Your application to the TU Ilmenau with a foreign certificate - requirements, deadlines and processes

APPLICATION PERIODS

Bachelor

  • Wintersemester: January 16  to May 15
  • Summer semester:No application for summer semester for all bachelor programs

Master

  • Winter semester: January 16 to May 15
  • Summer semester: August 1 to November 15

Note: No application for the summer semester for the following Master's programs:

  • Biotechnical Chemistry
  • Communication and Signal Processing
  • International Business Economics
  • Micro- and Nanotechnologies
  • Media and Communication Science
  • Mathematics and Business Mathematics
  • Engineering Physics

APPLICATION PROCESS

How does the application process work?

Enrollment at the University is a prerequisite for admission to a degree program (specialized or pre-degree). Enrollment at the university takes place

  • by enrollment as a student in a course of study (specialized studies) or
  • by enrollment as a collegiate student in the Academic Preparation Course (Preliminary Studies).
     

A change of program at the same university does not affect enrollment at that university. Only a transfer to the new degree program will occur. Re-registration for the following semester refers to enrollment at the university and not to a specific degree program.
 

The Enrollment Regulations of the TU Ilmenau regulates the procedure of admission to the study program and to the other courses offered by the universitythe enrollment, re-registration, change of study program and part-time study of students as well as the procedure for admission as secondary students and guest students at the Ilmenau University of Technology.

Important notes

If the original documents are not in German or English, a certified translation is required.

The application process can take several months (Bachelor approx. 1 month, Master approx. 3 months) - apply early!

The issuing of a visa can take about 3 months (e.g. in China) - please take this into account when applying!

The TU Ilmenau charges a one-time processing fee of 75 € for each application from abroad - you will receive a request for transfer of this fee in the applicant portal. Further processing will only take place once the fee has been credited to our account.

The enrollment is only legally valid upon receipt of the semester fee!

LANGUAGE SKILLS

When applying for a degree program, the university requires the submission of a recognized language certificate as proof of knowledge of the teaching language of the degree program. German or English are the teaching languages offered at TU Ilmenau. Information on language certificates can be found here.

BACHELOR PROGRAM

Proof of one of the following qualifications enables applicants with foreign certificates to gain access to the Bachelor's programme

  • Certificate of higher education entrance qualification (Abitur, Matura, (Higher) secondary school certificate)
  • Proof of the university entrance examination in the home country (if applicable)

The school leaving certificates from some countries are not equivalent to the German Abitur. Should this be the case, you will be sent to the Thuringian preparatory college in Nordhausen referred to. There you will prepare for your studies in Ilmenau within one year.

For all applicants who are not invited to attend the Studienkolleg, TU Ilmenau offers the Academic Preparation Course, the main component of which is a German course. At the time of application you must already have reached level B1 and continue the German course, because the aptitude test for the pre-degree course requires level B2. The language courses German as a foreign language, which are offered as part of the pre-degree course to prepare for university studies, require level B2. Applicants who have not yet reached this level cannot be accepted at the TU Ilmenau.

Further application documents - What else is required?

Other documents to be uploaded during the application process:

  • Proof of previous academic achievements at other universities (if applicable)
  • Proof of language skills German

MASTER'S PROGRAM

Please note that the bachelor's degree with which you start a master's degree course at TU Ilmenau must belong to the same subject area as the master's degree course you want to take.

Required documents

     

Documents you need to upload during the application process are

  • University entrance certificate (secondary level 2 certificate, Abitur, Matura (Higher) Secondary School Certificate...)
  • Listing of all academic achievements at other universities to date
  • Bachelor certificate
  • Certificate of German language skills (at least B2)
  • if you would like to study a Master's degree in English with us: TOEFL or IELTS test result

Please scan these documents in the original and a certified translation (German or English).

Examination of your secondary education diploma

The TU Ilmenau first compares whether your secondary school leaving certificate (Baccalauréat, Matura, Higher Secondary School Certificate, etc.) also qualifies you to study at university in Germany without any other courses (except language courses). Then the scope and content of your Bachelor's degree will be reviewed.

This can result in three possibilities:

Direct admission

If you already have a language certificate (see here) and can also prove that you have already passed the aptitude test at the TU Ilmenau, you will be admitted to the Master's course.

Conditional direct authorisation

If you have the necessary language skills and the scope and content of your bachelor's degree qualifies you for the desired master's programme, you will be admitted to the master's programme.

If one of the two above-mentioned proofs is missing, you will be admitted to the Master's program with an invitation to prepare for the academic preparation course (Academic Preparation Course), provided that all other formal admission criteria are fulfilled. Here you can acquire the necessary linguistic and professional knowledge.

 

Reference to a Bachelor's degree

If our bachelor's degree is not similar enough to yours, you should better apply for the corresponding bachelor's degree and apply for the recognition of your academic achievements for the curriculum of the TU Ilmenau. Then you are sure that you can meet both the academic requirements of the university and the administrative requirements of the Immigration Act.