In principle, refugees – regardless of their nationality – can take up a course of study under the same conditions as other applicants with foreign nationality. The minimum requirements for studying are:
- a recognized university entrance qualification and
- sufficient language skills for the chosen course of study.
In the event that your certificates are incomplete or completely missing due to being a refugee, the universities have procedures in place to facilitate proof of the university entrance qualification.
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) offers a first point of contact through the admissions database (in German and English) on its website or the internet platform anabin (in German only). These provide non-binding information on whether you can be admitted to study at German universities on the basis of a school leaving certificate or periods of study completed in Ukraine.
If your Ukrainian school or university degree, or the academic results you acquired in Ukraine, do not entitle you to study in Germany, you must take the assessment test (Feststellungsprüfung) for admission to higher education. You can do this at a Studienkolleg: these institutions offer preparatory courses through which you can acquire subject-specific knowledge and language skills that are required for study successfully at a German university. In Berlin, you can do this at the Free University of Berlin, the TU Berlin and at the University of Applied Sciences in cooperation withTU Berlin (https://www.htw-berlin.de/studium/bewerbung/besondere-faelle/studienkolleg/) (all in German and English).
It is always advisable to contact the student advisory service of the university you are interested in. The counselling centres of the universities can help you choose a course of study and inform you about the course admission requirements, the recognition of academic work and study preparation. A central contact point for refugees who want to study is currently being planned.
The application deadline for regular courses which begin in the winter semester is usually July 15. However, some universities set earlier deadlines, for example for a master’s program or Studienkolleg. You can find out the exact deadlines for your desired course of study directly from the respective university.
If you meet the requirements for a course of study, you can apply for a course of study using Uni-Assist (in German and English). Uni-Assist can also check for refugees if they fulfil the requirements to study and has set up a separate FAQ for refugees (in German and English).