Economics Scholarships in Germany for International Students 2026

Germany is arguably the best-value place in the world to study economics seriously. Its public universities charge no tuition for most master programmes, its economics departments — Mannheim, Bonn, Munich, Berlin, Göttingen, Frankfurt and others — publish at the frontier of econometrics, macroeconomics, behavioural and development economics, and its scholarship system is built for exactly the kind of student reading this page: a strong graduate from outside Europe who wants a rigorous degree without a six-figure debt. The flagship funder is the DAAD, the German Academic Exchange Service, whose EPOS and ERP schemes pay economics postgraduates a monthly stipend of EUR 992 plus insurance and travel support. Around the DAAD sits a second ring of funders — political foundations, the Deutschlandstipendium, university assistantships and Erasmus Mundus — and a third advantage that is not a scholarship at all: semester costs so low that even unfunded students often spend less in Germany than scholarship holders spend elsewhere.

This guide explains the whole system for economics applicants targeting 2026 entry. It separates the schemes that genuinely fit economics from the ones students waste months applying to, gives the verified DAAD payment rates, names the specific EPOS economics courses and their application pattern, and shows you how to budget honestly — including the EUR 11,904 blocked account that every visa applicant from a non-EU country needs to understand. If you are still comparing fields and countries, begin with our global overview of economics scholarships for international students and the scholarship directory, then use this page for the Germany-specific strategy.

Economics scholarships in Germany at a glance

Why Germany works financially for economics students

Before the scholarships, understand the baseline. Most public universities in Germany charge no tuition fees for consecutive master programmes; students pay a semester contribution — typically a few hundred euros — that usually includes a public transport ticket. One important exception is Baden-Württemberg, home to the University of Mannheim, one of Europe’s strongest economics departments: that state charges non-EU/EEA students a tuition fee of EUR 1,500 per semester for degree study. Even with that fee, Mannheim’s total cost remains far below comparable departments in the UK or the Netherlands, and fee exemptions and scholarships exist — but you must budget for it unless you are exempt.

For the student visa, non-EU applicants generally prove they can cover living costs, most commonly through a blocked account (Sperrkonto). For 2026 the required amount is EUR 11,904 for one year — EUR 992 per month, the same monthly figure as the DAAD master stipend, which is no coincidence: German funding rates are calibrated to this official living-cost benchmark. A DAAD scholarship award letter normally satisfies the financial proof requirement for the funded period, which is one more reason the DAAD routes below are so valuable: they solve the visa finance question and the monthly budget question at the same time.

Eligibility: who can apply for what?

DAAD EPOS is the main route for economics graduates from developing countries, and its rules are strict. You need a bachelor degree (usually four years) in economics or a related subject, completed with far above-average results — DAAD describes the expectation as the upper third of your cohort. Your degree should normally be no more than six years old at the deadline. You need at least two years of relevant professional experience gained after your bachelor degree; internships during study do not count. You must be a citizen of an eligible developing or newly industrialised country on the DAAD list, and you must not have lived in Germany for more than 15 months at the application deadline. Above all, EPOS is a development programme: your motivation letter must show how an economics master in Germany connects to development-relevant work in your home country or region, and what you intend to do with it afterwards. Purely academic ambition, however excellent, is a weaker EPOS case than professional experience plus a credible development plan.

DAAD ERP scholarships target a different map. Funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, the ERP scheme supports excellent graduates of economics and business administration for a full master degree at a state or state-recognised German university. Your first degree must be completed by the time the scholarship starts and normally no more than six years before application, and — unusually — you must apply for admission to three German universities in parallel; the scholarship only takes effect once you present an admission offer in time. The eligible-country list for ERP is specific and centred on countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan; graduates from South Asia, Africa or Latin America are generally not on it, and should focus on EPOS and the all-disciplines DAAD scholarship instead. Our detailed guide to the DAAD EPOS Scholarship 2027 and the overview of DAAD Scholarship 2027 flagship programmes explain the DAAD system in full.

