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A print version of this announcement (PDF) is available in the further tabs (e.g. “Application requirements”).

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 field of Music at the latest by the time they commence their scholarship-supported study programme; if this is not possible, they should have at least exhausted all the training options available for their instrument.

What can be funded?

In this study programme, you can complete

• a Master’s degree/postgraduate degree leading to a final qualification, or
• a complementary course that does not lead to a final qualification (not an undergraduate course)

at a state German college of music of your choice.

Postgraduate studies are possible in the so-called 2nd cycle (usually a four-semester Master’s degree) or a 3rd cycle which usually takes place in two semesters (concert examination, masterclass or PhD in an artistic subject).

This programme only funds projects in the artistic field. Other DAAD scholarship programmes are available for applicants from the field of musicology or music education or musicians with a scientific project.

Duration of the funding

Master’s degree programme:

• Between 10 and 24 months depending on the length of the chosen study programme or study project
• Start: usually from 1st October, or earlier if a 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). To receive further funding after the first year of study for 2-year courses, proof of academic achievements thus far should indicate that the study programme can be successfully completed within the standard period of study. Therefore, a corresponding letter of the main subject teacher will be required.
• 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. In this case, it is not possible to extend the scholarship.

Complementary studies not leading to a final qualification:

• One academic year. In individual cases, the scholarship can be extended on request
• Start: usually on 1st October, or earlier if a language course is taken prior to the study programme

Value

• A monthly payment of 750 euros
• Travel allowance, unless these expenses are covered by the home country or another source of funding
• 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

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 the online language course “Deutsch-Uni Online (DUO)” (www.deutsch-uni.com ) for six months after receipt of the Scholarship Award Letter
• if necessary: Language course (2, 4 or 6 months) before the start of the study visit; 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.
• Allowance for a personally chosen German language course during the scholarship period
• Reimbursement of the fees for the TestDaF 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
• As an alternative to the TestDaF for scholarship holders who have taken a language course beforehand: the fee for a DSH examination taken during the scholarship period may be reimbursed.

Selection

A special DAAD committee made up of professors from German colleges of music makes the final decision about scholarships in the field of music. The decision is based upon written applications and sound recordings which have to be submitted (see: www.daad.de/extrainfo ).

Further information

Confirmation of a scholarship does not automatically guarantee admission to one of the colleges of music. The individual college of music 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 college of music, 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 a university, he/she may not make use of the scholarship that has already been awarded.

Application requirements
What requirements must be met?

• As a rule, applicants should have taken their final examinations no longer than six years before the application deadline.
• The respective college of music is responsible for deciding age limits for admission, whereby differing rules may be applied depending on the applicant’s academic level and chosen subject. However, applicants are not usually admitted if they are older than 28 to 30.
• Applicants who have been resident in Germany for longer than 15 months at the application deadline cannot be considered.
• If the scholarship holder is 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 study period is no longer than a quarter of the scholarship period. Longer periods cannot be funded, even partially.
  – The study period does not take place in the home country.

Language skills

Applicants in the field of music should have a knowledge of the language of instruction that 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 Procedure

The application procedure occurs online through the DAAD portal. You are also required to send additional documents by post to the specified application address.

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.

To apply, please select the call for applications for this programme in the scholarship database (www.funding-guide.de). From here, you can enter the portal by clicking the tab “Submitting an application”.

Application documents

Certificates, proof of credits, certifications and translations may be scanned in non-certified form and uploaded to the DAAD portal. DAAD’s Head Office in Bonn will only request certified copies of the submitted documents in paper form if a grant is awarded!

1. Documents to be uploaded to the DAAD portal:

• Online application form
• Full curriculum vitae in tabular form
• Statement about academic and personal reasons for the planned study project in Germany (letter of motivation; 1 – 3 pages)

Master’s degree/postgraduate study programme leading to a final qualification:

• 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.
• If possible, confirmation of supervision from a university teacher

Further training that does not lead to a final qualification:

• Confirmation of supervision from a German university teacher

Also for all applicants:

• 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 knowledge of the language of instruction (German or English).The language certificate should be no more than two years old.
• Form with an overview of recorded pieces: www.daad.de/extrainfo (“Overview work samples music”).

Please do not upload any work samples to the DAAD portal!

2. To be submitted by post:

• Work samples (for formal requirements, read: “Additional Information for DAAD Study Scholarships in the Field of Music” at: www.daad.de/extrainfo ). Please do not upload any work samples to the DAAD portal!
• the printed “Cover sheet to application” of the “Application summary” which is generated in the portal in PDF format after the online application has been completed;
• one recent reference from a university teacher providing information about your qualifications (hand-signed, no digital or scanned signature); please enclose the reference with your postal application in a sealed envelope. Please regard the instructions given on the tab “Submitting an application“.

Please note

• Your application is only valid if you submit all the required documents to the DAAD portal (see Item 1) and by post (see Item 2). The postmark date serves as proof that the application has been dispatched on time.
• The DAAD portal closes at 24.00 hrs. Central European Time (CET) on the last application day.
• Late or incomplete applications cannot be considered. Applicants are responsible for ensuring that their applications are complete.
• The application documents remain with the DAAD. Data relating to applicants is saved by the DAAD in accordance with the Federal Data Protection Act insofar as this data is needed to process the application.

Contact and Consulting
More detailed information
Submitting an application
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. Request references (if necessary according to the call for proposals, see “Application procedure”)
The form, which has to be completed by a referee, has to be generated in the DAAD portal in the section “Request reference” after registration and downloaded. Please send the form by e-mail to your referee and ask for the completed reference form to be returned to you in a sealed envelope. In each case, please provide your referee with the application address thus enabling him/her to send the recommendation letter there direct.

Please note that the form for completion by a referee can only be generated during the application period (from about 6 weeks before the application deadline).
Please generate one form for each referee.

3. 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 (except references) 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 references and any work samples which you might have to submit) 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.

4. Sending application documents by post

• Send work samples together with the printed “Cover sheet to application” of the “Application summary” generated online and the reference (in a sealed envelope) by post to the specified application address. Please do not enclose any other documents that have not been uploaded to the portal.

Information for applicants from non-EU countries:

Please remember to specify the exact contents of your postal consignment in the documents for the customs authorities, e.g. “Application for a scholarship with application documents, a reference and a DVD with work samples (no commercial goods)”.

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) 882-888 or via e-mail [email protected] , 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.