DAAD Scholarship in Germany

I have always found the DAAD scholarship program in Germany very confusing. I have gone to their website several times and just could never figure it out – thus I have never posted about this international scholarship option because it just seemed too confusing.

One of my goals is to list only the best scholarship options and give clear instructions on how you can proceed with the application process. I understand there is so much information about scholarships on the web but there is not a lot of clear information on how to navigate the entire process and this is what I want to list on my site.

So I was pleased when I got an email from someone affiliated with DAAD, who helped me navigate and understand this scholarship. Below is some of what he wrote me and my best take on how to proceed. There are not a lot of options at the graduate level but there are some – and the ones they have are excellent. There also are great Phd Options but I do not list these on this site.

Know that I will continue to research and list great scholarship options on the site. Don’t forget to sign up for the email list so you can be notified when they are posted. RECEIVE FREE SCHOLARSHIP UPDATES

Samuel

The DAAD programmes are quite confusing and the website is less than ideal. In total DAAD has some 200 odd scholarship programmes and funding comes from Ministries of Education, of Development, of Foreign Affairs, plus the EU etc. that might explain part of the complexity of http://daad.de.

http://nairobi.daad.de is quite a bit reduced to the twenty programmes relevant for East Africa. In the early days Nairobi dealt with the whole continent, nowadays we have Information Centres in Accra and Johannesburg so the Nairobi office is focused on East Africa. (SEE BELOW for links to the DAAD sites there).

The grey links, on the Nairobi site, on the left are key to understanding the page:

First of all we provide information on study/research in Germany – there is funding for Individuals and for institutions and some more less important links.

For individuals there are some specialized programmes in-country or in-region, mostly for staff development of local universities – so you need strong support from your local School of Postgraduate Studies. This programme is known to the local universities and if students are interested they should check with their school.

So individual funding for East Africans usually means going to Germany. I think we should give this part a more prominent place – individual funding is what people come for most of the time.

Hardly anybody supports undergraduates and we have only very specialized undergrad programmes, for the time being it is safe to say: “Sorry, but forget about it” although it is not quite correct :-/ It’s a complicated matter. The rest of the information here focuses on graduate scholarships if you are interested in undergrad then you’ll have to do more searching on the site yourself – at another time I might come back and write more about it.

Anyway, it comes down to this top six most important programmes for individuals:

1. PhD Programme to Germany:
   http://nairobi.daad.de/fsr_doctorial.php
2. Postgraduate Courses (Master/PhD) for people working in development sector:
   http://nairobi.daad.de/fsr_postgraduate.php
3. Masters in Public Policy and Good Governance:
   http://nairobi.daad.de/public_policy_good_gov.php
4. For the Fine Arts:
   http://nairobi.daad.de/fsr_artists.php
5. For short study visits by groups of students:
   http://nairobi.daad.de/fsr_study_visits.php
6. Finally we are partner and facilitator for Erasmus Mundus, a European Programme with excellent scholarships for Africans:
   http://nairobi.daad.de/erasmus_mundus.php

Of these six let me highlight two:

#2 – Development Sector Scholarships

DAAD offers scholarships for postgraduate degrees at German universities within the programme “Development-related Postgraduate Courses”.

The age limit for most of the courses is 36 (some 32), the applicant needs a Bachelors degree with at least second upper, 2 years work experience in the field of the course and must be employed.

We request a letter from the employer granting a study leave. The application deadline is end of July annually at DAAD Nairobi/ the relevant diplomatic and consular missions of the Federal Republic of Germany in the respective countries.

The courses are in the fields of:

• Economic Sciences/ Business Administration/Political Economics,
• Development Co-operation
• Engineering and related sciences
• Mathematics
• Regional Planning
• Agricultural and Forest Sciences
• Environmental Sciences
• Public Health
• Education

Applications:

• Please note that the submission of applications is also possible at DAAD Head Office in Germany (by end of August annually) or at a later date at the university in question (check respective course requirements).

#3 – Masters in Public Policy and Good Governance

This programme is designed to academically qualify future leaders in politics, law, economics and administration according to the principles of Good Governance and to prepare them in a praxis-oriented course for their professional life.

Very well qualified graduates with a first university degree (Bachelor or equivalent) who in the future want to actively contribute to the social and economic development of their home countries. The scholarships are offered both for young graduates without professional experience and for mid-career professionals.

The following Master courses are funded in the PPGG programme:

University of Duisburg-Essen

• MA Development and Governance (English, 1 year)
• Contact person: Mr. Christian Tischmeyer

Willy Brandt School of Public Policy at the University of Erfurt

• Master of Public Policy (MPP) (English, 2 years)
• Contact person: Ms. Kristiina Valdru

Hertie School of Governance, Berlin

• Master of Public Policy (English, 2 years), can register also for this course online
• Contact person: Mr. Benjamin Steffen

Hochschule Osnabrück:

• Master Management in Non-Profit-Organizations (German, 2 years)
• Contact person: Ms. Pauline Missling

University of Osnabrück

• Master Democratic Governance and Civil Society (German/ English, 2 years)
• Contact person: Mr. David Seaman

Leuphana University of Lüneburg

• Public Economics, Law and Politics (PELP) (English/ German, 2 years
• Contact person: Mr. Marcus Kronfeldt
  

University of Passau

• Governance and Public Politics (German/ English, 2 years)
• Contact persons: Dr. Christian Dölle

University of Potsdam

• Public Policy and Management (PPM) (English, 1 year)
• Contact person: Ms. Guila Carboni

For further information on the scholarships, please click here.

Application deadline: July 31

• Kenyans may only submit their documents to the DAAD, Regional Office for Africa, Nairobi.
• Non-Kenyan citizens please apply through the relevant diplomatic and consular missions of the Federal Republic of Germany in their respective home countries.
• A direct application to DAAD Head Office in Germany is not possible.

GOT QUESTIONS – NEED MORE INFORMATION

We try to move some counseling towards facebook to be more accessible for non-Kenyan East Africans, so most important is this link:DAADNairobi

Other DAAD Information Centres (IC) in Africa

The offices listed below can only answer questions asked from the respective country or region. They cannot forward your e-mails, either. Please take a look at our list of “Frequently asked questions” on Study, research and living in Germany or on Study, research and teaching abroad (German).

Accra – GHANA

• Dr. Heike Edelmann-Okinda

c/o Goethe-Institut

30, Kakramadou Road Cantonments,

Accra

• Email: daadghana@yahoo.com
• www.ic.daad.de/accra

Johannesburg – SOUTH AFRICA

• Dr. Ralf Hermann

University of the Witwatersrand,

East campus, Senate House,

Johannesburg

• Tel: +27 – 11 – 717 9334
• Email: daad@wits.ac.za
• http://www.daad-southafrica.org/de/