How to study in Germany for Indians (The Best way)!

Study in Germany for Indians means free education and excellent job opportunities after graduation. And Indians also come in third place when it comes to the number of foreign students coming for their studies in Germany and this number is increasing each year.

You can see this from the data from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany: just in the Winter Semester 2019/2020, the number of Indian students in Germany was 25,149.

And this number is 400% more than what we saw a decade back, in the year 2010/2011 (5,000).

So why do you think so many Indians are choosing Germany over other countries?

I have asked this to my students in the Complete course for studying in Germany and the top two reasons they mentioned were:

1. Free education
2. Better opportunities

1. Study in Germany for Indians means Completely Free Education!

Compared to the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other popular study abroad nations, Germany is by far the cheapest to study abroad and that too in a developed nation. And this is possible because of most of the German public universities don’t charge the students ANY tuition fees whatsoever.

So this essentially means that Education in German public universities is completely FREE!

You just need to bear the living expenses. And that too can be manageable by doing Part time Jobs in Germany and also properly managing your personal finances like investing in Germany and exploring other passive source of incomes.

And from my personal experience, I had always seen that Indian students are the best when it comes to “cost effective lifestyle”, so they always manage to use this to their advantage.

2. Study in Germany for Indians means Better Opportunities

Germany has been the number ONE economy of Europe for quite a while now. And before the pandemic happened, the unemployment rates were record low.

And compared to the neighbouring countries like Italy, France or even UK, German economy has been extremely stable.

Adding to that, the lowest unemployment rates makes Germany a very much desired study abroad destination for Indian students.

The presence of global leaders like Daimler AG (Mercedes Benz), Bosch, Siemens, Adidas, Conitental, Volkswagen Group, BMW Group etc. plus the unique blend of an evergreen SME sector and family owned businesses make Germany a “hub” of employment. And people from all over Europe, including the UK (post Brexit) have been coming to Germany to work.

And with the ageing poplulation there is a looming skillgap, which needs to be resolved quickly.

In fact, Germany needs engineers and IT professionals from India and Asian subcontinent badly to run their economy to it’s highest levels.

And this means huge opportunities for the students.

Also, things like, the lack of jobs in their home country, the abysmal pay, unlimited working hours and no holiday have been forcing many students from India and working professionals towards a more healthier work culture of Germany.

What are the other advantages Germany offers to Indian students?

Apart from world-class education, the main benefit of studying in Germany is the Tuition-fee free education provided by the public universities.

And not only that, you can also get the following advantages:

18 Month Job Search Extension:

Once you are done with your study in Germany, you have up to 18 months to search for a job in Germany. And this timeframe is usually more than sufficient for you to get a job.

Permanent Residency in 2 years:

If you study in a German university, you can get your permanent residency in Germany just within 24 months.
How?
By paying your social contributions and taxes for 24 months, and reaching the B1 German language proficiency!

Citizenship in 5 years:

And there is no drama of lottery systems and Green card either!
If you have paid your social contributions in Germany for a total of 60 months. And if you have a degree from a German university and have B1 German language proficiency, you can apply for the German citizenship!
How cool is that?

What are best ways to study in Germany for Indians?

One thing you should keep in mind when you come to study in Germany from India. And that is, each German university is autonomous. They have their own sets of admission criteria. So you should visit the university website and check the requirements of the program you want to study in Germany. These requirements always differ for each university.

Bachelors in Germany for Indian students

Students studying in a German school give the Abitur exam that serves as an entrance qualification for German universities for bachelors.

And Abitur is equivalent to 12 + 1 = 13 years of education.

Students from India do not have this qualification. And the schooling system for Indian students only allows 12 years of study. So you are required to acquire 13 years of education to become eligible for bachelors in Germany.

And how can you do that?

Studienkolleg

Studienkolleg is a foundation course. Indian students coming to Germany can do this if they want to do Bachelors in Germany.

It is a two-semester program that can be done after clearing the Aufnameprüfung.

Once the Studienkolleg is complete, the students have to appear for the FSP exam. The combined score of the FSP exam and the 12th grade is used as the entrance qualification for the universities.

There may be additional requirements that students have to meet like language requirements, aptitude test etc.

Can you avoid Studienkolleg?

