Universities in Germany for African Students

Choosing a university in Germany

Germany’s system splits three ways, and the split decides what you pay. At public universities, tuition is free for a bachelor’s and free for a consecutive master’s; the only recurring bill is the semester contribution of €100–400 per semester, which includes a local transport ticket in many cities. Non-consecutive and executive master’s programmes are charged.

Two states break that rule. Every public university in Baden-Württemberg — Heidelberg, KIT, Freiburg and Tübingen — bills non-EU students €3,000 per year. In Bavaria, TUM charges €2,000–3,000 per semester for a bachelor’s, and FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg introduces non-EU fees of €1,000–3,000 per semester for students newly enrolling in 2027/28.

Private universities and universities of applied sciences set their own prices, €6,000–20,000 per year at bachelor’s level, and teach far more in English.

The city you choose moves your budget more than the fee does. Munich runs €1,300–1,700 per month; Dresden runs €600–1,000 per month. Over a three-year degree that gap is larger than any tuition difference. Read the full cost of studying in Germany before you settle on a city.

Top universities in Germany

The positions below are as published; none of them tell you whether your certificate is accepted or your subject is taught in English.

Technical University of Munich is the highest-placed at #25 (QS 2026), covering engineering, computer science, data science and management, and it is also the most expensive: €2,000–3,000 per semester for a bachelor’s and €4,000–6,000 per semester for a master’s.

LMU Munich (#61 (QS 2027)) is the broad research university in the same city — medicine, law, life sciences, economics — and charges free tuition with a semester fee of €97 per semester. It lists 0 English-taught bachelor’s programmes.

Heidelberg University (#86 (QS 2027)) is the oldest, strong in medicine, law and the life sciences, and runs 21 English master’s — but the Baden-Württemberg fee applies, medicine included.

Berlin gives you three tuition-free options. Free University of Berlin (#98 (QS 2027)) covers political science, law, business and data science, with 25 English master’s and 1 English bachelor’s. Humboldt University of Berlin (#140 (QS 2027)) is its counterpart in law, economics and the humanities, and teaches medicine in German only. TU Berlin (#158 (QS 2027)) handles engineering, computer science and urban planning for €360.49 per semester.

RWTH Aachen University (#104 (QS 2027)) is the mechanical and electrical engineering school, tuition-free, with 16 English master’s and the largest international intake here at 35.6%. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (#110 (QS 2027)) covers the same ground in engineering, physics and computer science, but at the Baden-Württemberg rate of €3,000 per year.

TU Dresden (#185 (QS 2027)) teaches engineering, computer science and medicine tuition-free in the cheapest city on this list. University of Bonn (#209 (QS 2027)) is the mathematics, economics and agricultural sciences option, and ranks #92 (QS 2026). University of Hamburg (#209 (QS 2027)) covers law, business, psychology and the natural sciences. TU Darmstadt (#250 (QS 2027)) runs 22 English master’s and 0 English bachelor’s, in a city that costs €750–950 per month. All four are tuition-free.

English-taught programmes

English-taught study in Germany is a master’s-level offer. FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg lists 40 English master’s, Tübingen 35, Free University of Berlin 25, TU Darmstadt 22 and Heidelberg 21. At bachelor’s level the same universities list 5, 3, 1, 0 and 4.

If you need an English-taught bachelor’s, the realistic route is private. CODE University of Applied Sciences in Berlin teaches all 3 of its bachelor’s programmes in English at €650–1,250 per month; IU International University of Applied Sciences teaches 9 bachelor’s and 17 master’s in English.

The usual entry level is IELTS 6 for a bachelor’s and 6.5 for a master’s, with each university setting its own accepted tests: RWTH Aachen accepts TOEFL iBT 90, Tübingen asks IELTS 7. The visa office runs no language test of its own; it checks only that you hold a valid admission letter. If your last degree was taught in English, ask admissions in writing whether that replaces a test — see studying in Germany without IELTS.

Entry requirements for African students

Most German universities do not read your certificates themselves: uni-assist checks them against Anabin, the official recognition database. Certificates must be apostilled, and Nigerian and Ghanaian applicants add a WAEC scratch card for online verification. No APS certificate is required from any of the eight African countries we serve — there is no APS office in Africa.

For a bachelor’s, no African school certificate here gives automatic entry, with one exception. WASSCE and NECO alone qualify you for a Studienkolleg — a foundation year ending in the Feststellungsprüfung — at almost every university here, Heidelberg, TUM, TU Berlin, TU Dresden and Free University of Berlin included. One successful year of related university study at home gives subject-restricted direct entry at TUM and TU Darmstadt instead. KCSE follows the same pattern and needs at least a C+ average. The Moroccan Baccalauréat alone requires Studienkolleg plus the Feststellungsprüfung everywhere; a completed Moroccan degree opens direct entry. The exception is the South African NSC with a Bachelor’s Pass, which TUM and TU Darmstadt accept for direct bachelor’s entry.

For a master’s, a recognised bachelor’s degree of at least three full-time years is the general rule, assessed programme by programme through uni-assist and Anabin. TUM converts your best-graded modules into a German grade rather than applying a fixed cut-off; Bonn, LMU, KIT and RWTH publish no country rule and decide department by department.

Medicine is taught in German at every university in this dataset. For country detail see studying in Germany from Nigeria, and for the foundation year our Studienkolleg guide.

Tuition and scholarships

Public tuition is free for a bachelor’s and free for a consecutive master’s across most of the country, so the semester contribution is the bill you actually pay: €97 per semester at LMU Munich, €402.68 per semester at TU Darmstadt.

The paid exceptions are the four Baden-Württemberg universities at €3,000 per year, TUM at €4,000–6,000 per semester for a master’s, and FAU from 2027/28 at €2,000–6,000 per semester for a master’s. Private institutions charge €6,000–20,000 per year for a bachelor’s and €8,000–25,000 per year for a master’s; IU bills its on-campus bachelor’s as €20,910 per programme.

There is little tuition left to waive, so scholarships here fund living costs, not fees. Two schemes matter for African students: DAAD, whose holders commonly have the €75 visa fee waived, and Erasmus Mundus joint master’s. Both are competitive, both fund living costs rather than fees, and neither is a plan on its own — see Germany scholarships.

How to apply

1. Check your school certificate and your home university on Anabin. This decides whether you apply straight into a degree or need a Studienkolleg year first, and it is the step most applicants skip.
2. Shortlist three to five programmes by language of instruction, then by subject and city. Note which of them charge non-EU fees.
3. Get documents ready: apostilled certificates, certified translations, and the WAEC scratch card for Nigeria and Ghana. Ghanaian school certificates go through a separate German embassy verification that takes months, so start there first.
4. Sit your English test — IELTS 6 for a bachelor’s, 6.5 for a master’s — or get written confirmation that an English-medium letter is accepted instead.
5. Apply through uni-assist, which charges €75 to evaluate your first application and a smaller fee for each additional programme. Deadlines are 15 July (winter) / 15 January (summer) for bachelor’s and 15 July / 15 January (many earlier) for master’s; intakes are Winter (October), Summer (April).
6. On admission, open a blocked account and fund it with €11,904 per year, calculated as €992 per month × 12 (2026), or arrange an accepted alternative such as a bank guarantee.
7. Take out student health insurance at €141–146 per month, then enrol and pay the semester contribution.
8. Apply for the National (Type D) student visa at the embassy or visa centre for €75, allowing 4 to 12 weeks for a decision — the document list is on the Germany student visa page.