PROMOS Scholarship program

PROMOS is a scholarship program designed to promote student mobility. The program enables universities to set their own priorities regarding the stays of German students abroad and to offer them ideal mobility opportunities from a variety of funding sources. In addition, the program aims to provide students whose projects or destinations are ineligible for funding from one of the structured DAAD programs with the opportunity to stay abroad. The scholarships are awarded by the universities themselves in a performance-based, quality-oriented selection process.

PROMOS is a “pure” scholarship program. The International Office does not arrange internships, university slots or language courses for applicants. These must already exist or be in the planning stage when students submit their application documents.

However, it is possible to apply for a PROMOS scholarship after successfully applying for an internal program at the University of Potsdam (e.g., the Institute Partnership Program, the University Partnership Program or language courses in Russia).

Officially registered students in a bachelor’s, master’s, or state examination program at the University of Potsdam may apply; PhD students may not.

1. Students of German nationality
2. Students who have been placed on an equal footing with German nationals under section 8, nos. 2ff, subsections 2, 2a and 3 of the Federal Educational Assistance Act (in this connection, the exact wording of the law applies).
3. Non-German students enrolled in a degree program at the University of Potsdam with the goal of completing this program at the University of Potsdam. Stays in the students’ home countries are barred from funding. A student’s home country is considered to be the country in which the student’s life is centered; nationality plays only a subordinate role.
4. An additional requirement is that the working language is not German (with the exception of stays in Switzerland and Austria).

1. PROMOS application form (online)
2. Confirmation from the host institution indicating the duration of your stay abroad; for internships, an internship contract or  a confirmation of the internship indicating its duration, the range of tasks and working language
3. Resume in tabular form with a passport photo (not necessarily biometric)
4. Statement of purpose including a description of study plans abroad (max. two pages)
5. A current letter of recommendation by a university teacher or, in the case of a final thesis, by the supervisor of this thesis. Please avoid evaluations from language teachers.
6. Academic certificates (e.g., bachelor’s degree or intermediate examination), if applicable
7. List of all courses attended thus far (copies of course certificates or of a PULS transcript; confirmation by the International Office not required)
8. Current* Language certificate (except for language courses): the DAAD language test, UNIcert, TOEFL, IELTS, Cambridge, DELE (Spanish) and DALF (French) are accepted. Philology students will receive the DAAD language certificate from the instructor of the language education program.

*The language certificate must not be more than two years old.

Please fill out the application form online and upload the documents in PDF format. Incomplete applications will not be processed.

• PROMOS and PROMOS
  In a specific phase of their education, which ends with the completion of a bachelor's, master's, Diplom, Magister or state examination program, students may apply for funding from different measures; however, the total period of funding for study stays or internships in this educational phase may not exceed six months. Stays in different countries or disciplines are possible in a single educational phase. When students begin a new phase of their education, they are once again eligible for a maximum of six months’ funding through PROMOS for study stays or internships abroad.
  
  Example:
  A student in a bachelor’s program receives funding to study six months abroad. She is also eligible for funding for a language course. However, she would be ineligible for funding for a four-month study stay and a three-month internship abroad in the same educational phase.
  
  If she begins a master’s degree program, all funding opportunities are once again available to her.

• Erasmus+ and PROMOS
  Students may not receive Erasmus+ and PROMOS funding at the same time. If an Erasmus+ partnership exists with a foreign university, semester scholarships in the participating departments are generally not possible through PROMOS. However, as an exception, if a partnership exists only for a specific department (or exclusively for teacher mobility), PROMOS funding for another department (or for student mobility) is possible. Funding is also possible if a department’s Erasmus+ allocation is used up.  Please contact the International Office if you have questions.
  
  PROMOS funding for internships in Erasmus+ countries is only possible if an internship is impossible within the scope of Erasmus+. In these cases, there is a minimum funding period of six weeks, as for all other PROMOS internship grants.

• The German Federal Financial Aid Program (BAföG) and PROMOS
  PROMOS funding must be reported to the office responsible for Auslands-BAföG (federal financial aid for study stays abroad)  Three hundred euros of income from the monthy partial scholarship is exempted in calculations for Auslands-BAföG. The Auslands-Bafög travel allowance is paid minus the entire sum of the PROMOS travel allowance.

• Individual DAAD scholarships and PROMOS
  Students may not receive individual DAAD scholarships and PROMOS scholarships at the same time.

• Deutschlandstipendium (Germany scholarship) and PROMOS
  Students may receive the Deutschlandstipendium and PROMOS funding at the same time without any restrictions.

• Other scholarships and PROMOS
  In the case of grants from other funding bodies, the general rule is that privately funded scholarships scholarships can be combined with PROMOS scholarships without restriction. If the study stay abroad is financed with other public funds from Germany, the decisive factor is the goal of funding. This means that funding through PROMOS is impossible if the applicant plans to pursue the same goal with public funds from Germany. The PROMOS scholarship must be reported to all other funding bodies.
  
  Example: The scholarship holder receives a travel allowance from other public funds. As a result, she is ineligible for a PROMOS travel allowance. Other forms of funding, such as a partial scholarship, are possible.
  
  If you are unsure please contact the International Office.

• Paid work and PROMOS
  During the duration of your scholarship, you may undertake paid work with the consent of the university. However, this work must not jeopardize the goal of the funded stay abroad.

Fulfillment of the application requirements (including timely upload of the complete documents)

• subject-related expertise/good academic performance
• language skills
• structure and plausibility of your study plans
• description of your reasons for selecting your host institution and country
• ideal fit between your study plans / internship and the focus of the host institution
• arrangement of credit transfers
• extracurricular activities
• goal of your stay abroad When scholarships are awarded, preferential treatment is given to suitable applicants wishing to study in the following regions:
  o    EU (including Poland, France, Hungary, Czech Republic)
  o    Russian Federation
  o    Central and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia)
  o    USA
  • Canada
  • Australia
  • Israel
  • Sub-Saharan Africa