Yes you can definitely avoid Studienkolleg.
But how?
Study in Germany for Indians who are specially looking to do their Bachelors can do two things in this case.

1 year bachelor in home country

Indians coming to study in Germany can do 1 year Bachelors study at a recognized university.
The stream of your subject has to be in the same field in which you wish to do their bachelor in Germany.
And after finishing 1 year at the Indian university you can apply for 1st year bachelor studies at a German university. But you should meet all the other requirements of admission for that German university.

JEE Advance Exam

If you successfully pass the JEE Advane exam in India, then you can directly apply to study in Germany for Bachelors.
This is possible because the syllabus for JEE is similar to that of Studeinekolleg.
But this is applicable only if you want to do engineering or other related subjects.

IB/ Cambridge board

And lastly, if you complete your schooling in India in the Cambridge (IGCSE) or IB (International Baccalaureate) educational system. And you have the requisite subject combination, then you can also avoid Stuidenkolleg in Germany.

Want to know the Basic admission requirements to study in Germany for Indians?
Then download our FREE e-book from here: Basic admission requirements for Bachelors in Germany

Masters in Germany for Indian students

What is the best thing about studying Masters in Germany for Indian students? Be it any profile or any background, you can get an admission.
Too good to be true?
But this is indeed the truth!
How? Let me explain.

First thing you should know is, when it comes to study Masters in Germany, your Bachelors score is extremely important.

And how to convert your Indian GPA to German GPA? You can do this using the German grade Calculator.

Scenario 1: Less Than 65%

• Many education consultants will tell you that you cannot study in Germany for free or with a low percentage score, which is absolutely wrong.

• They generally do this so that they are able to refer you to their partner universities in other countries. So that they can get their referral fee from their partnet universities

• With less than 65% in your bachelor’s degree, you have the option for German-taught masters. And you can do this from in any of the highly reputed German public universities. Because they generally don’t require any minimum percentage for German taught programs (non-NC courses).

• For German taught programs, you’d need a German proficiency at the level B2-C1. And It’s actually not that difficult. You can easily reach C1 in eight months to one year of study. And online German language courses like SmarterGerman can easily take you to B1 in just 90 days!

• You still have to meet other admission requirements such as language, work experience, previous degree etc. (as mentioned by the university).

• Also, if you still want to do your masters in English with 65% score in your Bachelors, then you can study your Masters in good private universities also, like SRH.
  But before going forward with the private universities in Germany, properly take reviews about them and their accreditations.

Scenario 1: More Than 65%

• With more than 65%, you can apply for an English-taught Masters in German public university.

• German universities might also have additional percentage requirements. You still have to fulfil the additional admission requirements as set by the individual universities.

• Having more than 65% in your bachelors is normally considered a good score. The more score you have the better your chances are!

• It’s important to know that the German universities place importance on the candidate’s entire application.

• But with a good Bachelors scoe you also need a brilliant SOP, a German standard CV and good LORs! As a smart applicant, it is important never to neglect these additional documents the universities ask from you during the application process.

• A student with a brilliant SOP, a well-built CV and good LORs can get advantage even with a low Bachelors score.

• No matter what your score is, making sure that you have prepared your documents properly for the German universities will take you a long way!

Can Indians get scholarships for study in Germany?

It doesn’t matter if you are coming to Germany to do your Masters, Bachelors or for Ph.D. studying in Germany already relieves the stress of paying tuition fee to the universities.

But for some students it might still be difficult to manage their finances.

And in that case you can plan to fund their studies with some scholarships. Even if your financial situation isn’t bad, you can still avail one based on your past grades.

Indian students are quite skilled when it comes to savings and managing their money. And there are plenty of ways to do that, starting from getting a scholarship.

Types of Scholarships:

Pre-admission scholarships

You can apply for these scholarships when you have already received an admit from a university in Germany but you are still in India.

Post-admission scholarships

Scholarships that you can apply for after you are already enrolled in a university are called post-admission scholarships. These types of scholarships are quite a few in number.

General Information:

Unlike in other countries like Canada, America, or Australia, where the universities sell the students with huge offers for scholarships to enroll in their universities, Germany, in general, doesn’t do that.

And this is because most of the reputed universities here are Public universities receive funding directly from the German Government and the organizations they work together with.

