Information for foreign students
Application for the Master's programme in Computer Science
Applications for our Master's programme in Computer Science can only be made via the UniAssist website, which allows you to submit your application electronically. For information, visit the Uni-Assist portal https://www.uni-assist.de/. You can register at https://my.uni-assist.de/online/.
After logging in, select Application → Universities (Master) → North Rhine-Westphalia → Paderborn University. From there you will receive all the information you need to apply for our Computer Science programme. Before applying, please check whether you fulfil the following admission requirements:
- You need a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or in a comparable Bachelor's degree programme. When you apply, we will check whether your Bachelor's degree fulfils this requirement. It is important that you have a solid background in the following fields:
Your Bachelor's degree should include at least 20 credits in Software Engineering, at least 20 credits in Theoretical Computer Science, at least 15 credits in Computer Engineering and at least 15 credits in Fundamentals of Computer Science Mathematics. - Your Bachelor's grade must be below 3.0 in the German system (where 1 is best). You can calculate your grade equivalent in the German system here: www.tum.de/studium/bewerbung/infoportal-bewerbung/bayerische-formel
- In addition, a"GRE Revised General Test" certificate or a"digital Mastertest (dMat)" certificate is required. The required scores for the GRE are at least 157 points in "Quantitative Reasoning" and at least 4.0 points in "Analytical Writing". The required overall score for the dMat is a percentile rank of at least 50. An exception is only possible if your Bachelor's grade is very good, i.e. if you switch to the German system, your Bachelor's grade must be below the threshold of 1.8.
- You must provide proof of sufficient English language skills, e.g. TOEFL paper-based (PBT) with at least 550 points, TOEFL internet-based with at least 80 points (IBT), equivalent knowledge to the Cambridge Test - Certificate of Advanced English (CAE) Grade B, British Council IELTS, Minimum Band 6.5, Duolingo with at least 105 points or PTE Academic with at least 75 points. This is required for all students, unless you have completed your Bachelor's degree in a country where English is the official language. Certificates such as "medium of instruction" are not sufficient.
Detailed information on the content and structure of the Master's degree programme in Computer Science can be found at https://www.uni-paderborn.de/en/studyoffer/course_of_study/informatik-master
Application deadlines:
Winter semester (from October) until 31 May
Summer semester (from April) until 30 November
Further information and self-assessment
You can find full details of the Master's programme including our focus areas and descriptions of all courses offered in the module handbook - a link can be found in the box on the right of this page. Please note that not all courses listed there are offered every semester or even every year.
To give you an idea of what we expect from our students, we have put together a self-assessment on some of the topics. We strongly recommend that you do this test in an honest way, i.e. only look at the solutions after you have tried to solve the tasks and then honestly evaluate your own performance as well. All tasks are taken from written examinations in our Bachelor's degree programme. In addition, we recommend that you take a look at the self-assessment tests for our Master's degree programmes. This will give you an insight into the Master's programme and allow you to check whether your previous knowledge meets the requirements of the respective courses.
If you have difficulties with most of the tasks or have not even heard of the concepts, this is a strong indication that our Master's programme is probably not the right choice for you.