Information for German Applicants with Foreign School-Leaving Certificates

If you

have German citizenship,
have a school-leaving certificate,
or hold an IB diploma
and wish to study at the University of Freiburg,

you will need to have your foreign school leaving certificate or your IB diploma recognized at an office for the recognition of foreign qualifications (Zeugnisanerkennungsstelle). The office will check whether you have university entrance qualification in Germany and which fields you may study at German universities. In some cases, the foreign school leaving certificate does not correspond to a direct German higher education entrance qualification, so that attendance at the Studienkolleg and completion of the assessment test (Feststellungsprüfung) are required. The University of Freiburg cannot perform this service for you!

You cannot apply for admission to the University of Freiburg until you have a certificate from an office for the recognition of foreign qualifications. Please note that the recognition process can take time. It is thus advisable to send your foreign school leaving certificate or your IB diploma to the recognition office as early as possible if you are planning on applying for admission to a German university.

In all other respects, you are subject to the same regulations for applications and the same admissions procedures as other German applicants (with a German Abitur). If your native language is not German, however, you will also need to pass a language test (e.g., DSH or TestDaF).

The office for the recognition of foreign qualifications responsible for recognizing your certificates is located at the Ministry of Education of the state in which you have residency.

If you are currently living in Baden-Württemberg or abroad, please contact the Regional Administrative Authority in Stuttgart. The address is:

Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart
Schule und Bildung
Anerkennungsstelle
Postfach 103642
70031 Stuttgart.

The website of the Regional Administrative Authority in Stuttgart provides a list of all supporting documents you will need to submit to have your certificates recognized.

German applicants with foreign school-leaving certificates who are applying for a degree programme with a central allocation procedure and nationwide admission restrictions (medicine, dentistry and pharmacy) can submit their foreign educational qualification for recognition directly to hochschulstart.de with their application for admission. Please note: Recognition of the foreign educational background must nevertheless be applied for at the Regional Administrative Authority in Stuttgart and submitted to the University of Freiburg - in the case of admission - at the latest upon enrolment together with the foreign educational background.