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Going abroad

Application procedure and funding conditions

Application Requirements

All students enrolled at the University of Hamburg and who want to complete their degree at the University of Hamburg may apply (visiting and exchange students are not eligible). Students must be enrolled at the time of application.

Not eligible to apply are:

  • Doctoral students (with the exception of doctoral students participating in a study excursion as a research assistant and medical students doing a PhD during their studies). Doctoral students can obtain funding via the Hamburglobal PhD program. The DAAD provides further information on funding opportunities.
  • Students with a non-German citizenship who are planning a stay abroad in their home country. The country in which you have primarily resided for at least the last 5 years is considered your home country.
  • Studies or internships in Europe or in an Erasmus country (EU member states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Norway, Serbia and Turkey)—study abroad in an Erasmus country may only be funded by Hamburglobal if the student’s department does not have an existing Erasmus Cooperation (inter-institutional agreement) or a SEMP (Swiss European Mobility Programme) Agreenent with the target university, if there is no further spot in the respective department's Erasmus contingent or if the student is not eligible for further Erasmus funding. For further information about the procedure see stays abroad eligible for funding.

Funding restrictions exist for:

  • participants of the Central Student Exchange Program receiving support from a partner university (e.g., Kansas University or Smith College)
    • partial funding is only possible if the monthly value of the support package from the partner university is less than the monthly subsidy rates offered by Hamburglobal (monthly subsidy rates 2021) offered by Hamburglobal for the target country.
    • Students who receive partial funding for travel and extended stay expenses from Hamburglobal as well those who receive no funding for travel and extended stay expenses from Hamburglobal due to scholarships and grants from the partner university are eligible for funding in the form of a flat-rate travel expense subsidy. When in doubt, contact the coordinator of the Central Student Exchange Program.

Stays abroad eligible for funding

Apply

There are application rounds every March and October:

1–31 March for stays abroad that will begin between 1 July and 31 December of the current calendar year. Retroactively for stays abroad that will begin between 1 April and 30 June of the current calendar year.
1–31 October for stays abroad that will begin between 1 January and 30 June of the following year.

The online application portal is available from 1–31 March and from 1–31 October. Applications are accepted during these periods only. Follow the guidelines for online applications.

We do not consider incomplete or late applications. Nor do we consider applications if requirements have not been met, e.g., proof of language skills may not be older than 2 years. Read the application information and FAQs carefully. For further questions, attend an advising session at the Campus Center in due course.

The application process for a Hamburglobal Scholarship is exclusively online. For each document, upload one PDF file only and make sure that the scanned files are of good quality.

An application is complete when it includes the following documents:

  1. Letter of motivation (1–2 pages)
    • See the information about the letter of motivation in the FAQs.
  2. Tabular CV (1–2 pages)
  3. Current STiNE course overview or Transcript of Records
    • You can obtain your Transcript of Records from your academic office or examinations office.
    • Master’s degree students in their first semester should submit a current STiNE course overview.
  4. Degree certificate with grades from the bachelor’s degree (only applies to master‘s students)
  5. Language test to assess working/classroom language skills (necessary for study excursions or internships, and final theses/papers only)
  6. An Evaluation (use this form only)
    The evaluation must be submitted no later than 10 April (March application round) or 10 November (October application round).
    • Evaluations must be provided by full-time professors or other university teachers holding a doctoral degree at University of Hamburg.
    • Language instructors will only be accepted as evaluators in exceptional cases and only after prior consultation with the Study Abroad Team.
    • Emeriti and retired professors may provide evaluations if they are still actively involved in teaching at University of Hamburg.
    • The evaluation must be signed and sent directly to our email address(hamburglobal.pv"AT"uni-hamburg.de).
    • You can find more information in the FAQs.
  7. Learning Agreement (in German only) (only necessary for study abroad programs)
    The Learning Agreement must be signed twice: once by the applicant and once by the responsible coordinator, academic office, or examination office. You can find more information in the FAQs.
  8. Confirmation of Host Institution (use this form only)
    If the confirmation has not yet been received at the time of application or if the duration of the stay abroad has not yet been finalized, please document the current status of your preparations (e.g., by submitting an email from the host institution).
    For research stays (preparing a final thesis) without a fixed host institution, the form should be completed by the final thesis supervisor.
    You can find more information in the FAQs.
  9. If applicable, up to 2 forms of proof demonstrating involvement in academic self-governance and/or extracurricular activities (e.g., political, social, and/or cultural).
  10. Current proof of enrollment
  11. Document (max. 1 page) to maintain equal opportunities / special individual circumstances 
  12. Receipt/documentation of fee (necessary only in the case of applications for digital short formats)

See our FAQs for more important information on application procedures.

 

Selection procedure

A committee of the University of Hamburg teaching staff and students selects the Hamburglobal Scholarship recipients. You must submit a complete application by the deadline to be considered in the selection procedure. Selection is based on the following criteria:

  • academic achievements
  • compelling and well-prepared project
  • knowledge of the language of instruction or working language
  • extracurricular qualifications and involvement (e.g., volunteer work or involvement in political, social, cultural, or athletic activities)
  • formal criteria (e.g., orthography)

The selection committee meets 4–6 weeks after the application deadline. Applicants are generally notified of the decision within 2 weeks of this meeting.

