Applying as a non-EU national - Bachelor's degree

• if you did not obtain your higher education entrance qualification in Germany or
• you did not obtain them at a school with German Abitur examination regulations;
  University entrance qualifications are, for example, Matura, O- and A-(S-)Levels, High School Diploma and Baccalauréat.
  Information on the recognition of foreign school certificates is available via the certificate database anabin.kmk.org(Opens in a new tab)  of the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs Central Office for Foreign Education.
• if you have passed an assessment test at a Studienkolleg in Germany. This certificate is only valid in conjunction with your home country certificate and is therefore not equivalent to a German university entrance qualification.

Please find out in good time whether there are any study requirements to be met for the study program of your choice (aptitude test, internship, etc.); you can check this under this link . The study requirements and the German language certificate do not have to be available at the time of application, but are mandatory for enrolment in the study program (acceptance of the study place).

but directly via the Fachhochschule Dortmund portal,

• if you have obtained your higher education entrance qualification in Germany or at a school abroad with German Abitur examination regulations,
• if you are a citizen from a country of the European Union or from Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway ,
• if you are a citizen of a non-EU country but have obtained your higher education entrance qualification in the EU or Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway ,
• if you live in Germany, do not belong to an EU or EEA country yourself, but your husband/wife or a parent has EU or EEA citizenship and works or has worked in Germany,
• if you are already a student at Fachhochschule Dortmund and only want to change your study program (please note the different application periods for EU and non-EU nationals at Fachhochschule Dortmund),
• if an application from you has been forwarded to Fachhochschule Dortmund by uni-assist in the last 4 years,
• if your school-leaving certificate does not directly entitle you to study in Germany.
  In this case, apply directly to the Ökumenisches Studienkolleg, Bochum - www.studienkolleg-bochum.de,(Opens in a new tab) (T-course) or to the Luso-Brazilian Studienkolleg in Mettingen - www.studienkolleg-mettingen.de,(Opens in a new tab) (G-, M-, T- and W-course) in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia,
• for a higher semester in a Bachelor's or Master's degree program
  Application for BA study programs online at https://portal.fh-dortmund.de,(Opens in a new tab) 
  Application for MA study programs in paper form
  the application periods are identical: 15.02. - 15.03. for the summer semester and
  15.08. - 15.09. for the winter semester.
  Please note that sufficient academic achievements must be available for placement in the second or a higher semester,
• for Master's study programs.

For the summer semester from the beginning of November until January 15, for the winter semester from the beginning of April until JUNE 15 (!).

Your online application must be received in full by uni-assist by one of the aforementioned dates (depending on the semester)(exception: an assessment test certificate issued after January 15 or June 15; an online application by the application deadline is necessary, but you send the assessment test certificate directly as a PDF file by e-mail to the International Office of Fachhochschule Dortmund at bewerbung-intofficefh-dortmundde  after receipt. If you are able to upload the certificate to uni-assist at a later date, please do this as soon as possible.

We strongly recommend that you submit your application to uni-assist in good time so that you have enough time to clarify any queries and submit any subsequent documents online. Otherwise, uni-assist may not inform you about missing documents until after January 15/June 15; unfortunately, your application can then no longer be considered due to incomplete documents and expiry of the application deadline.

Applicants for the Bachelor's degree programs in the Faculty of Design and for the Bachelor's degree program in Architecture must take part in the program-specific procedure to determine aptitude . Information and the application option for the aptitude procedures of the Faculty of Design  and the Faculty of Architecture  can be found under the corresponding links (the links only work in the first half of the year from around the end of January).

If you can provide proof of 30 ECTS/credits at a state-recognized university and from a course of study with a suitable content, you can be exempted from the aptitude assessment upon application. Please send an e-mail with your academic achievements in PDF format to: international-officefh-dortmundde  
This regulation does not apply to the Bachelor's degree course in Film & Sound.

Please note that you must apply twice; once for aptitude at the faculty and a second time to study at the uni-assist employment and service center.

