Admission Process

This page explains the admission and enrollment process. If you have received a letter of acceptance, please read the following information carefully. If you have received a rejection or a rejection with a waiting list option, please redirect to this Page: Rejection & WaitingList.

Points of contact:

To avoid confusion, we would like to explain the two distinct points of contact at the Universität Hamburg that you have to communicate with for the application and enrollment process:

1. Your first point of contact is the IAS Team. The IAS Team is part of the Department of Informatics, Universität Hamburg. Among other things, the IAS Team and academic advisor are responsible for the application process, selection process, program coordination, program curriculum, questions about the IAS program, counselling of students and applicants regarding study plans, and exams. The IAS Team runs the IAS program and contains the selection committee (a group of professors, post-doctoral researchers, lecturers, academic advisors) who select the applications. Please direct all questions regarding the content of the program, your curriculum, application, website, wiki, and difficulties while studying to the IAS Team. The academic advisor manages the IAS Team. The academic advisor is a researcher and lecturer, who cooperates closely with the academic office at the department of informatics. When contacting the IAS Team, please keep in mind that their main tasks are research and teaching - not administrative tasks. Contact the IAS Team

The academic office at the department of informatics for enrolled students: You should contact the academic coordinator for IAS Björn Hanssen when you have questions regarding module and exam registrations, recognition of credit points, recognition of german lectures or other lectures, transcript, etc.). They are not involved in the application process and will only become relevant once you start studying at Universität Hamburg. Contact academic office.

2. CampusCenter Team: The CampusCenter Team is part of the central administration of the entire university. The Team for Application and Admission ("Team Bewerbung und Zulassung TBZ") is located at the Campus Center (Main Campus) and part of the central administration (Do not confuse this with the IAS Team and Selection Committee). They are running the online system STiNE, are centrally responsible for processing admissions and handling legal issues for the approximately 44000 students at UHH. The Campus Center provides student documents (student ID card, confirmation documents) and has full control over all formal issues leading to your enrollment (after the Selection Committee of the IAS Team reviewed and ranked your application). Once you are fully enrolled (paid semester contribution), responsibility is partly handed back to the IAS-Team and the academic office at the department of informatics; and to your academic advisor who is the contact for all study issues. The Campus Center is responsible for sending your letter of acceptance/rejection/waiting list and the enrollment process. You will need to send your enrollment documents to the Campus Center once you are accepted!. Please contact the Campus Center for all questions regarding the official enrollment or confirmation of enrollment for a visa. Contact them via the Campus Center.

As a rule of thumb - always contact the IAS Team first: How to contact the IAS Team

What happens after I send my application?

31 March You have sent your application to the IAS Team at the Department of Informatics before the 31 of March. In the next step, the IAS Team evaluates your application.

Early May the IAS Team sends a list to the Campus Center Team (central administration of Universität Hamburg), ranking all eligible applicants. Once the ranking is done, the enrollment process is happening at the CampusCenter until you are fully enrolled. This also means that we at the department of informatics have no access to the enrollment process in detail and only receive the final list of enrolled students shortly before the start of the semester! Please tell the IAS Team as soon as you have received a letter of acceptance and when you have enrolled yourself for you to receive all informational emails regarding the start of your studies. Find the IAS Team contact information here. The IAS Team will stay in contact with the accepted students after application to ease the transition into your new study program in October/November, e.g. orientation week. The IAS-Team, along with the academic advisors, manages the IAS study program. In general, you should always contact or at least cc the IAS Team (= your academic advisor) first.

Mid-May Admission notification: The Campus Center will publish the results (acceptance, waiting list, rejection) of the current application period in your STiNE account. The Campus Center Team will then decide how many of the top-ranked students receive a letter of acceptance (around 20 + overbookings) and will provide instructions on how to enrol. Everybody else will receive either a waiting list notification or rejection (missed minimum requirements or incomplete application). For rejections and waiting list, please read this page: Rejection & WaitingList.

For accepted students:

Enrollment Deadline: 25th June! Usually 1-2 weeks after notification: For enrollment, the accepted applicants have to follow the procedure stated in their letter of acceptance (that is always the most up-to-date information). For 2020, online enrollment is possible. Check your letter! It is always a good idea to emphasise that you are an international student if it is possible in the new online process - see health insurance section and links in the FAQa. After sending/uploading the enrollment form and copies of your certificates, the accepted applicants are enrolled and officially a student of Universität Hamburg. Congratulations!

Acknowledgement of enrollment: The CampusCenter may not send any acknowledgement for receiving your documents (especially if you have sent documents via postal mail). If you need a special acknowledgement for your visa, you need to request it via CampusCenter contact form. Once enrolled, your place for the Master International Adaptive Systems is secured until the semester starts; even though you might not have received any preliminary semester documents and have not paid the semester contribution. Please read the paragraph about Health insurance.

In the period of Mid-August - 30 September, the CampusCenter will send you an email with your student STiNE login, preliminary semester documents, and will demand the payment of your semester contribution. After you have paid, you will receive your complete semester documents. At this point, you will have arrived at Universität Hamburg and probably will have started studying. Sending the preliminary documents this late is an administrative decision of the central administration (CampusCenter) at Universität Hamburg. Sorry. Sometimes they send the email with preliminary documents only in late September. Do not worry. If you need an acknowledgement of preliminary enrollment for assurance/visa/bank account, please request it, CampusCenter Contact Form. Please also tell the IAS-Team in cc if you have any worries regarding enrollment.

