
  • if necessary: German language course (2, 4 or 6 months) before the start of the study visit in Germany; the DAAD decides whether to fund participation and for how long depending on German language skills and project. Participation in a language course is compulsory if the language of instruction or working language is German at the German host institution. Due to the pandemic, German courses may take place online.
  • Allowance for a personally chosen German language course during the scholarship period
  • Reimbursement of the fees for the TestDaF or DSH test which has either been taken in the home country after receipt of the Scholarship Award Letter or in Germany before the end of the funding period


Selection

After you have uploaded your application documents to the DAAD portal, the DAAD will first carry out a formal check. It will be checked whether the application requirements have been met and whether the application is complete. If this is the case, you will be asked to submit your work samples.
A special DAAD committee made up of professors from German art, design and film schools makes the final decision about scholarships in the fields of Fine Art, Film, Design, Visual Communication and Film. The decision is based upon written applications and work samples which have to be submitted (see: www.daad.de/extrainfo).

Selection criteria
  • the artistic qualification and artistic maturity, measured by study achievements and work samples
  • the quality of the project as measured by the study plan and the letter of motivation

Further information

Confirmation of a scholarship does not automatically guarantee admission to one of the universities. The respective university decides whether or not to offer scholarship holders a place. In most cases, applicants are required to take an entrance examination. Please find out in time about admission requirements and application deadlines and interview dates at your chosen university, and bear in mind that these may be several months before the planned start of your studies or even before the DAAD awards the scholarship. We cannot cover the costs of the entrance examination. If an applicant is offered a scholarship by the DAAD but fails to be admitted to any of the universities indicated in the application, he/she may not make use of the scholarship that has already been awarded.

What requirements must be met?

  • As a rule, your university degree should not date back more than 6 years at the time of the application deadline.
  • Your application cannot be considered, if you have been resident in Germany for longer than 15 months at the application deadline.
  • If you are enrolled in a Master's or postgraduate degree programme which includes a study period abroad, funding for this period abroad is usually only possible under the following conditions:
    The study visit is essential for achievement of the scholarship objective, the visit does not take place in the home country, and it is no longer than a quarter of the scholarship period. Longer periods cannot be funded, even partially.
  • Prerequisite for the funding is a full-time and attendance study. Extra-occupational or part-time study programmes and study programmes with a predominant share of e-learning can not be taken into account.

Language skills

Applicants in the fields of Fine Art, Film, Design, Visual Communication and Film should have a knowledge of the language of instruction which corresponds to the requirements of the chosen university at the latest by the time they start their scholarship. If you do not yet have the language skills required by the university at the time of your application, your application should indicate the extent to which you are in a position to reach the required level. After you have been awarded a scholarship, take advantage of the funding opportunities described under "Value".

Application documents

Certificates, proof of credits, certifications and translations may be scanned in non-certified form and uploaded to the DAAD portal. The DAAD reserves the right to request certified copies of the documents.

1. Documents to be uploaded to the DAAD portal:
Master's degree/postgraduate study programme leading to a final qualification:
  • Form "Information about your preferred master programmes"
  • If available: Letter of acceptance from the host university.
    If you do not have a letter of acceptance at the time of application, you must apply to the university for this in good time and subsequently submit the confirmation letter before the scholarship-supported study programme begins. Please note that you yourself are responsible for ensuring that you apply for admission at the host university by the due date and that a Scholarship Award Letter from the DAAD only becomes valid if you are admitted to your chosen host university.
Complementary studies not leading to a final qualification:
  • Confirmation of supervision from a German university teacher
Also for all applicants:
  • A current Transcript of Records with individual grade(s), incl. explanation of grading system
  • University degree certificate indicating final grade(s): the certificate must be subsequently submitted before the scholarship-supported study programme begins if studies have not been completed at the time of application.
  • Proof of German language proficiency according to the European Framework of References for Languages or the Test-DaF for study programmes in German.
  • Proof of English language proficiency according to the requirements of the chosen study programme in English (e.g. TOEFL, IELTS).
  • The language certificate should be no more than two years old.
  • A list of all work that have been cited as samples (see www.daad.de/extrainfo) with detailed information (size, date of creation, place, etc.)
  • A declaration that the works of art have been produced or created by you or the names of those persons involved in producing collaborative pieces of work. In the case of collaborative work or projects, the applicant's own contribution must be marked as such or appropriately described.
Please do not upload any work samples and/or portfolios to the DAAD portal!

