DAAD EPOS Scholarship 2027/2028 for Development-Related Postgraduate Courses: Eligibility, Course Deadlines and How to Apply

The DAAD EPOS scholarship pays for professionals from developing countries to take a development-related master’s degree (and, in a few cases, a PhD) at a German university. EPOS stands for Development-Related Postgraduate Courses. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) funds about two dozen selected courses in fields like public health, water management, renewable energy, forestry, urban planning and development economics, and you apply to the course, not to the DAAD.

There is no single EPOS deadline. Each course sets its own, and for the 2027/2028 intake some courses closed in August to October 2026 while others are still open now, such as Göttingen’s MSc Development Economics (15 November 2026) and Hohenheim’s MSc Agricultural Economics (15 December 2026). Below are the eligibility rules, benefits, a table of example courses and deadlines, and the documents, checked on DAAD and university pages on 25 October 2026.

What the DAAD EPOS scholarship is

EPOS is a DAAD programme aimed at people who already work on development problems at home and want a postgraduate degree to do that work better. The typical scholar works for a government ministry, a public agency, or a state or private company in a developing country, on projects with a technical, economic or social development angle. The DAAD says it wants candidates who will take what they learn back and drive change after the course.

The selected courses are run by German state or state-recognised universities, and many are taught in English. Several are joint programmes with partner universities abroad, for example in Egypt, Jordan and Mexico. Because the course chooses its own scholarship candidates, EPOS works differently from the DAAD study scholarships you apply for through a country call.

• Funder: the DAAD, Germany’s national academic exchange agency.
• Who picks you: the course’s own selection committee suggests candidates, and the DAAD makes the final decision.
• Courses: 25 programmes are listed in the DAAD’s 2027/2028 EPOS deadlines list (status June 2026).
• Duration: 12 to 24 months for a master’s, depending on the course, and up to 42 months for a PhD.

DAAD EPOS scholarship benefits

EPOS is a full scholarship in practice. Most German public universities charge no tuition, and the DAAD covers the rest of what you need to live and study. You may still pay a semester contribution or registration fee to the university, which the FAQ tells you to ask the course about.

DAAD EPOS eligibility

These are the DAAD’s own rules. Each course adds its own admission requirements on top, so read both before you start writing.

1. Nationality: you must come from a country on the DAAD’s EPOS country list, which is based on the OECD DAC list of aid recipients. Almost every African country qualifies. The DAAD has left some DAC countries off its EPOS list in past years, including Türkiye and several Balkan states, so open the current PDF linked from the DAAD page.
2. Degree: a bachelor’s degree, normally four years, in a subject related to the course. Whether a three-year bachelor’s is accepted is up to the university.
3. Grades: results in the top third of your class.
4. Work experience: at least two years of relevant professional work after your bachelor’s, counted up to the day you apply.
5. Degree age: your latest degree should normally be no more than six years old when you apply.
6. Age: there is no age limit.
7. Language: for English-taught courses, the DAAD lists IELTS band 6 or TOEFL iBT 80 as the usual minimum (institutional TOEFL is not accepted), though some courses ask for more. For German-taught courses you need a current certificate showing at least B1 German, and you must pass DSH 2, TestDaF 4 or telc C1 University before you enrol.

Eligibility edge cases

• Already in a German master’s: if you are already enrolled in or admitted to a German master’s that is not in the EPOS brochure, you cannot be funded.
• Experience before your degree: work done before you finished your bachelor’s does not count toward the two years.
• Applicants from China: you also need an APS certificate.
• PhD: only a few EPOS courses fund doctoral study, and only in exceptional cases. Most people use EPOS for a master’s.

DAAD EPOS courses and deadlines: examples for 2027/2028

The DAAD’s 2027/2028 deadlines list gives “see website of the course” for every programme, so I checked course pages directly. Where a course’s 2026 date has already passed, the deadline below is the same date in 2027, for the 2028 intake (based on this year’s date; confirm on the official page when the call opens).

Other courses on the 2027/2028 list include MSc Global Health and MSc Geography of Environmental Risks and Human Security (Bonn), MSc International Health (Charité Berlin), Tropical Forestry and Hydro Science and Engineering (TU Dresden), Tropical Hydrogeology (TU Darmstadt), ISATEC marine biology (Bremen), Landscape Ecology and Nature Conservation (Greifswald), Environmental Governance (Freiburg), Photogrammetry and Geoinformatics (HfT Stuttgart), Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design (Stuttgart with Ain Shams), Sustainable Energy and Development (Flensburg), the SEPT MBA (Leipzig) and International Education Management (Ludwigsburg with Helwan). The MA Development Management at Ruhr University Bochum takes students only every two years, with the next intake in 2028.

Documents for the DAAD EPOS application

The EPOS FAQ asks for the documents in this order. Courses can add their own forms, so treat this as the minimum.

How to apply for the DAAD EPOS scholarship

1. Check your country: open the DAAD’s EPOS country list and confirm your nationality is on it.
2. Pick up to three courses: read each course’s admission rules and deadline. Rank them, because you cannot change the order later.
3. Get your employer letters early: the recommendation and employment certificates take the longest. Ask HR for dates, job title and duties on each.
4. Book your language test: if you need IELTS or TOEFL, book it so the result arrives well before the first deadline.
5. Fill in the DAAD form and write one motivation letter: send the same letter to every course on your list.
6. Submit to each course: use the course’s portal or email rules. Some ask for certified copies, others accept scans.
7. Keep PDFs of everything: if the course suggests you for a scholarship, the DAAD will ask you to upload the full application to the DAAD Portal.