Foundation scholarships each apply their own test. The Heinrich Böll Foundation (aligned with Green politics), the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (social democratic), the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation (Christian democratic) and others fund master and doctoral students from Germany and abroad who combine strong academics with demonstrable social engagement and sympathy with the foundation’s values. Many foundation programmes expect German language skills even for English-taught degrees, because their seminar and community life runs in German. Deutschlandstipendium eligibility is simpler — enrolment at a participating university and strong achievement — but it is applied for through your university, typically once you are admitted or enrolled.

What the funding actually covers

The official DAAD EPOS programme page sets the core rates: monthly payments of EUR 992 for master students and EUR 1,300 for doctoral candidates, with the doctoral rate rising to EUR 1,400 from February 2026. DAAD also pays towards health, accident and personal liability insurance, and provides a travel allowance unless your travel is paid by another funder. Under defined conditions, EPOS holders can additionally receive a monthly rent subsidy and a monthly allowance for accompanying family members. Funding runs 12 to 42 months depending on the course — typically the standard duration of your master programme. DAAD scholarships also frequently include a funded preparatory German language course before the degree begins; the exact offer is stated in your award documents.

The ERP scholarship pays the same EUR 992 per month for 18 to 24 months, adds a study allowance of EUR 460 per year, pays towards insurance, and provides a travel allowance on application; the selection committee may also fund a two-month German language course before your studies. Family allowances cannot be paid under ERP — a genuine difference from EPOS that matters if you plan to bring dependants.

Two honest caveats about “fully funded” in Germany. First, the DAAD stipend is designed to cover a student’s living costs at the official benchmark — rent in Munich, Frankfurt or Berlin can consume more of it than rent in Göttingen, Leipzig or Bochum, so course city is a financial decision as well as an academic one. Second, no German scholarship pays your costs before it starts: you still need arrival money for the deposit (often three months’ cold rent), first semester contribution and initial weeks. Plan a landing reserve even with a full DAAD award.

The EPOS economics courses to target

EPOS funding is tied to a fixed list of development-related courses — you cannot take an EPOS scholarship to an unlisted programme. For economics, the list has consistently included the following English-taught options, which form the realistic target set for most applicants:

• MSc Development Economics, University of Göttingen — a research-oriented development economics master. The Göttingen EPOS application window has run from 1 October to 15 November, with applicants applying once for both the programme and the scholarship through the university; the programme expects a strong economics background and high English scores (its published requirement has been IELTS 7.0 or TOEFL iBT 95).
• Master in International and Development Economics (MIDE), HTW Berlin — an 18-month, three-semester English-taught programme in Berlin; DAAD scholarship applicants have faced an earlier deadline (31 August) than general applicants (30 September), so treat August as your real deadline if you want funding.
• Development Management, Ruhr University Bochum — aimed at professionals moving into development cooperation management, blending economics, policy and management.
• Small Enterprise Promotion and Training (SEPT), University of Leipzig — focused on SME promotion and entrepreneurship in developing economies.
• Bonn International Graduate School for Development Research (BIGS-DR), University of Bonn — the doctoral route in the economics and development cluster, linked to the Center for Development Research (ZEF).
• Agricultural Economics (AgEcon), University of Hohenheim — for economists heading into agricultural and food-system policy and research.

Course lists, deadlines and language requirements are re-published for every intake on the DAAD website — the “List of all postgraduate courses with application deadlines” for your intake year is the only authoritative version. If your preferred economics master is not on the EPOS list — for example Mannheim’s MSc Economics, the Bonn Graduate School of Economics MSc, or LMU Munich’s programmes — EPOS cannot fund it, and your realistic funding mix becomes the all-disciplines DAAD scholarship (if your country office offers it), foundations, Deutschlandstipendium after enrolment, assistantships and your own resources against Germany’s low baseline costs. Many strong students deliberately choose this unfunded-but-cheap route: two years in Germany with no tuition can cost less in total than one year of fees alone in a neighbouring country. Compare departments through our rankings pages and the university directory.