Calculating the funding amount

During calculation of your stay duration, each month is counted as 30 days. The time period from 1 January to 1 February is considered one full month, for example. A full month’s scholarship will be paid for every full month; half this amount will be paid for every half-month period (1–15 days). Consequently, funding for a 70-day stay (i.e., 2 months and 10 days) would amount to 2.5 months of scholarship payments. The minimum duration set for different stays abroad (e.g., 1 month for study abroad, 6 weeks for internships, etc.) must be observed.

The top-ranking applicants during each application round will additionally receive a country-specific flat-rate travel allowance.

Disbursement of funds

If the committee selects you to receive funding, you will receive an approval letter with information about the funding program as well as the anticipated funding period and amount. Before the funds can be disbursed, you must have submitted the signed Declaration of Acceptance as well as the completed, signed and stamped Confirmation of Host Institution. Once both documents have been submitted, the funding amount will be reviewed. Afterwards your funding will be disbursed, but no earlier than 6 to 8 weeks before your trip begins.

After the end of the funding period (not the entire stay if this exceeds the funding period!), you are obliged to immediately complete and submit the Final Confirmation of Stay and the proof of enrollment that is valid at the end of the funding period. You must also turn in a testimonial within 1 month. On the basis of the Final Confirmation of Stay, we will once again check the amount of funding awarded and, if necessary, request repayment.

You are obliged to inform us immediately if you cannot begin your stay as planned, shorten your stay, or the period of your stay changes. You must be enrolled at Universität Hamburg during the entire funding period.

Combination rule for subsidies

Hamburglobal subsidies may be combined with any amount of funds from private scholarship providers. However, they may not be combined with the following:

  • Erasmus funding
  • individual DAAD scholarships
  • funding from partner schools in the context of the Central Student Exchange Program (except scholarships or partial scholarships below the DAAD funding rate)
  • other public funds for the same purpose (except German Federal Education and Training Assistance Act—Bundesausbildungsförderungsgesetz, BAföG). For example: If you receive a monthly allowance from Hamburglobal, you can still receive travel subsidies from other scholarship providers, but you may not receive additional subsidies to cover living expenses.

BAföG grants for time abroad: You may combine Hamburglobal subsidies with BAföG grants for your time abroad, but you may not receive travel subsidies from more than a single source. Funding received through Hamburglobal must be reported to the responsible office for BAföG grants for time abroad as the allocation of BAföG aid takes place here.

Deutsschlandstipendium: You may combine Hamburglobal subsidies with the Deutschlandstipendium to the full extend.

Rules for combining funding for study excursions and individual stays

Hamburglobal funding is not available for simultaneous individual stays and study excursions. If you receive funding for an individual stay you must complete the entire period of the individual stay and cannot participate in any study excursions during this time. If you do not want to miss a study excursion, then you can obtain funding only for the portion of your individual stay before or after the study excursion. The minimum duration set for different stays abroad (e.g., 1 month for study or research stays abroad, 6 weeks for internships) must be observed.

Additional funding

For each level of education (e.g., bachelor’s degree), Hamburglobal allows a maximum funding period of 4 months for study abroad and internships (incl. field work and/or preparing a final thesis). The funding of language courses, specialist courses / summers schools, and participation in scholarly congresses/conferences is not be included. For example: You may apply for funding for 4 months of study abroad and a language course; however, you may not receive funding for 4 months of study abroad and a 2-month internship abroad.
Within a new educational stage (e.g., a master’s degree), a funding period of a maximum of 4 months is again available for studying abroad and internships (including fieldwork/final thesis preparation).

For medical students: There is a maximum funding period of 4 months for each of the 3 phases of study.

Students with a disability

Disabled students who receive PROMOS funding can apply for up to €10,000 special funds for their stay abroad. These funds are for additional expenditure incurred due to the stay abroad and for which you receive no financial support from any other competent authority (e.g., social insurance agencies).

Contact us about potential funding options before applying for Hamburglobal. If your PROMOS funds are granted, submit the following additional documents per email(outgoings"AT"uni-hamburg.de) or post to Annette Listmann for your application for special funds:

  • copy of your disability certificate/card (at least 50% disability)
  • itemization of projected expenditure
  • documentation that there is no other competent authority for providing funds

We will inform you of the result of your application in due course

Overseas insurance

Funding provided by Hamburglobal does not include any insurance. You can purchase insurance coverage from the DAAD for the duration of your stay abroad.

Safety abroad

To guarantee your safety when you are abroad, you should inform yourself thoroughly about your host country and observe certain rules while you are abroad. See Hinweise zur allgemeinen Sicherheitsvorsorge from the DAAD for a summary of precautions.

Scholarship certificate

Following your stay abroad, we can issue a scholarship certificate confirming that you received a Hamburglobal stipend. Please email(outgoings"AT"uni-hamburg.de) us if you are interested.

Contact

Please always use your student mail address (usually according to the type givenname.surname@studium.uni-hamburg.de) when communicating with us by e-mail.
Tel: +49 40 42838-3306