No tuition fee means, there is no major revenue that the government is earning and the cost of professors and infrastructure of the university is taken up by the taxpayers.

Had Germany imposed 30,000 Euros per year of tuition fee like Australia, USA or Canada, they would also be happy to give you some ‘Discounts’ for studying in their country.

Pre-admission scholarships

Along with daad.de, you should always check your university’s website for scholarships. For this, you have to do one simple thing and that is use Google.

Along with using English keywords, it’s important that you use the German ones too. Because you will still be missing out on the 99% of results if you don’t use the German keywords.

You can “Google” the following (feel free to replace Master with any course names):

• Master Stipendium Deutschland
• Stipendium Deutschland
• Studienförderung für Master
• Scholarships (Name of the university)

After this, you will find the pages where the universities have mentioned the scholarships.

The pages will look like this:

Post-admission scholarships

If pre-admission scholarships were 1% of the total number of scholarships, the rest 99% are still left. But the only problem is, most people don’t know about it because most of the documentation regarding it is in German.

That is the reason, I always stress about learning German when you are planning on coming to Germany.

Otherwise, you will keep on missing on majority of the opportunity that this wonderful country has to offer you.

Once, you are enrolled in the university and already studying for your Masters, you will be able to apply for these scholarships and with a good cover letter.

Even some major companies like Airbus, Lufthansa, Deutsche Bahn, Vattenfall, Hochtief, Bilfinger, BMW, and others have their own Studienförder (Study support) programs.

And the majority of the list of such organizations and big companies which provide scholarships, you will find in Download Scholarship List (You can free download this)

Requirements for Scholarships

Now, what requirements are there to apply for scholarships?

The requirements of each scholarship is different and each scholarship also serves a different purpose. But in general, here is the rule of thumb that you would have to follow:

• Good Bachelor grade
• Excellent grades in Masters (for post admission scholarships)
• CV displaying engagement in extra-curricular activities
• Persuasive Motivation Letter

The organizations might also ask you for some photographs or descriptions of what kind of projects you would like to do for them in the future.

Websites for Scholarships

Here are some important websites where you can find scholarships for Indian students:

1. https://www.stipendienlotse.de/
2. https://www.stipendiumplus.de/startseite.html
3. https://www.mystipendium.de/
4.  https://www.daad.de/deutschland/stipendium/datenbank/en/21148-scholarship-database/
5. https://stiftungssuche.de/

Steps to study in Germany for Indians

Indian students need to follow these simple steps for their Masters in Germany:

• Selecting courses and universities with Complete course for studying in Germany
• Giving the required exams like IELTS (Some universities can also ask for GMAT, GRE or GATE scores from the students)
• Preparing your documents (like your university transcripts, graduation certificate, and your admission documents – CV, SOP, LORs)
• Applying to the universities (via Uni-assist or directly applying to the university portal)
• Visa applications (Checklist for German Student Visa for International students, A blocked account with 10,332 Euros with Expatrio and your Travel and health insurance)
• Accommodation search in Germany (You can also check out Complete course for studying in Germany for this)
• Additional step: Learning German before comeing to Germany

You can check out this video from the YouTube channel Bharat in Germany.

Here the step-by-step process for studying Masters in Germany for Indian students is explained in detail.

In which areas the Indian students struggle the most?

• Even if the students do everything by themselves, they don’t get admission to the best universities as per their profile!
There are no specific “Tier” systems in Germany.
But some universities are indeed better than others. And they could have easily managed to get an admit to one of those better universities.

• Some students also get rejections, since they apply to the wrong course which doesn’t suit their actual profile/ grades. And this results in loss of year and loss of an intake.

• They get misguided by the local consultants who have no clue about German education. They write their CV, SOP, and LORs for them and charge a HUGE amount of fees from the students! And needless to say, the students get misguided because of this and end up with rejections.
These consultants also make money by sending the students ONLY to their “partner universities”.

• They spend a lot of time searching for free information on the internet and fail to distinguish the fake from the real, which can actually benefit them.

To get admission in German universities for Indian students, you should definitely check this online course!

Bharat did his Masters from a German public university. And so far with Complete course for studying in Germany, he has managed to save many students from such pitfalls! You should never feel that you are not good enough to have a shot at excellent international education!

And today with 1500+ students in the course, he is still able to deliver what he promised to the Indian students!