As a state university of applied sciences in Bavaria, OTH Amberg-Weiden charges no tuition fees for Bachelor's or consecutive Master's programmes, for EU and non-EU students alike. Since winter semester 2024/25, however, applicants with a nationality outside the EU and EEA additionally pay a study service fee, introduced to fund extra counselling and support for international students — a cost most Bavarian universities do not levy.

Everyone, regardless of nationality, pays a small student union fee each semester; it is not a fee for teaching. Unlike many German universities, this fee does not buy a semester ticket: OTH Amberg-Weiden has no Deutschlandticket or other nationwide transport pass built into the contribution, only a local transport discount tied to the matriculation certificate.

No tuition, and no semester ticket, does not remove the proof-of-funds requirement. 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.

OTH Amberg-Weiden does not publish a separate, earlier deadline for non-EU applicants: the same dates apply to every applicant regardless of nationality. Non-EU applicants who need a uni-assist VPD, and in some cases an APS certificate, should expect that preparation to take months, so the formal deadline is not a safe starting point for a non-EU application timeline.

One deadline applies to all applicants; some programmes set earlier or different dates.

Applications go through Primuss, OTH Amberg-Weiden's own portal, and using it costs nothing. If you gained your entrance qualification outside Germany, you must also apply to uni-assist for a Vorprüfungsdokumentation (VPD), which usually costs around 75 EUR for a first application and can take several weeks to process; applicants from countries such as China, India or Vietnam need an APS certificate before uni-assist can even issue that VPD.

Open the application portal at oth-aw.de

OTH Amberg-Weiden's own English-taught programmes page lists ten programmes: five Bachelor's programmes taught fully in English (Digital Technology & Management, Industrial Engineering, International Business, Medical Engineering, Technical Engineering), one Bachelor's programme taught in a hybrid English/German format (Artificial Intelligence International), and four Master's programmes taught fully in English (Artificial Intelligence for Industrial Applications, Global Research in Sustainable Engineering, International Energy Engineering, International Management & Sustainability). You can study the fully English-taught programmes without German, though the hybrid Bachelor's and everyday life on either campus still call for at least basic German.

Browse the programme catalogue.

OTH Amberg-Weiden does not publish one central table of accepted certificates and score ranges. Its international students page sets a general requirement of English B2 (plus German A2) for its English-taught programmes, and English and German both at B2 for the hybrid Artificial Intelligence International programme, but the specific certificates accepted and the exact scores needed are set per programme and published only in the individual programme description.

The exact score is set per programme, so check your programme page before booking a test.

Work backwards from the lecture start rather than the semester start. Lectures begin the same day the winter semester formally starts, 1 October, so plan to be in Amberg or Weiden weeks earlier for city registration, a bank account, and above all a room, since neither campus guarantees student housing.

OTH Amberg-Weiden is a young state university of applied sciences in the Upper Palatinate region of Bavaria, founded in 1994 as Fachhochschule Amberg-Weiden and spread across two campuses, Amberg and Weiden in der Oberpfalz, about 40 kilometres apart. Its strengths sit in mechanical, environmental and electrical engineering, computer science and media technology on the Amberg side, and business, industrial engineering and health on the Weiden side.

The university is deliberately practice-oriented: professors are required to bring at least five years of experience outside academia, and close ties to regional industry through its Partner Circle bring internships, work placements and student jobs within reach of both campuses. Amberg and Weiden are small towns rather than major cities, which keeps living costs relatively low but also means the housing market for the roughly 4,000 students is tighter than the town size would suggest.