Applicants who would like to learn German in advance can only apply for the semester in which the desired study program is offered - for technical study programs, for example, only for the winter semester. In the summer semester, only the Bachelor's degree courses in Business Administration and Social Work are offered.

You apply for both open-admission and restricted-admission study programs exclusively online via the uni-assist(Opens in a new tab)  application and service point.

Officially certified copies or the originals must only be submitted directly to Fachhochschule Dortmund at the time of enrollment.

The following applies to study programs with restricted admission :

Study places are allocated in cooperation with the Foundation for University Admissions(Opens in a new tab) . To apply via uni-assist, you will need the so-called BID (applicant identification number) and BAN (applicant authentication number). You can obtain these two numbers from Hochschulstart by registering there, not by applying.

Very important for NC study programs: If your applications have been sent to Hochschulstart by uni-assist, please check whether the university that is your favorite is really in first place(prioritization). As soon as you receive an offer of admission from a university at Hochschulstart, the other universities are automatically removed and you can no longer receive any further offers of admission. Your preferred university must therefore come first.

ATTENTION: In every application phase there is a period during which the Hochschulstart portal is closed for maintenance work.

The following applies to both open-admission and restricted-admission study programs (if you are applying exclusively to Fachhochschule Dortmund and not to any other university):
There are no majors and minors at Fachhochschule Dortmund; you can only apply for Bachelor's degree programs. If you are applying for several study programs at Fachhochschule Dortmund, you do not have to prioritize; you can simply apply for enrollment for study programs without admission restrictions; for study programs with admission restrictions, you will only be admitted if this is possible based on your university entrance qualification grade.

• The special country information(Opens in a new tab)  from uni-assist is definitely helpful here.
  
  Under no circumstances should the secondary school leaving certificate be missing. For university admission in Germany, some countries also require a university entrance examination and/or proof of one or more successful years of study . These documents must be uploaded in the home language as well as translated into English or German. French-language documents must also be translated into German or English. Translations made abroad must come from an institution that is authorized to provide a sworn translation (or equivalent) in that country; e.g. foreign representation (embassy). German translations can only be recognized if they were prepared by sworn (or sworn) translators/interpreters in Germany,
• Applicants from China, India and Vietnam must upload the APS certificate from the Akademische Prüfstelle (APS) in their home country,
• if available: a current proof of participation in a German course or a German language certificate,
• Passport (only the page with your personal details such as surname, first name, date of birth etc.),
• Curriculum vitae.

Unfortunately, incomplete applications cannot be forwarded to Fachhochschule Dortmund by uni-assist. The following may be missing from the application:

• A current German course attendance certificate or a recognized language test certificate,
• any proof of work placement that may be required,
• the certificate of successful participation in an aptitude test (if required) and
• possibly the assessment test certificate (see point "When do you have to apply").

In any case, these documents must be submitted at the time of enrollment at our university. Please note that there are only certain dates available for the aptitude test on the websites of the Faculties of Architecture and Design. If you have missed these dates, please check whether it still makes sense to apply to uni-assist to study at Fachhochschule Dortmund due to the study requirements (Opens in a new tab) to be met.

Officially certified documents must only be submitted when enrolling at Fachhochschule Dortmund; you can upload simple copies for the online application at uni-assist. Notarized documents are accepted by the following authorities:

• City administrations,
• Citizens' offices,
• town halls,
• courts and notaries,
• parish offices and
• health insurance companies and general student committees (AStA), if a seal (special round stamp) is used.

The following recognitions apply to certifications from abroad:

• from German diplomatic representations and
• authorities and notaries authorized to issue official certifications in the respective country.

Further information on notarizations can be found in this PDF(Opens in a new tab) .

Notarizations from banks, savings banks and associations as well as lawyers, auditors and accountants arenot accepted .

The processing fee depends on the number of study programs you wish to apply for:

75 € for the first desired degree program, 30 € for each additional desired degree program (regardless of how many universities you apply for). Study programs that differ only by one practical semester also count as two study programs.

