University of Freiburg DAAD/EPOS Scholarships for Young Professionals from Developing Countries 2027

Applications are open from 15 June to 15 October 2026

The “Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst” (DAAD) has selected the MSc Environmental Governance (MEG)  as a development-related postgraduate course and so the programme can offer a limited number of EPOS Scholarships. Candidates will be selected first by the programme committee of the MEG programme. In a second step, DAAD will check our selection carefully and decide upon the candidates.

This is a highly competitive application process with strict requirements. Scholarship applicants must fulfill both the DAAD EPOS requirements AND the admission criteria for the MEG programme.

Note: The DAAD-EPOS scholarship application has to be submitted one year ahead of admission (15 October 2026 for study begin October 2027). The applications for the MEG programme and for the scholarship are linked, meaning that the required documents compose an application for both.

 

Table of Content

• Summary
• Benefits
• Requirements
• Application Documents
• Application Deadline
• How To Apply

Summary

• Application DeadlineOctober 15, 2026
• Study LevelMasters
• SponsorUniversity of Freiburg
• City to studyBaden-Württemberg
• School to studyUniversity of Freiburg
• Course to studyEnvironmental Governance Programme
• Eligible CountryAll Countries

Benefits

• Fully funded

Requirements

Young professionals from developing countries (DAC countries) who meet all of the following requirements:

• have an academic degree, that is not older than six years at the time of application (October 2026)
• have a minimum of 2 years of relevant professional experience (post Bachelor, at the time of application); internships and volontary work are not accepted

Note that employment in academia, like teaching and research at a university or research institute, is not considered relevant work experience for this scholarship type; only in very exceptional cases can it be accepted.

• have an academic degree above average (upper third)
• having resided in Germany for no more than 15 months before applying

Candidates who already hold a master's degree must make a well-argued case as to why they should be funded for another postgraduate degree.

Application Documents

 

1.    DAAD Application Form (download DAAD Application Form), don´t forget date of issue

2.    MEG application form  (Please note that due to technical issues, we have had to close the online application process and will not be reactivating it. Instead, please fill in this form and send your documents as a single PDF to [email protected]

3.    Letter of Motivation, following this MEG_DAAD Guideline, don´t forget date of issue

SPECIAL CASE

If you are applying - apart from MEG - to other Master programmes of the DAAD-EPOS programme, you have to write a  SECOND motivation letter in which you explain why you are applying for these specific programmes and why you have chosen the order of priority. You must provide the exactly same letter of motivation to all programmes you are applying for.

• The letter should be a maximum of 2 pages long, should refer to your current occupation, your motivation for further study and related to that, to your order of priority.
• It has to include date of issue
• Without this letter, DAAD will exclude you from the application process. You can apply for maximum three DAAD-EPOS master programmes.
• Make sure that you indicate your choices also in the DAAD application form. If you apply for more than one EPOS programme without indicating it in the DAAD application form, DAAD will exclude you from the application process.

4.  CV

• format EUROPASS (mandatory)
• full CV without any unexplained gaps (explain all gaps longer than 3 months)
•  in reverse chronological order
• incl. the date of issue

All information provided on the DAAD application form must match the information in your letter of motivation, in your CV and in applications to other DAAD-EPOS study programmes.

5. Transcript of Records (original and certified translation if necessary).

• The transcript needs to be uploaded in it´s original version and if necessary in it´s  English or German certified translation.

• Your Bachelor´s transcript must contain a final weighted average/CGPA and a grading scale. The grade must be NUMERIC (not alphabetical or qualitative).  If your transcript lacks the above, please attach an annex with the missing information (e.g. link to your university´s official grading scale). Without this information we cannot assess and consider your application.
• For the assessment of your application we can only consider your bachelor grade, even if your last degree is a Master´s degree. Therefore, make sure to upload the transcript of your bachelors degree.

• It you  have a Bachelor and a Master degree please also upload the transcript of your Master degree for our information, but keep in mind that we cannot consider the grade of your Master degree.

6. University degree certificate

• The degree certificate needs to be uploaded in it´s original version and if necessary in it´s  English or German certified translation.

 7. Certificate for professional experience relevant to MEG 

•  Work certificate(s) for at least two years of relevant professional experience at the time of application (October 2026).  The letter must state the exact dates of employment in retrospective.  An employment contract or payl slip cannot be accepted as it only shows that you were employed, but not for how long. Internships or voluntary work cannot be accepted.
• the letter must be written on headed paper, including an original (not scanned) or code certified digital signature, the date and a stamp.

8. Two recommendation letters

• one from your current employer (DAAD requirement)
• one from an academic teacher or supervisor (MEG requirement)

• ask both referees to write a reference letter based on the Guideline for Referees.
• the letters must be written on headed paper, including an original (not scanned) or code certified digital signature, the date of signature and a stamp. If a stamp cannot be provided, the referee should shortly explain why.

• Do not send the reference letters yourself. These must be sent from the referees directly to us. Letters that you send us yourself cannot be recognized. Each referee should send the letter to [email protected] before Oct 15, 2026. You must fill in the names and contact dates of your chosen referees in the MEG application form, page 2.

9. English Language Certificate (originals or certified copies).

Language certificates have to be submitted until October 15. Exceptions are allowed only if applicants can upload the registration proof for a test date on or before October 15 and provide the test result until October 31. No exceptions to this rule.

• We accept either

  • • TOEFL iBT before 2026 incl. home edition (95 points),
    • TOEFL iBT since 2026 incl. home edition (5 points)

             TOEFL certificates cannot be older than 2 years. We are registered for TOEFL online verification.Our TOEFL                   code number is 8692, dept. code 99.

  • • IELTS computer or online  (Band 7), for IELTS verification there is no code number and applicants who have not already received a pdf version of their certificate should upload a screenshot of their result, which we will then verify. No limit of validity.
    • Cambridge (level C1). No limit of validity.
    • PTE (Pearson Academic, score 76). No limit of validity

EXEMPTIONS:

• Native English speakers are exempted from a language proof. They shall upload a copy of their passport.
• Applicants who followed their entire university studies in English in an English speaking country (US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) or in a country where English is the official language are exempted from the English Certificate.

Results of English tests can be submitted by email to [email protected] after October 15, but not later than 31 October.

10. Signed DAAD checklist      VERY IMPORTANT!

• The checklist has to be printed out and signed with a pen and then be scanned again (a digital signature cannot be accepted).

• The documents listed are mandatory. Please read very carefully and make sure that you submit the documents exactly the way it is required. Only tick a document off if you included it.  If a stamp or a signature when required on a document is missing, DAAD will reject the application.

11. APS Certificate

     Compulsory only for applicants from China, India and Vietnam.

12.  Submit:

• Please merge all the above listed documents  in one single PDF file and upload them in the MEG online application form (see above point 2). Please put the documents in the following  order:

      MEG application form

      DAAD application form

      Motivation letter

      CV

      Academic Transcript

      Degree Certificate

      Proof of 2 years work experience

      English language certificate (if applicable)

      APS (if applicable)

      DAAD Checklist

Application Deadline

October 15, 2026

How To Apply

• All documents listed under Application Documents, need to be compressed or merged as one single PDF file and then be sent to [email protected].

• Incomplete applications cannot be considered. 

• Referees have to send their reference letters directly to [email protected], not to the applicant.

• If you submit the documents listed, there is no need to submit additional documents required in the DAAD application form (e.g. project outline).

For more information, kindly visit the University of Freiburg webpage.