Current note: In the absolute exception, if you are unable to submit a language certificate due to Corona (e.g. due to the closure of universities or language test centres and if no digital language test is possible either), please upload an appropriate justification with a self-assessment of your current language level according to the CEFR instead of the missing document (tips for self-assessment of your language skills can be found here, under section A, point 8).
In these cases, the absence of a language certificate does not lead to a formal rejection of your scholarship application by the DAAD. However, submitted language certificates are included in the assessment. If you acquire language certificates after the application deadline, please submit them later.
Please note that you will still need proof of language proficiency in order to apply for a place at a German higher education institution and thus to be able to take up the scholarship.

2.Submitting work samples to the DAAD media database:
If the review of your scholarship application shows that it meets the criteria of the scholarship announcement and is complete, you will receive a link to upload your work samples to the DAAD media database by 15 December at the latest. When you receive the link, please upload the work samples to the Media Database by 10 January CET at the latest (www.daad.de/extrainfo).

All application documents listed under 1. and 2. must be submitted in German or English. Documents in other languages must be translated.

The application procedure occurs online through the DAAD portal.

Please note that the access to the application portal only appears while the current application period is running. After the application deadline has expired, the portal for this programme is not available until the next application period.

The access to the DAAD portal generally opens about 6 weeks before the application deadline at the latest.

Application deadline

Application deadlines are updated at least once a year. In most cases, they are in the same period as the previous year. You can find the current dates here:

30.11.2021

Application location

Online via the DAAD Portal and the DAAD Media Database

Please note

  • Your application is only valid if you submit all the required documents to the DAAD portal (see Item 1) and to the DAAD media database (see Item 2).
  • The DAAD portal closes at 24.00 hrs. (CET or CEST) on the last application day.
  • Late or incomplete applications cannot be considered. You are responsible for ensuring that their applications are complete.
  • The application documents remain with the DAAD. Your personal data is saved by the DAAD in accordance with the Federal Data Protection Act and with the EU Data Protection Regulation insofar as this data is needed to process the application.

Information and advisory centres

DAAD Information Centre Accra
c/o Goethe Institute, next to NAFTI
30, Kakramadu Road, Cantonments
Accra
Ghana
Tel.: +233 /261 09 09 39
E-Mail.: info@daad-ghana.org
WWW.: www.daad-ghana.org

More detailed information

Please note:
To submit an application on the DAAD Portal, please use a desktop or laptop computer as the site’s full functionality is not available on mobile devices. Technical requirements

General information on the application via DAAD portal

You can access the DAAD portal by clicking "Application portal" at the end of the page. Here you will find an online application form in which you can enter your application data.

This is what you have to do:

1. Register in the DAAD portal (Read notes about registering in the portal >>)

2. Applying online in the DAAD portal (Read notes on applying in the portal >>)
  • Download and complete the online application form
  • Prepare application documents
  • If necessary, translate documents (unless they are already in German or English).
  • Scan paper documents and save in PDF format. Please note that you can only upload PDF files to the portal.
  • Upload the completed application form and the required appendices (except work samples) to the portal in PDF format. Translations, if applicable, should be uploaded together with the document issued in the original language.
  • Submit the uploaded application documents online.

3.Submitting work samples to the DAAD media database:
If the review of your scholarship application shows that it meets the criteria of the scholarship announcement and is complete, you will receive a link to upload your work samples to the DAAD media database by 15 December at the latest. When you receive the link, please upload the work samples to the Media Database by 10 January CET at the latest.

Please note:
If you have any technical questions or problems your local information and advice centres could not help you with, please do not hesitate to contact our technical Portal hotline: +49 (0228) 882-8888 or via e-mail portal@daad.de, open every weekday from 9.00 am to 12.00 pm and from 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm (CET).
Please consider this when you are planning your application.

Study Scholarships - Postgraduate Studies in the Fields of Fine Art, Film, Design/Visual Communication and Film, 2022/23

To the application portal