Admission with Indian certificates

Studienkolleg, the 70% rule, APS certificate, dMAT test and language proof.

Bachelor

• Class XII (any board) alone does not give direct admission. The usual route is the Studienkolleg (up to two semesters, about B2 German, entrance test), ending with the Feststellungsprüfung.
• Exceptions: a good result in JEE Advanced, or one successful year of a Bachelor's degree, gives subject-restricted direct admission (DAAD India).
• New: 70% rule. From winter semester 2026/27 (applications after 15 March 2026) your Class XII must show at least 70% of the maximum marks, for both the Studienkolleg route and the one-year-Bachelor route (APS India, 23 Feb 2026).

Master

• A 4-year Indian Bachelor's is treated like a German Bachelor's. For a 3-year degree ask the programme first.
• GRE or GMAT only if the programme asks for it.
• Grade conversion and ECTS rules differ by programme. Not confirmed on primary pages; uni-assist converts grades in its pre-check (VPD), which takes 4 to 6 weeks and is needed at FU, TU and HU.

APS certificate

• The Academic Evaluation Centre (APS) of the German Embassy checks your Indian documents. It is still mandatory in 2026 for the study visa if your school or degree credentials are Indian. It does not decide on admission or the visa.
• Fee INR 18,000, non-refundable. Usually about 3 to 4 weeks, sometimes longer. Issued digitally by e-mail.
• Exceptions: PhD and postdoc, holders of EU or German publicly funded scholarships, non-degree study, non-Indian degrees, international school certificates such as IB.
• New: dMAT test. For Master's intakes from summer semester 2027, if your earlier degree is in engineering, commerce/accounting/finance/economics or business/management, you need the dMAT (€150, run by g.a.s.t., not by APS). The certificate must be sent with your APS file. Applications registered before 29 June 2026 are exempt. Details: aps-india.de/dmat.

Language proof

• The Embassy does not accept Duolingo, PTE or TOEFL Home Edition. APS lists Goethe/Max Mueller Bhavan, ÖSD, DSD, IELTS and TOEFL.
• Pitfall: for the visa, "medium of instruction" or "exemption" letters are refused. Some universities accept an English-medium Bachelor's for admission, but admission accepted does not mean visa accepted.
• German-taught programmes: TestDaF or DSH. Find English-taught programmes in the DAAD programme search.

Berlin deadlines (check the university page)