How to apply, step by step

1. Match yourself to a scheme before a university. EPOS (developing-country professional, listed course), ERP (eligible country list, any state university master, three parallel applications), all-disciplines DAAD, or self-funded plus in-Germany awards. Your scheme decides your course list, not the other way round.
2. For EPOS, apply directly to the course — not to DAAD headquarters. DAAD states this explicitly: you send your complete application to the programme itself, you may apply to up to three EPOS courses, and you must state your order of preference. Applying to DAAD directly is an automatic dead end.
3. Build the DAAD document set (see the checklist below), including the signed DAAD application form and checklist, Europass CV, motivation letter addressing all chosen courses in one letter where required, employer recommendation and proof of at least two years of post-degree employment for EPOS.
4. Respect course-specific deadlines. EPOS deadlines are set by each course and spread across the autumn and winter before entry — Göttingen in mid-November, MIDE’s scholarship deadline at the end of August, others later. Missing your course’s date by a day ends the application for a full year.
5. For ERP, run three university applications in parallel and keep every admission letter; your scholarship activates only when an admission is presented to DAAD in time.
6. Prepare the visa file alongside the scholarship file. If you win DAAD funding, the award letter supports your financial proof. If you are self-funding any part, open the blocked account for EUR 11,904 (2026 figure) in good time and arrange health insurance.
7. After arrival, layer the extras. Register at the university, apply for Deutschlandstipendium in your university’s round, watch department noticeboards for research and teaching assistant vacancies — Mannheim’s economics department, for instance, advertises teaching assistantships on its fees and scholarships page — and use our study tools to track renewal conditions and budgets.

Required documents

• Signed DAAD application form and the programme’s signed document checklist (for DAAD schemes)
• Europass-format CV, signed and dated, covering education and employment without gaps
• Motivation letter: for EPOS, development-focused — your professional experience, the problem you work on, why this course, and your post-degree plans
• Employer recommendation letter on official letterhead, with stamp and signature, and employment certificates proving at least two years of relevant work after your bachelor degree (EPOS)
• Degree certificates and transcripts with grading-scale explanations; certified translations where documents are not in English or German
• English language certificate meeting the course requirement (some EPOS economics courses set high minimums — check yours), and German certificates if you have them
• Academic recommendation letters as required by the course, passport copy, and any country-specific documents such as an APS certificate where DAAD or the university requires one

Deadlines and timeline

How selection works — and how to improve your chances

DAAD selection is done by independent committees and weighs three things: academic quality, relevant experience and motivation. For EPOS economics places, the strongest files combine marks in the top band, at least two years of genuinely relevant work — a central bank, finance ministry, development bank, NGO economics unit, research institute or statistical office all read well — and a motivation letter that names a concrete development problem, explains why this specific curriculum solves your skill gap, and commits to a plausible role afterwards. Generic letters about “loving economics since childhood” fail against that standard, as do applications that treat EPOS as a migration pathway; committees are explicitly selecting for development impact and return of expertise.

For pure-research ambitions — an MSc leading to a PhD at Bonn, Mannheim or Munich — your file competes on mathematics and grades: strong results in microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics and mathematics, plus research assistance or a serious bachelor thesis, matter more than work experience. Note that doctoral funding in Germany often comes as paid research positions at departments and institutes rather than as “scholarships”, so search department vacancy pages as well as scholarship databases. The official Study in Germany portal and the DAAD scholarship database are the two sources to build your shortlist from — and if Germany is one of several options, our guide to architecture scholarships in Italy shows how a different European funding system rewards a completely different applicant profile.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Sending an EPOS application to DAAD instead of the course. DAAD does not accept direct EPOS applications; the course university receives and forwards them. This single error wastes more EPOS applications than any other.
• Applying to unlisted economics programmes with EPOS hopes. If the course is not on the intake year’s EPOS list, there is no EPOS money for it — choose the course and the scheme together.
• Counting internships as the two years of experience. EPOS experience must be professional work after your bachelor degree. Applications that blur this are screened out.
• Assuming ERP is open to everyone. ERP has a defined eligible-country list centred on Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Check it before writing a single document.
• Forgetting the Baden-Württemberg fee. Non-EU students at Mannheim and other Baden-Württemberg universities pay EUR 1,500 per semester unless exempt — a surprise only if you never read the fee page.
• Under-budgeting arrival costs. Rent deposits, semester contributions and the weeks before the first stipend payment all precede your funding. A DAAD award is not a landing fund.
• Treating the blocked account figure as a scholarship. EUR 11,904 is the visa proof benchmark for one year of living costs (2026), released back to you monthly — it is your own money, not an award, and it must be renewed as a proof source for later residence permits if you are self-funded.

