Evangelisches Studienwerk Scholarships for PhD in Germany fully funded

The scholarship provides a monthly allowance and a wide range of academic offers:

• Monthly allowance
  of up to 752 Euros plus 300 Euros for cost of studies
• Summer university
  A broad variety of seminars are held at the Villigst Campus during the summer months. Academics, experts, students and graduates with different academic and professional backgrounds come together to discuss issues in an interdisciplinary atmosphere.
• Study/work abroad
  Gaining professional competence and broadening one’s horizon demands for global experience. This is why Evangelisches Studienwerk actively encourages its students to spend time abroad and usually covers tuition and expenses for travelling.
• Work practice
  Evangelisches Studienwerk supports mandatory internships up to one semester.
• Democracy
  Villigst is a democratic organisation and encourages all students to contribute to the institutional life. They are represented at all levels of the Studienwerk’s management.
• Contact and advice
  Students experience individual advice and support not only through their Director of Studies in Villigst but also through a regional counsellor at their university’s location.

Evangelisches Studienwerk awards scholarships for studying at universities of applied sciences and universities all over Germany. We support students from all disciplines and subject areas. Important criteria are their enthusiasm for their own subject, good performances and a keen interest in interdisciplinary topics.

We are glad to receive applications from students and school graduates and support students without trial periods for the whole duration of their studies. In this way we would like to give them time to get to know Evangelisches Studienwerk with its wide range of offers, and allow them to get involved and help shape things.

We offer our students intensive and individual support, a varied and interdisciplinary range of seminars as well as co-determination on all levels of our institution. Our financial scholarship includes up to 752 Euros monthly (calculated in accordance with the guidelines of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)) plus an allowance for cost of studies. Unfortunately we cannot support any students in part-time, correspondence or dual courses of studies.

Requirements for the application for a scholarship
Evangelisches Studienwerk is looking for young people who are interested in their subject, achieve good grades, take on responsibility in society and are keen to broaden their horizon. The following formal requirements must be fulfilled for the application:

• Proven social commitment (for instance church, politics, environment, family) and proven suitability for the course of studies
• Membership in a Protestant church (exceptions are possible: You are welcome to apply if you are not a member of a Protestant church. In this case, your application and specifically your letter of motivation will be evaluated by a committee, which decides whether you will be admitted to the first round of interviews.
• Citizenship of a member state or accession country of the European Union or other citizenship in accordance with Section 8 of the German Federal Training Assistance Act (BAföG)
• For applicants without German citizenship: good German language skills (DSH certificate, TestDaf (test for foreign learners of the German language)
• Valid qualification for university studies (for instance general or advanced entrance qualification)
• At the time of application (March/ September) the students must not have advanced beyond the 3rd subject-related semester
• For students striving for a double degree the number of semesters in the course of studies first commenced is decisive
• Applicants who are older than 35 must also enclose a special application (information sheet [PDF])
• Receipt of the processing charge (12 euros) until completion of application

We only support people who have citizenship of a member state or accession country of the EU or another citizenship in accordance with Section 8 of the German Federal Training Assistance Act (BAföG) if they are studying (or would like to study) at a university in Germany. We also support people with German citizenship who study (or would like to study) at a university in another European country. Please note that it is not possible to exclusively apply for support for a Masters course or a second course of studies. We also cannot support part-time, correspondence or dual courses of studies.

Application
The application is made via our online application portal. Please carefully read the following instructions and register via the link in the middle of this page.

Application documents
You must provide the following documents for your complete application and upload them:

• Application form (available online after registration)
• Tabular curriculum vitae with foto (max. 2 pages, font size 12 Arial)
• Detailed curriculum vitae in continuous text, with information on personal background, education, jobs and internships (if applicable), choice and motivation of study (max. 3 pages, font size 12 Arial)
• Letter of motivation including information on why you are applying for a scholarship of the Evangelisches Studienwerk in particular and why you are interested in our scholarship. Furthermore, please share your thoughts on the topics of religion and the church. In the case of applicants from other EU countries include an explanation why you want to study in Germany (max. 3 pages, font size 12 Arial)
• University entrance certificate, respectively entrance requirement for studying (usually general or advanced entrance qualification, respectively the last certificate before completing school education)
• If you have already enrolled for a course of studies: an overview of the previously achieved grades
• If you are older than 35 years, you need to upload a special application: information sheet [PDF]

Furthermore, the following documents must be submitted via e-mail (from the account of the person writing the report) or by mail:

• Specialist report on ability to study, specialist qualification and suitability for the (planned) course of studies
• Report on social commitment, with period of time, scope, type and means of commitment

Please note that we only accept reports which were drawn up using our report forms. You will find the forms and important information here:

• Form for the specialist report [PDF]
• Form for the report on social comment [PDF]

Application by a person with legal refugee status
You can apply as a person with a legal refugee status provided you hold a residence permit in accordance with sections 22, 23 para. 1, 2 or 4, section 4, sections 23a, 25 para. 1 or 2, sections 25a and 25b and section 104a residence act or the residence permit in accordance with section 25 para. 3, para. 4,2 or para. 5 including a 15-month residence in Germany or a residence permit in accordance with section 30 or sections 32 to 34 residence act. You are not eligible to apply in case you hold a residence title for specific purposes in accordance with section 55 asylum procedure act. If you are not sure whether you can apply for our scholarship, please send a copy of your ID card and/ or a copy of your residence permit to bewerbung.gefluechtete@villigst.de so that we can check your eligibility to apply. For more information on the selection process for refugees, click here or here.

Application process
After you have registered via the link below, you will receive your log-in data for the online application portal by e-mail. It may take a while before you are sent your personal password. With your log-in data you will then be able to log in and process your application data at any time until the deadline for applications. Please note that you have to click the “Finalise entries” button on the start page of the online application portal to subsequently send your application. You will then be confirmed automatically by e-mail that the application documents have been transmitted in good time.

As soon as we have checked your documents, we will contact you. If you are accepted for the selection process, in the next step you will be invited to a preliminary interview. The preselection committee will then decide on the invitation to the two-day main selection process. This always takes place in February and July in Haus Villigst (Schwerte) and includes group phases and another individual interview. You have to appear personally for the preselection and main selection processes.

All communication within the framework of the process is by e-mail. We therefore request that you should be definitely available for contacting by e-mail and should promptly notify us if there are any changes in your contact data. Furthermore, we would like to inform you that your data will be electronically processed for the selection and forwarded to the persons involved in this process.

Go to the online application portal

Application deadlines and fees
Please note that we can only accept you in our support programme if you are already studying or you are going to commence studies on the next possible date after the selection process. If you are not yet studying, please always apply for the process which begins before the planned commencement of your studies.

The application deadline for acceptance for the winter semester is 1^st March (midnight). The preselection processes are in April/May and the main selection process is in July/August. The application deadline for acceptance for the summer semester is 1^st September (midnight). The preselection processes then take place in October/November and the main selection process in February/March.

We charge a fee of 12 Euros for processing your application. Please transfer this sum to the following account by the end of the application process:

Account holder: Ev. Studienwerk e.V. Villigst
IBAN DE74 3506 0190 2112 5700 15
BIC: GENODED1DKD
Reason for payment: Name, first name, “Bewerbung Grundförderung”

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us:

Application / Selection
E-Mail: bewerbung@villigst.de
Telephone: 02304 755-213 or -362