Example:
You apply for the BA study programs Computer Science, Business Informatics and Business Informatics with an internship semester. It does not matter whether you apply to one or more universities - a fee of 135 euros must be paid for this.

Information on payment of the processing costs can be found at the following web address: https://www.uni-assist.de/bewerben/kosten-zahlen/zahlungsoptionen(Opens in a new tab) 

In general, the costs can be paid as follows:

• By bank transfer using a form provided by your bank/ savings bank - of course also via online banking. Please note that you will not be able to submit your application until uni-assist has received the money. Only when uni-assist has received the costs for processing will this be shown as a credit in your My assist account and you can submit your application. To do this, click on the selection list (box symbol) in your My assist account and then on "Go to checkout".
  
  Here are the account details:
  Recipient: uni-assist e. V.
  International bank number (IBAN): DE62 1002 0890 0019 0552 72
  BIC/SWIFT-Code: HYVEDEMM488
  
  For payments from non-EU countries to Germany, banks sometimes require the address of the German recipient bank:
  Hypovereinsbank - Berlin-Charlottenburg branch, Leibnizstraße 100, D-10625 Berlin
  
  Please write on the payment receipt:
  Country of origin, date of birth (DD.MM.YYYY), surname, first name, the semester in which the studies are to begin and the application number at uni-assist (if available).
  Example: Vietnam, 12.11.2002, Baatur Iwan, SoSe 2023, applicant no. 1234567.
  
  Transfers within the SEPA area are generally free of charge, for other transfers you have to pay the bank charges additionally.
  
• Through an instant bank transfer in your My-assist online account. You make the payment using your online banking details and a TAN. You can currently use Sofortüberweisung with a bank account in these European countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Switzerland, Spain and the UK.
  
  
• By credit card 3D Secure (VISA or Mastercard); payment with 3D Secure offers more security for credit card transactions. You must already be registered for the 3D Secure procedure. Sometimes payments with credit cards from certain countries may not be accepted by the bank for security reasons. Transfers may also be rejected under certain circumstances. If you have any questions about 3D Secure and/or international transactions, please contact your bank.

Please note: uni-assist must receive the processing fees in full . You must also pay your bank's transfer fees. It is best to use the OUR procedure (sender pays costs) for the transfer, so that you as the remitter bear the entire costs.

Uni-assist will inform you about the examination results of your application documents. If everything is in order, you can apply for your visa with the letter from uni-assist. Furthermore, uni-assist will forward your application electronically to Fachhochschule Dortmund. You will be notified by the International Office when your application has been received by Fachhochschule Dortmund. You will receive information from "hochschulstart.de" about admission to the NC study programs for the summer semester from around mid-February and for the winter semester from the second week in August ; for study programs without admission restrictions, you will be informed by Fachhochschule Dortmund from the end of June. Rejections will be sent by e-mail around March or October.

If you do not meet the formal requirements, e.g. due to missing documents (with the exception of the Feststellungsprüfungszeugnis from a German Studienkolleg) or if you do not meet deadlines, your application will not be forwarded to Fachhochschule Dortmund. You will have to reapply at the next possible date and pay the processing costs again.

uni-assist stores your data for a period of four years. During this time, the data will only be made available to the universities you have chosen. After that, the data will be destroyed.

You may still have the opportunity to apply for a place on a Bachelor's or Master's study program via

• www.fh-dortmund.de/freiestudienplaetze(Opens in a new tab)  (if the page is not found, there are no more places available at this time) or
• via the lottery procedure(Opens in a new tab)  for admission-restricted study programs (the application period can be found under the aforementioned link); the prerequisite for this is that there are still places available after the regular application procedure has been completed.

You can use these application channels if, among other things

• you have not applied by the deadline of January 15/June 15 for the first semester,
• you are not sure whether your academic achievements are sufficient for a higher semester or
• you have not been offered a place in the regular application procedure due to your university entrance qualification grade.

You will find information on this under the study requirements(Opens in a new tab) .

At the latest at the time of enrollment (February/March for the summer semester or August/September for the winter semester), the German language certificate must be presented together with the other documents required for enrollment.