DAAD Scholarships for African Students (2027)

What is the DAAD scholarship?

DAAD is the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, Germany’s national agency for academic exchange, funded by the German government. Its database lists awards at bachelor, master, phd, postdoc, research-stay, language-course level, and the destination is always Germany. Two development-oriented programmes carry almost every applicant from our countries: EPOS, the development-related postgraduate courses, and the Helmut-Schmidt-Programme.

The subject limits are set by DAAD itself: All disciplines in the DAAD scholarship database. The two development-oriented programmes that matter for African applicants are restricted: EPOS to the listed development-related postgraduate courses, the Helmut-Schmidt-Programme to social and political sciences, law, economics, public policy and administration.

If your subject sits outside those two lists you can still search the wider database, but the routes described on this page will not take you. DAAD does not publish how many awards either programme makes, so any acceptance rate you read elsewhere was invented by the person who wrote it. Our study in Germany guide covers the university system these scholarships pay for.

What does it cover?

Tuition is waived by university, so the money is for living costs rather than fees. The stipend is €992–1,400 per month: the lower graduate rate for master’s holders, the higher rates for doctoral candidates. One EPOS course, Social Protection, pays a reduced sur place rate during its online fourth semester.

Health, accident and personal liability insurance is included. Travel: Fixed lump-sum travel allowance between Germany and the home country, unless the cost is met by the home country or another funder — a fixed amount, not a refund of whatever your ticket costs. Where the rules allow it, one more line is added: Monthly allowance for accompanying members of family where applicable.

Funding lasts 12 to 42 months depending on the study programme (EPOS); Helmut-Schmidt-Programme master's courses run two to four semesters, and it does not stretch because your thesis runs late.

Who can apply from our countries?

All nine countries we serve are on the DAAD lists for both programmes: Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Morocco. None is excluded, and there is no quota.

Eligibility turns on the DAC rule instead: Graduates from developing and newly industrialised countries on the OECD DAC list, as published in the DAAD's own country list for each programme. Applicants resident in Germany for longer than 15 months at the deadline are excluded, as are Helmut-Schmidt applicants who spent more than the past 15 months in a country not on the DAC list.

Two rules end most applications before a committee reads them. The degree: A first university degree (bachelor, normally a four-year course) in a relevant subject, normally not more than six years old at the time of application — for the 2027 Helmut-Schmidt intake, issued not before 1 January 2020. The result on it: Above-average result in the first academic degree — upper (top performance) third of the cohort.

Then experience: At least two years of relevant professional experience after the bachelor's degree (EPOS); relevant practical experience, internships, political activity or community service, set course by course (Helmut-Schmidt-Programme).

Language proof is set by the course: English-taught courses: IELTS or TOEFL at the level set by the course; the institutional TOEFL is not accepted. German-taught courses: DSH 2 or TestDaF 4 before the course starts, with at least B1 certified at the time of application. You need no university place first, because the course and scholarship applications are one submission.

Deadline and timeline for 2027/28

DAAD has no single global deadline, and that is where applicants lose a year. The fixed dates belong to the Helmut-Schmidt-Programme: its round opens 1 June 2026, closes 31 July 2026 and funds the 2027/28 academic year at all seven host institutions. EPOS is different. The DAAD’s 2027/2028 EPOS list prints “see website of the course” against every entry, so your date sits on the course page and nowhere else.

Work backwards from that course page, not from the Helmut-Schmidt window. After the deadline, each course’s selection committee proposes its candidates to DAAD, and DAAD then emails those candidates to ask for uploaded documents. Everyone hears in writing December 2026 to January 2027. Successful candidates take the language course where their course requires one: Study and research grant; a mandatory preparatory German language course in Germany of up to four months on the Helmut-Schmidt-Programme, and a six-month intensive course before German-taught EPOS courses. Teaching starts in September or October 2027.

How to apply for the DAAD Scholarships

1. Choose your courses. You may name up to three EPOS courses, or up to two on the Helmut-Schmidt-Programme. Check each course page for its subject fit and, for EPOS, its own closing date.
2. Complete the DAAD application form once and rank your chosen courses in order of preference. There is one form, not one per course.
3. Build the document set. The checklist asks for the completed and signed checklist itself, the DAAD EPOS or Helmut-Schmidt-Programme application form, a Europass curriculum vitae in reverse chronological order, one letter of motivation that is identical for every course, a current letter of recommendation from your present employer, certificates of employment proving the required professional experience, proof of language skills, copies of your higher education degree certificates, and a full transcript of records with an explanation of the grading system.
4. Send the complete application directly to each chosen master’s course. Not to a DAAD office, not to the German embassy. Course contacts and the exact postal or upload route are listed in the official scholarship database at https://www.daad.de/en/study-and-research-in-germany/scholarships/.
5. Wait for the course committee. Each course’s selection committee reviews the applications it received and proposes candidates to DAAD.
6. Upload what DAAD asks for. DAAD contacts the proposed candidates by email and asks them to upload further documents, so use an address you check daily.
7. Read the decision. DAAD finalises the selection and informs every applicant in writing. There is no interview stage.
8. Take the preparatory German course where your course requires it, then begin studies at the German host institution.

The single biggest mistake is treating DAAD as one application with one deadline — it is a set of course applications, each with its own page and its own date. We check the whole file before it goes out; the visa step that follows an award is covered in our Germany student visa guide.

Which universities and programmes

TU Dresden runs DAAD EPOS master’s scholarships on selected programmes, and there the programme application doubles as the scholarship application. The University of Freiburg carries a DAAD/EPOS award for young professionals on courses such as its environmental governance master’s, applied for roughly a year before the intake it funds.

Most of the other German universities in our dataset — Heidelberg, Bonn, TU Berlin, TU Darmstadt, the Free University of Berlin, Humboldt, LMU Munich, the Technical University of Munich, RWTH Aachen, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Hamburg and Tübingen — award no DAAD money themselves. They host DAAD-funded students and point applicants at the national database, so the decision never sits with a university international office.

Subject fit decides more here than any university ranking. EPOS covers the listed development-related postgraduate courses; the Helmut-Schmidt-Programme covers social and political sciences, law, economics, public policy and administration. Compare the institutions in our German universities guide.

Odds, and what to do if you miss it

Nobody can quote you a DAAD success rate. Per-scheme award numbers are not published, in the EPOS database entry or in the Helmut-Schmidt-Programme announcement. What is knowable is the shape of the filter: a first degree young enough, a result in the top third of your cohort, documented professional experience, and a subject on the list.

Most rejected applications fail on those four rules, not on the motivation letter. If you miss this cycle, the degree-age rule usually leaves room for one more attempt, so repair the weakest document and apply again. Meanwhile, look at the other German funding on our Germany scholarships page, at Erasmus Mundus scholarships, and at the low-cost routes in our study abroad for free guide.