Aalen is a public university of applied sciences, so German and EU/EEA students pay no tuition for a Bachelor's or Master's degree — only the semester contribution. That general rule does not extend to every non-EU applicant, because Baden-Württemberg is the one state that charges its own non-EU tuition fee.

What every enrolled student pays is the semester contribution, currently 180 EUR for winter 2026/27, covering administration, the Studierendenwerk and the student body (AStA); it is not a fee for teaching.

Non-EU applicants without a German university entrance qualification pay an additional 1,500 EUR per semester for a regular Bachelor's or Master's programme, under Baden-Württemberg's state tuition-fee law (LHGebG). Applicants who already hold a completed German degree and are starting a second degree pay 650 EUR per semester instead. This state fee is required in addition to the semester contribution, is due in full at enrolment, and is separate from any programme-specific fee for continuing-education or executive Master's formats.

Aalen does not publish one non-EU deadline for its English-taught programmes. Its own admissions pages state that deadlines for the English-taught Bachelor's and Master's programmes vary by programme, so the deadline that matters is the one on your specific programme page rather than a single university-wide date.

Applications for winter 2026/27 open from mid-April 2026 through Aalen's own online application portal.

Applicants with a foreign qualification need uni-assist once, to obtain a VPD (Vorprüfungsdokumentation) recognising that qualification for Aalen specifically; VPDs issued for other universities cannot be reused here. Applicants from India, China and Vietnam must obtain an APS certificate before applying to uni-assist for the VPD.

Open the English-taught programmes application page

Aalen runs 11 degree programmes fully in English: 3 Bachelor's (Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering, Sales Engineering) and 8 Master's (Advanced Materials & Manufacturing, Advanced Systems Design, Applied Photonics, Electrical Engineering, Marketing and Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning & Data Analytics, Polymer Technology, Health Technology Management), concentrated in engineering, materials and photonics, computer science/AI, and one in business. Most of the English-taught catalogue is at Master's level, so a Bachelor applicant has only 3 English-taught options out of roughly 70 programmes in total. You can study the English-taught programmes without German, though everyday German still helps with housing, part-time work and the authorities.

Aalen asks for proof of English at level B2 for its English-taught programmes, and the certificate must not be older than two years at enrolment. Several tests are accepted at varying minimum scores, so check the exact requirement against your test of choice and your specific programme page before booking a test.

Enrolment, the student ID and access to university services become valid from the start of the semester itself; plan travel and city registration around the first day of classes instead.

Founded in 1963 as a state engineering school and turned into a University of Applied Sciences in 1971, Aalen University today teaches around 4,300 students across five faculties — Chemistry, Electronics & Computing Science, Management & Business Sciences, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Technologies, and Optics & Mechatronics — in roughly 70 Bachelor's and Master's programmes. Its research strengths sit in mechanical engineering, materials and polymer technology, optics and photonics, mechatronics, and machine learning.

The university sits in the Ostalb region between Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Munich, a corridor dense with mid-sized manufacturing "hidden champions" as well as larger names such as Bosch, Porsche and Audi within reach, which is why practical semesters, working-student roles and thesis projects here commonly run alongside real industry work. Aalen itself is a compact, affordable town at the edge of the Swabian Alb, a considerable contrast to Germany's larger university cities.