Frequently asked questions

How much does the DAAD pay economics master students in 2026?

EUR 992 per month under both EPOS and the ERP scheme, plus payments towards health, accident and personal liability insurance. EPOS adds a travel allowance and, under conditions, a rent subsidy and family allowance; ERP adds a EUR 460 annual study allowance and a travel allowance on application. Doctoral EPOS candidates receive EUR 1,300 per month, rising to EUR 1,400 from February 2026.

Can I study economics in Germany for free without a scholarship?

At most public universities, yes in tuition terms: consecutive master programmes generally charge no tuition outside Baden-Württemberg (EUR 1,500 per semester for non-EU students) and some private or non-consecutive programmes. You still pay a semester contribution of a few hundred euros and all of your living costs, and visa applicants must prove living funds — EUR 11,904 for 2026, usually via a blocked account.

Which EPOS courses are best for economics?

The EPOS list’s economics core includes the MSc Development Economics at Göttingen, MIDE at HTW Berlin, Development Management at Bochum, SEPT at Leipzig, Agricultural Economics at Hohenheim and the BIGS-DR doctorate at Bonn. “Best” depends on your goal: Göttingen and Bonn suit research-track economists, MIDE and Bochum suit policy and cooperation careers, and SEPT suits SME and entrepreneurship work. Always confirm the courses on the DAAD list for your intake year.

I have no work experience. Can I still get funded for economics in Germany?

Not through EPOS, which requires at least two years of post-degree professional experience. Your realistic routes are the all-disciplines DAAD master scholarship if your country office offers it, foundation scholarships (which weigh engagement and academics more than employment), an unfunded low-cost master followed by Deutschlandstipendium and assistantships, or gaining experience first and applying to EPOS later — a path many successful EPOS economists have taken.

Do I need German to win an economics scholarship in Germany?

For EPOS and ERP economics courses taught in English, no — English proficiency at the course’s stated level is the requirement, and DAAD may fund a preparatory German course. Foundation scholarships are different: several expect or reward German skills because their programmes run in German. For daily life, part-time jobs and the German labour market after graduation, German pays for itself regardless of scholarship rules.

Can my family join me on a DAAD economics scholarship?

EPOS holders may receive a monthly allowance for accompanying family members and a rent subsidy under defined conditions; ERP explicitly cannot pay family allowances. Residence rights for dependants are a separate immigration question governed by your permit type and income proof — a scholarship allowance alone does not settle it, so check the rules with the DAAD and the local foreigners’ authority.

When should I apply for 2026 and 2027 economics intakes?

Work backwards from the course deadline, not the semester start. Key EPOS economics deadlines fall between late August and mid-November of the year before a winter-semester start, university admissions for other routes run through spring and early summer, and visa and blocked-account steps need several further weeks. Starting document preparation 12 months ahead is realistic, not cautious.

Sources & Verification

• DAAD — Development-Related Postgraduate Courses (EPOS) (EUR 992 per month master; EUR 1,300 rising to EUR 1,400 from February 2026 doctoral; insurance, travel allowance, rent subsidy and family allowance conditions; two years of experience and upper-third results)
• DAAD — ERP Study Scholarships for Graduates of Economics and Business Administration (EUR 992 per month, EUR 460 annual study allowance, 18–24 months, three parallel university applications, degree within six years)
• DAAD EPOS course information for the MSc Development Economics, University of Göttingen (application window 1 October – 15 November) and MIDE, HTW Berlin (DAAD deadline 31 August; general deadline 30 September)
• University of Mannheim, Department of Economics — Fees and Scholarships (assistantships and departmental funding routes)
• Study in Germany — official portal of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and DAAD (tuition, semester contributions, Baden-Württemberg fee and blocked-account guidance; 2026 blocked account EUR 11,904 per year)

Disclaimer: Scholarship rates, eligible-country lists, course lists and deadlines change between intakes. Always confirm the current figures and closing dates on the official DAAD, university and government websites before applying. StudyGraduate is an information portal, not an agency: we do not charge for applications and we can never promise selection, admission or visa approval.