Germany is one of the most popular destinations for international students, and the funding landscape reflects that. The educads database currently lists 72 scholarships for study in Germany, spanning bachelor's, master's, PhD and post-doctoral level. This guide sets out the main awards, the degrees they cover and what the database does and does not record about deadlines and funding. The full list is on the Germany scholarships page.
DAAD: the largest single source
DAAD, the German Academic Exchange Service, appears several times in the list. The main DAAD Scholarship covers master's, PhD and post-doctoral study. The database does not record a deadline date for this award, so check the official DAAD pages before planning an application.
Two more DAAD schemes are listed with specific dates. The Germany Government DAAD ERP Study Scholarships are for master's study and carry a deadline of 31 October 2025. The DAAD Germany In-Country/In-Region Scholarship covers master's and PhD study with a deadline of 27 November 2025. A further award, the DAAD-STIBET Scholarship, is listed with a deadline of 15 September 2021; the database does not record which degrees it covers, so treat the entry as out of date until confirmed.
Foundation scholarships
Germany's political foundations fund a significant number of international students. The Heinrich Boll Foundation Scholarships cover bachelor's, master's and PhD study. No deadline is recorded in the database.
The Friedrich Ebert Foundation Scholarships are listed as fully funded for bachelor's, master's and PhD study. The database shows a deadline date of 30 November 2023 with the status marked open, which is inconsistent; confirm the current round directly with the foundation.
The KAAD Germany Scholarships cover bachelor's, master's and PhD study and are described as fully funded. The database notes that deadlines differ with each programme, and records 30 June 2024 as the date on file.
University-specific awards
Several German universities run their own scholarship schemes for international students. Heidelberg University offers MScIH scholarships for master's study, with a deadline of 31 March 2026 recorded in the database.
The University of Hamburg DAAD-CSMC Scholarships are for PhD study. No deadline date is recorded.
Munich Business School appears as a list of scholarships for master's study, marked open with no specific date.
What the database does not tell you
educads does not record a tuition figure for most of these courses, and it does not record stipend amounts, living-cost allowances or acceptance rates for the awards above. Where an award is described as fully funded, that description comes from the award's own listing; the database does not break down what the funding covers.
Deadlines are the weakest part of the record. Several entries have no date at all, and some carry dates that have already passed. Treat every date on this page as a starting point and verify it on the official scholarship page before you build an application around it.
Who can apply
Eligibility rules differ by award, and the database records only the degree levels each scholarship covers. Across the 72 awards, the levels represented are bachelor's, master's, PhD and post-doctorate. The DAAD Scholarship is the only entry in the list above that names post-doctoral study. Foundation awards such as Heinrich Boll, Friedrich Ebert and KAAD cover bachelor's through PhD. The ERP and Heidelberg awards are master's only, and the Hamburg DAAD-CSMC award is PhD only.
Nationality rules, subject restrictions and language requirements are not recorded in the database for these awards. You will need to check each scheme's own page.
Where to start
With 72 awards listed and 2,990 courses in Germany in the database, the practical approach is to filter by degree level first, then by subject, then check deadlines. The full Germany scholarships list is the place to do that. If you are applying for a 2026 intake, the awards with dates already recorded — the ERP scholarship at 31 October 2025, the In-Country/In-Region award at 27 November 2025 and the Heidelberg MScIH award at 31 March 2026 — are the ones with a timeline you can plan around. For everything else, the official scheme page is the only reliable source.
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