To be admitted to UAS_BO, you must present a school-leaving certificate that is recognised as a university entrance qualification in Germany. There are four different types of university entrance qualification:

• direct: With a direct entrance qualification, you are entitled to begin your university studies right away.
• indirect: To become eligible for admission, you must first complete a two-semester foundation course (“Studienkolleg”) and pass a university entrance assessment examination (“Feststellungsprüfung”). After passing that test, you automatically have a direct, subject-specific university entrance qualification.
• general: With a general university entrance qualification, you are entitled to study any subject you want.
• subject-specific: If you have a subject-specific university entrance qualification, your choice of programmes is restricted to a specific field of study. This field of study is determined by the subject you studied at your home university or the subject in which you took relevant examinations. In Germany, academic subjects are grouped into humanities/languages, social sciences and business administration/economics, science and technology, and medicine and biological sciences.

If you already completed a bachelor’s degree in your home country and want to earn a second bachelor’s degree at UAS_BO, you are usually considered to have a general university entrance qualification, meaning you are entitled to study any subject.

For more detailed information on university entrance qualifications, please see the anabin database (information portal on educational credentials earned outside of Germany, available only in German) and the country-specific information at uni-assist.

The DAAD database on admissions requirements may also help you determine whether your prior education is recognised as a university entrance qualification in Germany. (The webpage is available in English.)

More information on the university entrance assessment examination (“Feststellungsprüfung”) is available on the Studienkolleg website.

Before beginning your studies at UAS_BO, you must satisfy the admissions requirements, which may include completing an internship or passing an aptitude test, for example. For more details, see the information on "study guide".

Except for the master’s programme in environmental engineering, which is offered in German and English, all degree programmes at Hochschule Bochum are taught in German. This means that excellent German language skills are essential. Applicants are required to demonstrate their German language proficiency by passing a German language test.

Please find out as early as possible about the language requirements for your chosen programme.

The UAS_BO does not offer any German courses for incoming students. We recommend you take a German course at your home university or at a language school such as the Goethe Institute. Online language classes may be helpful as well. The Goethe Institute offers a German language forum featuring exercises for learners at all proficiency levels. To find language learning options in Germany, use the DAAD database on language and short courses.

For a list of test centres for the various German language tests, see the following websites:

• German universities with a DSH test centre
• Goethe Institute test centres worldwide
• TestDaF centres worldwide
• Test centres “telc C1 Deutsch für Hochschulen“

Before arriving in Germany, you need to prove that you have enough money to support yourself. This document is called a “Finanzierungsnachweis”.  When applying for a visa, applicants have to prove that they have around 10,236 euros at their disposal for one year. The following forms of proof are acceptable:

• Documents certifying your parents’ income and financial assets
• Security payment deposited in a blocked account
• Bank guarantee
• Scholarship award notification by a recognised grant-making body (for more information, see the DAAD website).

a) Apply via the UAS_BO application portal if

• you are a German or EU citizen, or
• your spouse or your father or mother is a German or EU citizen, or
• you are a citizen of Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway, or
• you are a non-EU citizen but have obtained your university entrance qualification in Germany, in an EU member state, or in Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway.

b) Apply via uni-assist if

• you are a non-EU citizen and have obtained your university entrance qualification outside of the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway. This also includes the university entrance assessment examination (“Feststellungsprüfung”) at a Studienkolleg, because this examination only entitles you to study in Germany in combination with an educational credential from your home country.

After you have paid the handling fee, the following documents must be uploaded to uni-assist:

For bachelor’s programmes:

• Officially certified copy of the certificate that allows you to start university studies in your home country. Submit the certificate in its entirety, including the overview of subjects and grades (Also check the country-specific information for specific requirements that may apply to educational certificates from your country.)
• Officially certified copy of an internship report (if an internship is required for admission to your chosen programme)

For master’s programmes:

• Officially certified copies of your transcript of academic records and diploma certificate. You must not omit any parts of the certificate.
• In order to calculate your grade, uni-assist needs the grading system used by your university for your degree. The grading system is usually included with the overview of subjects and grades. If that is not the case on your certificates, you have two options:
  1. provide uni-assist with a link to your university’s website containing information on the grading system, or
  2. submit a PDF with your university’s official grading system. Simply upload the grading system to the uni-assist online portal.
• Officially certified letter of motivation (for the Master's degree courses in architecture)
• Officially certified evidence of work experience (if required for your chosen programme)
• Officially certified letter of recommendation by a professor (if required for your chosen programme)
• Before submitting your application for a master’s programme, please check whether you meet the minimum grade requirements. Grades earned abroad can be converted to German grades using the “modified Bavarian formula”.

