Scholarship applicants must fulfill both the DAAD EPOS requirements AND the admission criteria for the AgEcon program.
Selection Criteria for DAAD EPOS Scholarship
This is a highly competitive application process with strict requirements. For applicants to be considered, they must at least fulfill the following baseline requirements:
- Citizen of a developing country
- Minimum 2 years professional experience post Bachelor’s, prior to the date of applying
Note that employment in academia, like teaching and research at a university or research institute, is not considered relevant work experience for this initiative; only in very exceptional cases can it be accepted.
- Academic degrees should be less than 6 years old
- Development-related motivations and intentions
- Must not have resided in Germany for longer than 15 months by the application deadline
Selection Criteria for MSc. Agricultural Economics
Scholarship applicants must also fulfill the basic requirements for the Master’s program:
- Bachelor’s degree in a related subject with above-average results
- Official proof English proficiency as detailed in the admission regulations (see below)
eg. IELTS academic (overall Band 6.5), TOEFL ibt (90).
Note: A language proficiency certificate from your university is NOT SUFFICIENT!
Even if you have studied in English during your entire university career (as e.g. in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, India, etc. …) you have to present the result of an official English test!
There are no exceptions.
- Proof of undergraduate courses in statistics and economics
- Proof of self-evaluation through the AgEcon PreTest
Detailed admission regulations are available for download: official (in German); for reference (in English).
Applications for the DAAD EPOS scholarship for MSc. Agricultural Economics consist of two parts:
emailing the DAAD forms and supporting documents to agecon@uni-hohenheim.de; and submitting an application for admission for the “AgEcon” program through the University of Hohenheim’s online application portal HohCampus.
The admission requirements are detailed here.
Required Documents for Scholarship Applications
- Checklist of all required DAAD application documents, physically signed and dated (this means that the document has to be printed out and signed with a pen and then be scanned again)
- DAAD Application Form, signed and dated
- Up-to-date CV (europass), in reverse chronological order, with date of issue and without any gaps
- Motivation Letter (max 2 pages), with date of issue
Include reference to current occupation, aspirations and rational for choice of program(s).
ATTENTION: If applying to more than one EPOS program (maximum 3), the same motivation letter must be submitted to each university, additionally specifying why you have chosen these specific programs and why you have ranked your preference.
- Employer Recommendation from current employer, on official letterhead, including information on the position and the contact details of the referee, signed and dated
Ideally this would also include a guarantee of re-employment upon your return home after the program.
Please acquire this from your employer and include it in your application; do not have them send it separately.
- Certificate(s) of Employment from employer(s) that prove you are currently employed and have the minimum requirement of two years of relevant employment (between completion of your Bachelor’s degree and the application deadline).
The information must align with your CV, so check dates and titles carefully.
- Proof of English proficiency, as described in the admission requirements
Results of English tests can be submitted by email to agecon@uni-hohenheim.de after December 15, but not later than mid-January.
- Diploma & Transcript of Records copies in original form, with certified translations into English or German (if issued in another language)
In addition to credits earned per course, transcripts must include a grading-scale, otherwise a supplement is to be included.
- University Entrance Qualification (UEQ) (secondary school leaving certificate) copies in original form, with certified translations into English or German (if issued in another language)
This is the certificate/diploma that qualified you to study at a university level. Examples include: school-leaving certificate, university entrance exam, high-school diploma, A-level certificate, etc.)
- Ranking Letter if additional proof is needed to show that the final grade of your previous degree was actually above average
If your GPA is numerically below average (2.5 on the German scale), then you will need to acquire a ranking letter from your university proving that you were in the top half of your class.
- APS Certificate (Akademische Prüfstelle) for applicants from India, China and Vietnam.
... for the DAAD EPOS Scholarship?
DAAD EPOS scholarship application documents must be emailed to agecon@uni-hohenheim.de.
The application deadline is December 15.
Please do not merge your application documents into one file and label the individual PDFs using the following nomenclature: Number - Surname Name - Document Type, e.g.
- Mustermann Erika - DAAD Application Form
- Mustermann Erika - Motivation Letter
- Mustermann Erika - Diploma & Transcript of Records
- Mustermann Erika - CV
- Mustermann Erika - Employment Certificates
- Mustermann Erika - Professional Recommendations
- Mustermann Erika - Proof of English Proficiency
You can compress the PDFs if they are otherwise too large to send as attachments, but confirm that they are still clearly readable. For security purposes, please do not send a download link for your files! Please send them as attachments to your application email, and include “DAAD” and your HohCampus application number in the subject line (available upon creating an application, even before submitting).
... for the AgEcon Program?
The University of Hohenheim uses the HohCampus portal for applications. Scholarship applications, submitted by email, can only be considered if there is a corresponding application on HohCampus.
The admission requirements are detailed here.
The application deadline is December 15.
Note: HohCampus allows new applications, for the following Winter semester, to be created in mid-November of the previous year. So, if you try to create an application too early, the program will not be available for selection.
The regular March 15 deadline is only for self-sponsored students (non-EU/EEA), and not for EPOS scholarship applicants.
Even if your application is not selected for the DAAD EPOS scholarship, we will still consider it in the general application (assuming all requirements were met), as a self-sponsored student. Note that there are only a few scholarships available and many qualified applicants.
As such, we encourage you to look for other scholarships to help finance your studies. The DAAD manages a comprehensive database of scholarship organizations in Germany where you may find other sources of funding.
There are also exemptions to tuition payments for many international students. Specifically, in the AgEcon program students from certain African, Caribbean, or Pacific states or a “Least Developed Country” can be exempted from the tuition fee requirement for international students by submitting an exemption request.
This FAQ explains the regulations and lists who can claim tuition exemption.
