PROMOS - Programme for the Promotion of Student Mobility

The PROMOS mobility programme supports stays abroad for up to six months per study period. Funding is provided at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam for study visits, internships, and participation in language courses and specialised courses abroad. The scholarships are awarded with funds from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

Who is supported?

All students who are enrolled at the FH Potsdam to obtain a degree here can apply. This also applies to international students (not exchange students and guest students). For students without German citizenship, stays in the home country are excluded. The home country is the country in which students have predominantly resided for at least five years.

What is promoted?

Internships

  • Duration of stay 6 weeks to 6 months
  • Worldwide at self-organised internship institutions, except in the Erasmus+ area.
  • Internships can also be funded in the period between the Bachelor's degree and the start of the Master's programme. A preliminary admission to the Master's programme or a similar document from a German higher education institution must be available.

Study abroad

  • Duration of stay 1 to 6 months
  • Study stays at universities worldwide
  • Information on semesters abroad can be found under Studying Abroad
  • Tuition fees at the host university are not covered!

Theses

  • Duration of stay 1 to 6 months
  • Stays abroad to prepare final theses and dissertations at companies or universities, e.g. qualitative/quantitative interviews and research projects in archives

Language courses

Specialised courses

  • Duration of stay up to 6 weeks
  • Participation in study-related courses at universities or scientific organisations abroad, e.g. summer schools and workshops
  • Further information, for example, at Summer Schools in Europe.eu

Mobility with a disability or chronic illness

For people with a degree of disability (GdB) of at least 50 or a chronic illness, an allowance of up to 10,000 euros can be applied for for additional expenses incurred abroad (e.g. for the trip abroad, local travel, accommodation abroad, medical care, special didactic material, etc.). The requirement is that these costs are exclusively related to the stay abroad and that other institutions do not provide financial support.

When applying, the relevant information must be provided in the application form. The application is submitted after successful selection by the International Office.

There is no funding for this

Stays in the Erasmus+ area

For study and work placements in the Erasmus+ area, an application is usually excluded. You can apply directly for funding in the Erasmus+ programme, either for the study at a partner university with Erasmus+ or for the Erasmus+ internship.

Funding for the study period in the Erasmus+ area is only possible if there is no Erasmus+ agreement with the partner university or another Erasmus+ stay abroad is excluded.

DAAD Scholarships / Goethe-Instituts

Internships for which specific DAAD internship programmes can be claimed may not be funded in PROMOS. These are internships at international organisations, EU institutions, institutions and organisations administering EU programmes, Germany's missions abroad, the German Humanities Institutes, the Goethe Institutes (GI), the German Archaeological Institute and the German Schools Abroad (DAS). Information on this can be found at: Internship Placement - DAAD

Would you like to do your internship at a Goethe-Institut or a German mission abroad? Then apply directly for a short-term scholarship for internships abroad.

Further information on DAAD internship programmes

Scholarship amounts

The amount of the scholarships consists of at least one of the following components:

monthly partial scholarship Stay between 350 and 550 euros
one-off partial scholarship Mobility country-dependent flat-rate travel allowance
Course fee allowance 500 euros

The amount of the flat rates can be found in the DAAD overview of PROMOS funding rates 2024 .

The awarding of the funds is subject to the allocation of funds by the DAAD.

Information about the application

Application documents

Send the following documents by e-mail to international@fh-potsdam.de by the deadline:

  • Application form
  • Curriculum Vitae (tabular)
  • Overview of achievements (printout from My.Campus, certificates of previous university degrees, if applicable)
  • Letter of recommendation from a professor (template for the letter of recommendation)
  • Language certificate for the language of instruction or working language
  • Confirmation from the host institution with planned period of stay (e.g. letter of acceptance, internship contract, e-mail correspondence)
  • For theses that are not carried out at a university/company, additionally: detailed timetable, letter of support from the degree programme
  • For applying for compensation for disadvantages: declaration of honour 

Selection criteria

The scholarships are awarded in a quality and merit-based selection process. There are no selection interviews. You will receive written notification approximately six weeks after the application deadline.

Priority selection criteria:

  • Qualification and performance (academic achievements).
  • Meaning and purpose of the planned stay for the further course of studies, including degree of preparation and involvement with the host institution/university
  • Relevant language skills in the language of instruction or working language.

Additional selection criteria:

  • Study visit at a partner university of the FH Potsdam
  • social and societal commitment
  • Examples: Studying with a disability, with a chronic illness, with a child as well as as a pregnant woman, caring for relatives, students with a foreign higher education entrance qualification, first-time graduates, refugees, children of refugees with German nationality, refugee background

Selection decision

The selection procedure at the FHP takes place on the basis of your files. At least two people must participate in the selection decision. The application deadlines published on this website apply. The International Office notifies you with the selection decision in writing by e-mail within 6 weeks after the application deadline. Together with the acceptance of the scholarship, a scholarship agreement is sent out, which lists the rights and obligations of the sponsored person and the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.

Travel warnings and crisis precaution list of the Federal Foreign Office

We strongly advise you to inform yourself about the travel and safety advice of the Federal Foreign Office before you start your journey and to follow it continuously during your trip.

