DAAD scholarships: how they actually work

What DAAD funding actually is

DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst — the German Academic Exchange Service) is a public body that runs its own scholarship programmes, separate from any single university. A DAAD scholarship typically covers a monthly stipend (commonly quoted in the roughly €850–1,200 range depending on degree level — always check the current figure on the specific programme's page at daad.de, not a blog post), health/liability/accident insurance, and often a travel allowance — on top of, not instead of, a tuition-free public university place.

This is different from the blocked account: the blocked account is money you prove you already have; a DAAD scholarship is money someone else gives you, which — if you win it — usually replaces the blocked-account requirement entirely for the visa file.

The two tracks that matter for most applicants

DAAD runs dozens of named programmes, but almost every UniChapter board applicant fits one of two shapes.

• —Study Scholarships for postgraduate courses: funding tied to a specific DAAD-supported master's programme (many are the 'development-related' EPOS courses in engineering, economics, public policy, and similar fields). You apply to the programme and the scholarship together — the university's international office runs the selection, not DAAD centrally.
• —General/subject-specific master's & PhD scholarships: open competitions with their own deadlines and committees, often needing a letter of motivation, references, and (for some) a proposed study or research plan.
• —Both tracks typically expect a first degree already completed, generally above-average grades, and — for many postgraduate lines — some relevant work experience (often up to roughly six years; the exact cap varies by programme, verify on the listing).

The deadline trap

This is the single most common way applicants miss out: DAAD scholarship deadlines run far ahead of the university's own application deadline — often 10–14 months before the intake starts, not the 15 January / 15 July windows this board uses for the university application itself. A programme starting winter semester (October) can have a DAAD funding deadline the previous autumn.

Practical rule: the moment you shortlist a program on the board, check whether it (or a near-identical one) appears in DAAD's own scholarship database (daad.de/en/study-and-research-in-germany/scholarships) and note that deadline separately — it is very often the earliest date on your whole timeline, ahead of APS, ahead of the blocked account, ahead of the visa appointment.

If DAAD doesn't cover your programme

Most students on this board will not be DAAD-funded — the programmes are real but competitive and cover a minority of seats. Two other funding routes are worth knowing:

• —Deutschlandstipendium: a separate, university-run scheme (half government, half private sponsors) paying about €300/month, merit-based, applied for directly through your (future) university once enrolled or during application — ask the international office, DAAD doesn't administer this one.
• —Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees: EU-funded (not DAAD), covers tuition plus a living allowance, but only for the specific joint-degree programmes taught across multiple countries — check eacea.ec.europa.eu if your field has one.
• —For everyone else: the blocked account (see the dedicated guide) remains the proof-of-funds path, and a Werkstudent job after arrival (see the student-jobs guide) is the realistic way most students actually cover the gap DAAD funding would have closed.