Arriving in Hamburg and orientation weeks: 26 October 2020: The last two weeks in October are welcome/orientation weeks. Please attend. Orientation/Introductory courses for IAS start on 26 October 2020 (see emails regarding Orientation). Additionally, there are online introductory courses organised by PIASTA for all (international) students: https://www.uni-hamburg.de/en/piasta/veranstaltungen/piasta-welcome.html

Semster starts on 2 November 2020 Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the winter semester will start late (on 2 November 2020). All accepted students who have confirmed their acceptance and enrollment plans with the IAS Team will receive updates via mail asap. Current information for enrolled students will also be published here: Information for enrolled students. Please, also check https://www.uni-hamburg.de/en/newsroom/intern/2020/0131-corona-faq.html for general information about studying at UHH with coronavirus.

The central administration (CampusCenter) manages only the notification whether you are accepted/rejected/put on the waiting list and the formal enrollment and visa issues. Therefore, please notify the IAS Team right away once you receive a letter of acceptance. Then we can inform you about how/when the winter semester starts in 2020 and provide you with updates on coronavirus-related changes.

I have received a letter of acceptance ("Zulassungsbescheid")

Congratulations! You are one of the top 20 of a very long list of applicants. The letter of acceptance is precious for many applicants. The letter of acceptance should tell you how and when you need to enrol yourself. We provide some help for the offline matriculation form here: see the matriculation form page. The central administration's CampusCenter Team Application and Admission manages all enrolment for the entire Universität Hamburg. Please ask the CampusCenter regarding questions on how to enrol.

If you are NOT planning to accept your place, PLEASE waive the acceptance officially - only when you do so before the semester starts we can notify another applicant of their place. * Free your place for somebody on the waiting list

I have already sent certified/attested copies for application, do I have to send them again for matriculation?

Until 2019, yes. In 2020, online enrolment is possible. For 2021 we do not know yet. Please follow the instructions stated in the letter of acceptance. Please understand that the IAS Team (+selection committee) at the Department of Informatics is where you send your application. But the University's CampusCenter Team ("Team for Application and Admission, Ger: "Team Bewerbung und Zulassung") is the place where you send your enrollment documents = central administration of the entire Universität Hamburg. They are two different institutions.

In case you are experiencing any problems while enrolling yourself, then please contact both teams together in one email.

For 2020 your letter of acceptance states this:

To enrol, you will first need to accept your place in the IAS Master. Pursuant to Section 25 subsection 1 no. 1–3 of the University Admission Bylaws (UniZS), you must meet the following requirements:

1. Carefully complete the following form: www.uni-hamburg.de/online-enrollment
Submit this form and attach all of the supporting documents detailed in the checklist www.uni-hamburg.de/checklistmasterinternational
2. Universität Hamburg must receive your complete enrollment application by June 25, 2020. This deadline is final; no extensions can be granted.

If you fail to meet any of these requirements, your application will become invalid and you will no longer be able to enrol.

If your letter of acceptance states the above, please follow these instructions and follow these links: they should lead you to the online procedure. Please check your letter and contact the CampusCenter, if you are unsure what to do.

I do not have German health insurance! What do I have to do?

You can only get German health insurance once you have a valid address in Germany. The Campus Center Team for Application and Admission is aware of this problem for international students. You need to provide the confirmation of German health insurance once you are in Germany and have accommodation. It is always a good idea to state in enrollment/matriculation form, that you are an international student from outside Europe/Germany (if the online form lets you).

Please check the official information here: Info of Universität Hamburg and Info of the city of Hamburg. If you are over 30 years old please also read the section about 30 years and older: Info of the city of Hamburg :

Travel health insurance does not provide sufficient coverage for the duration of studies in Germany.

Please see the FAQ section on health insurance.

If the next semester is online - you do not need German health insurance if you are not in Germany.

Where do I have to send the matriculation (enrollment) documents?

The letter of acceptance contains instructions on how to enrol. In 2020, online enrollment is possible.

How to waive your place (after enrollment)

In case you are one of the 20 lucky students receiving a letter of acceptance in June 2020 and have enrolled yourself, but decided you do not want to start studying the IAS Master, please fill in this form as early as possible: Please be a fair player, otherwise, people on the waiting list won't be contacted and the place will be lost. Nobody will be contacted when the semester has started.

• Free your accepted place for somebody on the waiting list

I have visa problems

Please contact immanuel.petermeier@uni-hamburg.de from the central administration. Please note, you need to provide in detail personal information (name, program, enrolled, country, problem, application nr) and ask a precise question. Mr. Petermeier is responsible for all Internationals of the entire university - it may take a while for him to answer. He has certainly no time to write 1000 emails asking for your full information email by email. You may also use the contact form of the CampusCenter. Please put the IAS Team in cc. You can find the IAS Team contact information here.

Postponing the start of your studies once accepted

You may come late during the first semester until 31 March the next year if you pay your semester contribution. That means you miss your first semester (if it is not online). The IAS study program cannot hold your place for longer than that. That means if you want to start in the next year's winter semester you need to apply again without any better chances than any other applicant of the new application period.

Statistics 2020

Short statistics: Usually, there are more than 400 applications and only 20 open spaces to be filled therefore the requirements for applying are strict with no exception. Even in the coronavirus times, the application number has been >300 from 35 nations for 20 spaces. The Top 30 included 19 nations, 40% women, 60% men.