Travel advice contains information on, among other things, the entry requirements of a country, medical advice, special features under criminal or customs law.

Safety advice draws attention to special risks for travellers and Germans living abroad. They may contain a recommendation to refrain from travelling or to restrict travel. Where appropriate, advice is given against travel that is not absolutely necessary or against all travel.

Travel warnings for a country or partial travel warnings for regions of a country contain an urgent appeal by the Federal Foreign Office to refrain from travelling to a country or region of a country. They are only issued if travel to a country or a specific region of a country must be warned against due to an acute danger to life and limb. In the event of a travel warning issued by the Federal Foreign Office for the region in question, no funding is possible! In the case of a travel warning issued during the stay, we reserve the right to reclaim the funding or parts thereof.

All applicants are advised to register on the crisis precaution list at the Federal Foreign Office before departure: Electronic Registration of Germans Abroad. The local missions abroad will then be able to contact you quickly if necessary or in exceptional circumstances.

Erfahrungsberichte

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FAQ about PROMOS

Language certificates must be submitted for all projects abroad that are not in German. Your current language level will be assessed. However, we recommend at least a B1 level for longer stays abroad.

The following certificates are accepted, which must not be older than 3 years:

  • official language certificates such as TOEFL, IELTS, DELF etc.
  • (informal) confirmation of language course participation stating the level (min. B1)
  • DAAD language certificate, for example from the Zessko at the University of Potsdam
  • Language up to the Abitur (A-Level), proof by Abitur certificate

The content of the presentation of the plans abroad, the reasons for the choice of institution, the highlighting of study programmes that are suitable for you, the integration of the stay abroad into the study plan and the professional goal will be evaluated. The examination regulations also require that you spend time abroad (international track or compulsory internship), the reference to existing contacts, the choice of certain professors or supervisors at the host institutions, etc. will be evaluated. Also consider what you can give back to the scholarship provider as a scholarship holder!

The expert opinion can be issued by your professors or also by university lecturers who hold a doctorate. Letters of recommendation from lecturers are not accepted.

There is a template for the expert opinion (see Downloads). If you have any questions about the contents of the evaluation report, the evaluators can contact the International Office directly. In exceptional cases, reviews can also be submitted in a different format. For example, if you are also applying to the HAW.international programme of the DAAD. In this case, you can also submit the template from this programme for the PROMOS application.

If you have not yet received confirmation from the host institution or if the duration of your stay has not yet been finalised, please submit documentation of the status of your stay, for example in the form of an e-mail from the host institution. You must submit the actual confirmation by the start of the fellowship.

Please submit your application preferably in German. This also applies to the expert opinion. Applications in English will be accepted if there is a valid reason, for example because your native language is not German.

The funding amount is based on the DAAD scholarship rates. The flat-rate travel allowance is paid once at the beginning of the stay. The flat rates for the stay are paid monthly.

The funding period is calculated on the basis of the information provided by your host institution in the confirmation of award or, in the case of theses, on the basis of the detailed time schedule. Travel days are not funded. In the case of study visits, the duration of studies (incl. orientation week and examination period) is relevant, but not the complete semester period.

Can I combine other funding with PROMOS?

Paid work, e.g. during an internship, may be carried out with the approval of the FH Potsdam if this does not jeopardise the purpose of the stay abroad.

The Deutschlandstipendium and PROMOS can be used simultaneously without restriction.

Simultaneous funding with Auslands-BAföG is generally possible. PROMOS funding must be reported to the relevant office for BAföG abroad.

PROMOS funding is not possible if your stay abroad is already supported by German public funds. This applies, for example, to funding through Erasmus+ and foundations (e.g. Heinrich Böll Foundation, Konrad Andenauer Foundation, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, etc.).

PROMOS funding must be reported to other scholarship providers.

In principle, it is possible to apply for different programmes for the stay abroad at the same time. However, you must exclude double funding for the project abroad (see above).

If you have already started or completed your stay abroad at the time of application, then you can no longer apply for the PROMOS scholarship.

After the selection committee has reviewed the applications and made its selection, you will receive a written notification by e-mail up to six weeks after the application deadline.

PROMOS scholarship holders within an educational stage (Bachelor's, Master's, etc.) can receive funding for a total of six months for study and internships abroad. You can combine funding for different projects and apply several times. In a new stage of your education, you can again receive funding for a total of six months through PROMOS.

There are no restrictions on participation in specialist and language courses or competition trips.

No. You must be enrolled at the FH Potsdam to receive PROMOS scholarship funding. If you exmatriculate, we will have to reclaim the funding. Instead, think about the possibility of taking a leave of absence because of the stay abroad.

At the end of the stay, you must submit a progress report and confirmation from the host institution.

PROMOS scholarship holders with a degree of disability (GdB) or a chronic illness of at least 50 can apply for a special need of up to 10,000 euros if the additional expenses are due to the stay abroad (costs are exclusively related to the stay abroad) and other sponsors do not provide financial support. When applying, the relevant information must be provided in the application form; the application will be submitted by the International Office after successful selection as a scholarship holder.

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