Entry requirements for Germany

Our entry requirements will vary depending on your level of study, the course you are interested in and your English language proficiency.

Undergraduate courses

We will consider students who hold the Abitur. As a general guideline, we will consider applicants with a grade of 1.8 overall or above, although this will be decided upon by the admissions tutor at the time of application.

Students who have taken GCE A Level examinations and the International Baccalaureate (IB) or European Baccalaureate (EB) will also be considered for entrance to undergraduate courses.

Alternatively, the successful completion of one or more years of undergraduate study at a recognised German university may also be considered as acceptable for entry on to our undergraduate degree courses.

Postgraduate taught courses

Applicants are required to successfully complete at least A Magister Artium/ Diplom/ Erstes Staatsexamen (First State Examination) or a bachelor’s degree (post -1998).

As a general guideline, we will consider applicants with a grade in the region of 2 (Gut) or above, although this will be decided upon by the admissions tutor at the time of application.

Postgraduate research courses

There are a number of possible entry routes to postgraduate research courses at Cardiff University.

We will consider applicants who have successfully completed a Masters from a recognised German institution.

In some cases, we will consider applicants who only have a Bachelor's degree, although applicants may be required to complete a Master's course at Cardiff University prior to embarking upon PhD studies.

English language

You will need to have a relevant English language qualification to satisfy the English language requirements for your course. The minimum admissions requirement is usually IELTS 6.5 but for some courses we may ask for higher grades.

You can improve your level of English language to meet the entry requirements for your course through our in-house English for University Study programme, a full-time course for international students planning to study at a UK university.

The minimum entry requirement is IELTS 4.0 for September entry, 4.5 for January and 5.0 for April. The Exit Test results from this course are accepted as IELTS equivalents for entry to all degree courses at Cardiff University.

We also offer Summer Pre-sessional courses for applicants with academic offers that are conditional on improving their level of English language proficiency.

If you are unsure of your qualifications or entry requirements, please contact us.