If you have never used the DAAD Portal, our step-by-step guide to applying for a DAAD scholarship covers account setup, file formats and referee forms.

How to write the EPOS motivation letter

Because you send one letter to all your courses, it has to explain why you chose each course and why in that order. Selectors are looking for a link between the work you do now, the course content, and a concrete plan for using the degree at home. I would keep it to about two pages and build it like this:

1. The problem you work on: one specific development problem from your job, with a number if you have one.
2. What you have done about it: your role, a project and what changed.
3. The gap: the skill or knowledge you lack, and why a degree in Germany fills it.
4. Your three courses: a short paragraph per course naming modules or research groups, and why it sits first, second or third.
5. Your return plan: the job you go back to, ideally backed by your employer’s letter, and what you will change.

A sample opening: “In 2024 my district water office lost an estimated 40 percent of treated water to leaks, and I was the engineer asked to find them with a team of three and no metering data.” It names a problem, your role and the limit you hit, and the rest of the letter can build on it. Use your own real figures.

What happens after you apply

1. Course shortlist: the university screens applications against its admission rules and the DAAD criteria.
2. Interview: shortlisted candidates get a telephone or online interview with university staff, which you must take yourself. Göttingen, for example, runs a virtual interview of about 15 minutes.
3. Suggestion to DAAD: the course committee suggests its candidates, and the DAAD asks them to upload the full file to the DAAD Portal.
4. Final decision: the DAAD decides. Most selection is finished in March, and the course tells you the result, since the DAAD gives no status updates.
5. Before the course: German-taught courses add up to six months of German in Germany. Some English-taught courses also run a short German course; Göttingen’s is in August and September.

Costs the EPOS scholarship does not fully cover

• Semester contribution: German universities charge a fee each semester for administration and often a transport ticket. Budget for it from your stipend.
• Tests and translations: IELTS or TOEFL fees, certified translations and courier costs come before any award.
• Visa fee and first weeks: the first stipend may arrive after you land, so carry money for rent deposit and food.
• Family: family allowances apply only in some cases and rarely cover a family’s full costs in a German city.

Common mistakes EPOS applicants make

• Sending the application to the DAAD instead of the university.
• Writing a different motivation letter for each course, or listing courses in a different order on different forms.
• Counting internships, national service or work done before graduation toward the two years without checking the course’s rules.
• Using a recommendation from a former employer when the form asks for your current one.
• Applying with a degree older than six years, or choosing a course unrelated to the job you do now.
• Missing a course’s earlier internal date. Some universities ask for the admission file before the scholarship date.

DAAD EPOS compared with similar scholarships

For a wider view of German funding, see our Germany scholarships guide.

Who should apply and who should not

Apply if you are already working in a development-related job, have two clear years of it after your degree, finished in the top third of your class, and can name a course that matches your work. Engineers in water or energy utilities, health workers in public programmes, planners in local government and economists in ministries fit the profile well.

Skip EPOS for now if you graduated recently and have no full-time work yet, if your degree is more than six years old, or if you want a course outside the EPOS list. In those cases the DAAD’s country study scholarships or a foundation award are a better fit, and you can come back to EPOS once you have the experience.

FAQ on the DAAD EPOS scholarship

What is the DAAD EPOS scholarship deadline for 2027?

Each course sets its own. Göttingen’s Development Economics closes 15 November 2026 and Hohenheim’s Agricultural Economics 15 December 2026, while courses that closed in October 2026, such as Heidelberg’s International Health, have a deadline of 15 October 2027 for the 2028 intake.

Can I apply for DAAD EPOS without work experience?

No. You need at least two years of relevant professional experience after your bachelor’s degree by the date you apply.

How many EPOS courses can I apply to?

Up to three, ranked by priority on the DAAD form. You send the same motivation letter to all of them and cannot change the order later.

Do I need IELTS for the DAAD EPOS scholarship?

For English-taught courses you need proof of English, usually IELTS 6 or TOEFL iBT 80, though some courses ask for more or accept other proof. Check the course page before booking a test.

Sources and updates

Checked on 25 October 2026 against the DAAD scholarship database entry for Development-Related Postgraduate Courses, the DAAD’s EPOS FAQ, the DAAD’s 2027/2028 EPOS deadlines list (status June 2026), and course pages at the University of Göttingen, University of Hohenheim, Heidelberg University, University of Oldenburg, TH Köln and TU Berlin. The €992 master’s rate is the current DAAD graduate rate quoted by DAAD partner universities, while the EPOS database entry still shows €934. If a course changes its deadline or the DAAD publishes the 2028/2029 list, this page will be updated.

Jude Chinecherem

I am Jude Chinecherem, a final-year MBBS student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I know what it feels like to want an education your family cannot afford. When my parents could not pay for my schooling, I had to learn how to find scholarships and work the system out on my own, with nobody to guide me. I came out the other side, and now I share everything I learned so the next student does not have to figure it out alone. This is the advice I wish someone had given me back then.