What do I need to be admitted onto a cooperative study programme?

In Rhineland-Palatinate, students must fulfil the following two basic requirements in order to be admitted onto a cooperative study programme:

• they must have graduated from school having passed general or specialist university entrance qualification, or
• they must have graduated from school with the relevant qualifications to allow entrance to a university of applied sciences (at least the school-based part, as per §19, paragraph 5, of the Higher Education Act in Rhineland-Palatinate), or
• they must have graduated from school having received an equivalent qualification which enables them to progress to university (as per §65 of the Higher Education Act)

AND

• they must have concluded an apprenticeship or internship agreement with a company involved in cooperative education

Other requirements relating to the individual cooperative study programmes can be found on the website for the relevant programme.

If you did not obtain your university entrance qualification in Germany, please find more information here on how you can get it recognised.

What are the application deadlines?

Generally speaking, students can enrol at universities in Rhineland-Palatinate to start in the summer or winter semester. If you wish to start in the summer semester (usually at the beginning of March), the deadline for submitting your application is the 15th of January. However, if you wish the start in the winter semester (usually at the beginning of October) the deadline is the 15th of July. These dates may vary from programme to programme so please check with the course coordinator in good time. For some programmes, students may complete their vocational training, or in other words, the practical stage, before starting their theoretical studies at university.

The right time to apply

Students will often start to spend time within a company at the very beginning of their year of training. Please take this into consideration when informing yourself about and applying for a cooperative study programme. It is best to start finding out about deadlines and programme structures 1 year before you would like to submit your application!