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Japan

1. Program Description

Freie Universität Berlin expects to have study places (semester places) available at the following universities. Please note that additional costs may apply, e.g. for health insurance, medical certificates and various administrative fees. We kindly ask you to inform yourself in advance. Further information relevant to the exchange can be found on the Wiki of the Japanese language exchange programs at the FU Berlin.

Please note: Students without Japanese language skills apply to the English-speaking Asia program.

We would also like to point out that in addition to the direct exchange program, there is also the departmental exchange for Japanology: Departmental Exchange. There you can choose from additional universities.

These study places are available to students of all subjects except Medicine, Law and Pharmacy. For information on the BA+ program and departmental exchange programs offered by the institute, please refer to the following website. 

Note: Please refer to the information on our partner universities for details on the respective year and semester places. The information on semester/year places may change due to the current conditions caused by the Covid 19 pandemic.

1.1 Undergraduate Students:

1.2 Graduate Students:

2. Application

Students of Freie Universität apply for an exchange place in the Japan Program in general; a ranking of the preferred partner universities within the program is done when filling out the application form.

We would like to emphasize that Freie Universität cannot guarantee admission to the foreign partner university for applicants nominated for a direct exchange scholarship, as the final decision on the acceptance of the proposed candidates rests exclusively with the partner university.

2.1 Application deadline

For the academic year 2025/26: December 3rd 2024

2.2. Term

Generally, semesters at universities run from September - January/February or March/April - July/August.

Students can choose to apply for one or two semesters; for all partner universities, the stay is scheduled to begin in the winter semester, starting in September

2.3 Requirements

Applications are open to students who are enrolled at Freie Universität Berlin for an unlimited period of time.
Bachelor students who are usually in their third semester of study at the time of application,
Master's students who are usually in their first semester of study at the time of application.

Applicants must have a good knowledge of the Japanese language, appropriate to their level of study, which must be proven at the time of application. Since the selection interview will be conducted partly in Japanese, no language certificate is required with the application.

It is necessary that the applicants can prove adequate academic performance, since the partner universities ultimately decide on the admission, the classification in a study section as well as the awarding of the scholarship.
Applicants who will complete their studies before starting the scholarship cannot be considered; the DAAD may offer scholarships for this group of applicants. Part-time or guest students are also not eligible to apply for the direct exchange scholarships.

2.4 Application documents

The following documents must be submitted in five different PDF files as listed below and must be received by the Institute of Japanese Studies by e-mail (japanexchange[at]geschkult.fu-berlin.de) no later than the application deadline:

Certificate of enrollment

A certificate of enrollment stating the subjects and semester number from the current semester - this can be downloaded from the Student Administration Portal.

PDF description: Name.FirstName.PersonalInformation.pdf

Online Application Form

Via the following link, the online application form will be activated approximately 4 weeks before the application deadline.

PDF description: Name.Firstname.ApplicationForm.pdf

Study/Research Project

A detailed presentation of the study project (BA) or research project (MA) in German (presentation of your professional interest as well as the necessity and feasibility of the stay abroad or, in the case of research stays, presentation of the research project). More details here: Applications for Bachelor (study project), Applications for Master (research project)

PDF description: Name.firstname.study project (or research project).pdf

Please attach an additional document to your application in which you list your preferred universities in priority order. If you are also applying for a departmental exchange, please also include these universities in the priority list.

Print-out Campus Management

A printout from Campus Management; "Performance overview of started and completed module performances" (Leistungsübersicht) - you can download this in Campus Management under the tab "Grades & Points".

(Master's students only) A copy of the degree certificate including Transcript of Records with an overview of all completed modules. The copy does not need to be certified.

PDF description: Name.FirstName.CourseListing.pdf

Letter of Recommendation

A letter of recommendation from a lecturer at Freie Universität Berlin in English.

Please provide the reviewers with the enclosed information sheet "Hinweise zur Erstellung eines Gutachten" (Download: Review - German or Review - English). The letter of recommendation should be sent as a PDF document directly from the lecturer to the Office for International Student Mobility. After the application process has been completed, the letter of recommendation will remain with us; it is generally not possible to return it to the applicant or forward it to offices outside Freie Universität Berlin.

PDF description: name.firstname.letterofrecommendation.pdf

Information for external students: If you are transferring to the FU Berlin from another university, a letter of recommendation from another university are exceptionally permitted for the internal procedure. In these cases, we would ask you to contact the  office for our Japanese-speaking Exchange programs.

2.5 Submission of the application

Please submit your application as a PDF as early as possible so that questions can be clarified in time. You will receive a confirmation of receipt within three business days. If this is not the case, please let us know.

Please submit the required documents (as five different PDF documents!) to the Institute of Japanese Studies by e-mail (japanexchange[at]geschkult.fu-berlin.de) by the application deadline.

3. Further information

3.1 Waiver of tuition fees

The nomination at a partner university always includes the waiver of the tuition fees there; information on possible scholarship offers can be found on the individual university pages.

3.2 Funding

Foreign partner universities grant tuition waivers to students of Freie Universität.

It is possible to apply for additional financial support from the DAAD or through PROMOS. Please note that the DAAD usually only announces annual scholarships once a year. Please inform yourself in time.

Under the following link you will also find further information on funding opportunities.

3.3 Admission as a non-degree student

Within the framework of our exchange agreements, admission as a non-degree student has been agreed upon for the duration of the scholarship. Therefore, graduation at the partner university is generally not possible.

3.4 Creditability of courses

The creditability of courses taken abroad must be clarified with your own institute at Freie Universität. We recommend that you arrange this before you start your stay abroad. More information about the creditability of courses can be found here (only available in German at the moment): Hinweise zur Anrechnung

3.5 Leave of Absence

Students can take a leave of absence for one or two semesters to study abroad.

3.6. Final announcements

Please note that due to the required reciprocity, final information on the exact number of exchange places as well as on the participating universities will only be available in the fall.

Applicants' data will be stored in accordance with the "Law on Protection against Misuse of Personal Data in Data Processing" as far as they are necessary for processing the application or scholarship. The documents of unsuccessful applicants will be destroyed after a reasonable period of time.