Tuition is free for both Bachelor's and consecutive Master's programmes, for EU and non-EU students alike. The state of Berlin excludes tuition fees for these programmes at its public universities by law, and no change to that position is currently under discussion. Everyone pays the semester contribution, which is not a fee for teaching — most of it funds the Deutschlandsemesterticket, covering public transport across the whole country. The amount is set each semester by the student body and Studierendenwerk, so it changes.

No tuition doesn't mean no proof of funds: for the student visa you still need to show about 11,904 EUR for the year, usually in a blocked account, transferred months before the semester starts.

These are cut-off deadlines (Ausschlussfristen): complete documents must be received by the date shown, and late or incomplete applications are not considered. Unusually, Humboldt publishes a single application period that applies to all international applicants, EU and non-EU alike, so there is no separate later date for EU citizens to fall back on.

Through uni-assist, the standard preliminary-check route for applicants whose university entrance qualification was obtained outside Germany. uni-assist reviews and forwards the application to Humboldt-Universität, which makes the final admission decision. Applicants who already hold a German Abitur or a degree from a German university apply directly to Humboldt through its own portal instead.

Humboldt-Universität runs 21 international Master's programmes with lectures and seminars held fully in English, out of 185 degree courses in total. They are concentrated in law, business and economics, the social sciences, and the agricultural and life sciences. All are at Master's level — a Bachelor applicant will need German for virtually the whole catalogue. You can study the English-taught programmes without German, though everyday German still helps with housing, part-time work and the authorities.

There is no single university-wide score table: requirements are set at faculty level and vary more widely here than at most partner universities, from B2 on programmes such as the Global History Master's to C1 for the European History Master's. IELTS Academic and TOEFL iBT are generally accepted, but the minimum score, whether MyBest Scores are allowed, and the certificate validity period are all set by the individual programme rather than centrally — check your programme page before booking a test.

Work backwards from the lecture start rather than the semester start: you'll want to be in Berlin a few weeks before lectures begin for city registration, a bank account and a room.

Berlin has one of Germany's largest student populations spread across several universities, so competition for Studierendenwerk halls is real: the waiting list can run up to 18 months. Apply to Studierendenwerk Berlin the day you are admitted and search WG-Gesucht in parallel.

One of Berlin's oldest universities, founded in 1810 on Wilhelm von Humboldt's model of uniting teaching and research, a principle that went on to shape universities worldwide. Its main building sits on the Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic centre of Berlin, with further campuses at Campus Nord for the life sciences and Campus Adlershof for the natural sciences, computer science and mathematics.

Its strengths are the humanities, law, and the social sciences, and it shares the Charité medical school with Freie Universität Berlin, one of Europe's largest university hospitals. Being in the capital puts students close to federal institutions, embassies and a dense concentration of other universities and research institutes, and Humboldt's own exchange network extends to partners such as Oxford, Princeton and Peking University.