All applications (via the UAS_BO application portal or via uni-assist) must include the following additional documents:

• printed and signed application form
• curriculum vitae
• national passport showing your photograph and your personal data (photocopy)
• proof of required German language proficiency or confirmation of registration for a German language test (the result must be available when you enrol!)

Important notes:

Submit your documents in their original language, accompanied by a translation in German or English. This also applies to your overview of subjects and grades.

Uni-assist accepts translations of certificates from the following sources:

• persons or institutions authorised to make translations under oath or admissible in court
• a department of the issuing school or university authorised to issue such translations.

Non-certified translations from standard translation agencies are not acceptable.

In Germany, officially certified documents may be obtained from the following public institutions, for example:

• government agencies such as the police, public schools, universities, city administrations, savings banks (“Sparkassen”), parish offices
• notaries
• diplomatic missions such as embassies

^{(Note that public institutions in Germany are under no obligation to certify documents in a foreign language. If you are already in Germany and have trouble finding a public institution to certify your documents, please contact the embassy of your home country.)} Documents certified by other entities such as tax consultants, student government bodies (AStA) and the like are not acceptable.

Please also review the uni-assist checklists Apply in 6 steps.

If you are currently enrolled at a different university and wish to transfer to Hochschule Bochum, or if you want to switch degree programmes within Hochschule Bochum, you may apply for admission to a higher level of study in your chosen subject. Click here for more information.

Attention: To be on the safe side, please also apply for the 1st semester via uni-assist. If your performance is not sufficient for placement in a higher semester, you can start in the 1st semester if you meet the admission requirements.

Information about applying for a visa for Germany is available from the Federal Foreign Office (visa regulations). This is the place to find out whether you need a visa and how to apply for it.

Please note: You cannot study in Germany on a tourist visa. Neither is it possible to convert a tourist visa into a student visa.

After arriving in Germany, you must change your visa to a residence permit. To do so, contact the local foreigners’ registration office at your place of residence.

See the DAAD website for more information about applying for a visa.

In Germany, all students are legally required to have health insurance.

Please contact your health insurance provider in your home country to find out whether your policy is also recognised in Germany. This may be the case in some European countries. Students from EU member states may present their European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) to prove that they have health insurance coverage in their home country and that their policy is also valid in Germany. Please ask your health insurance provider BEFORE (!) you come to Germany, because that will make many things so much easier. You will not be able to enrol at university unless you present confirmation that you are covered by a health insurance policy recognised in Germany.

If your own health insurance policy is not valid in Germany, you should sign up for coverage right after your arrival in Bochum.

You may sign up with a public or a private health insurance provider. Bear in mind, however, that coverage will not start before the day you enrol at university.

At the latest at the time of enrollment, we require an electronic notification of your insurance status (M10) from your health insurance provider.
Please contact your health insurance provider- the sooner the better.
Your health insurance will then send us the required notification.
For the Bochum University of Applied Sciences the code H0000683 has to be indicated.
 
Here you can find detailed information about the health insurance notification procedure.

About four weeks before your residence permit expires, you should apply for an extension at the responsible foreigners’ registration office.

Please be aware that you may face substantial legal disadvantages if you request an appointment after your valid residence permit has expired.

For students in higher semesters:

If you are at an advanced stage in your studies (usually when reaching or exceeding the standard time to degree) or if you want to change your programme or your university (while you are in your fourth semester or higher), you will often need to enclose a letter from the International Office with your request for an extension of your residence permit. Whether or not this so-called “Studienverlaufsbescheinigung” – a statement on your academic progress – is necessary will be determined by the foreigners’ registration office once you apply for an extension of your residence permit.

For students changing degree programmes or universities:

During the first three semesters, you usually do not need permission from the foreigners’ registration office for changing your university or your programme of study. But please be aware that you still need to inform the foreigners’ registration office about the change in a timely manner and that your residence permit must be changed accordingly. The residence permit for your previous programme will automatically become invalid on the day you switch programmes.

From the fourth semester onwards, you need to request permission from the foreigners’ registration office before changing programmes or universities. The chance of getting this permission is higher if you can show that you will be able to transfer credits from your previous programme of study  to your new programme or university, that you will be placed at a higher level and that the change will not cause any further delay in your progression towards the degree. To be able to show this, you may have to obtain written confirmation from the head of the examination board of your new programme or university, and you may have to request an additional written comment regarding the change from the International Office of that university.

As a general rule, whenever you enrol in a new programme of study, you must get the respective entry in your residence permit changed by the foreigners’ registration office as soon as possible.