PROMOS Stays for the Preparation of a Final Thesis

Please apply via our online portal and upload all the required documents.

To the online portal

The CV should be about one to two pages; can be written in German or English.

The motivation letter should provide a detailed justification for conducting research abroad. It should be about one to max. three pages in length; can be written in German or English.

This description should include methods, a time schedule and a description of preliminary work/studies and, if applicable, a bibliography; can be written in German or English.

This can be created automatically in eCampus or FlexNow and saved as a PDF. Medical students please upload your entrance examination (PJ-Reifeprüfung). A Transcript of records issued by the Examination Office is also accepted.

You can download your current enrolment certificate (Studienbescheinigung) yourself from eCampus.

The confirmation of the thesis allocation should be written by the supervising university lecturer at RUB. This can be an informal letter (or possibly an email); can be submitted in German or English.

The subject-specific recommendation letter is also issued by the supervising university lecturer at RUB; can be written in German or English.

There is no template for the letter of recommendation required as part of the application for a PROMOS scholarship. The letter should recommend the candidate as particularly worthy of the scholarship. The lecturer can address the applicant's academic achievements as well as any (possibly non-academic) commitment, their personality and/or additional qualifications (e.g. knowledge of foreign languages). Curriculum vitae, references and the like can be helpful. Above all, the lecturer should emphasise the applicant's particular suitability for the PROMOS programme.

Usually the RUB academic staff member will send their recommendation letters directly to the International Office. In this case please upload a short note (as PDF) as part of your application, indicating that this is the case. If the letter of recommendation is handed or emailed to you, please upload a scan of the letter. PDF only, please. Please note that we cannot accept your application if the letter of recommendation is not available by the deadline.

This can be submitted in German or English; for other languages, please prepare your own translation. An informal letter or, under certain circumstances, an e-mail will be accepted.

In exceptional cases (e.g. in the case of field research), it may be possible to waive the requirement of a letter of acceptance from a contact person abroad. In this case, please contact us as soon as possible!

Current and valid proof of sufficient knowledge of the working language.

Please note that the language certificate is a mandatory part of the PROMOS application! Only selected certificates are accepted (see below). The language certificate cannot be submitted later and must not be older than two years at the application deadline. If you have any questions, please contact us in due time.

Accepted language certificates are:

• DAAD language certificate issued by the RUB University Language Center (ZFA)
• If you are enrolled in a language program, one of your lecturers can issue the DAAD language certificate; please get in touch with the PROMOS-Team at an early stage!
• UniCert (further information on the ZFA website)
• Bachelor degree in a philology
• For English: TOEFL, IELTS, TOEIC, CAE, Duolingo
• For French and Spanish: DELF, DELE, SIELE
• For Asian languages: JLPT, TOPIK, HSK

Language certificates that are not accepted:

• DAAD language certificates that have not been issued by RUB (unless they are equivalent)
• All above mentioned certificates, if they are older than two years at the application deadline
• Language course certificates of participation
• A-level (Abitur) certificate

If you have already completed a university degree, please submit official proof (certificate and/or diploma) of this - including final grade (!).

Please note that the certificate of general higher education entrance qualification (allgemeine Hochschulreife) is not a university certificate.

If you receive other funding and/or monetary compensation for your research stay abroad, please upload proof of the amount and purpose of the scholarship or the compensation respectively.

In case of doubt, the International Office must consult with DAAD whether parallel funding is possible. If you have any questions, please contact us in due time.