MS in Computer Science in Germany for a Better Future

Find a suitable university and course

After you have decided to pursue master’s degree in computer science from Germany you need to figure out your academic and career goals. Next, you need to start preparing your application according to the guidelines of the university and master’s program.

Check the deadlines

Once you have shortlisted the list of universities for pursuing computer science from Germany, the next step is to check the deadlines of the universities you have selected. Winter semester usually begins in September-October while the summer semester begins in March-April.

Check the program requirements

Once you have set your target, it’s time to know what you need to get there. You must check the requirements for the program that you have chosen. Usually, German universities provide all the relevant information on their official website.

Academic transcripts:

Candidates have to show academic transcripts required by the institution. For MS in computer science, students are commonly asked to show documents up to Bachelors program. In some of the cases, the universities may also ask for Masters program certificates.

Letter of Motivation:

A Letter of Motivation is very similar to a Statement of Purpose. A Letter of Motivation talks about the aspirant’s intention to join the university and the reasons behind pursuing a particular program in computer science.

Letter of Recommendation:

LORs are an evaluation of the aspirant’s potential by an independent body. It may be your professor or your previous employers. Most of the universities in German demand 2 – 3 recommendation letters for pursuing masters in computer science.

Resume:

German universities also require aspirants to submit a resume showcasing all their academic as well as professional qualifications.

GRE:

Some of the universities in Germany accept GRE scores as an eligible metric for admission in a masters program. GRE scores (around 310+) is accepted by universities providing MS courses in computer science

GMAT:

GMAT is mainly accepted for admission to business schools, some universities also accept GMAT for law and economics related subjects. GMAT evaluates aspirants on four parameters. They are: Analytical Writing Assessment, Quantitative, Integrated Reasoning, and Verbal. GMAT test scores are usually valid for 5 years and can be taken within a 16-day break between two tests.

GATE:

Some universities in two countries- Singapore and Germany, accept GATE score for admission to their post-graduate engineering programmes. The two most important universities are the RWTH ACHEN and the Technical University of Germany.

IELTS:

Many universities in Germany need the student to submit their IELTS score to check their English proficiency, especially for programmes providing classes in English.

TOEFL:

Apart from IELTS, many universities in Germany also accept TOEFL scores as valid proof when it comes to English proficiency. TOEFL is conducted for more than 50 times in a year by the Educational Testing Service.

German language proficiency:

German universities enroll students who have strong knowledge, either in the English language or in the German language. When compared to the bachelors program, at the masters level, there are various courses taught in English language either partially or completely. To prove your language proficiency you must go for a language standardized test before your application.

While it is not required for all courses, universities may ask applicants to show proof of your German proficiency. Applicants can either appear for TestDaF or DSH exam. TestDaf 4 is approved by most of the German universities.

Submit your application

After you have collected all your required documents, it is time to submit your application for the master’s degree course in Germany.

Wait for the admission letter

Now, it is time for you to wait and let the university completes its part of the job. Meanwhile, you can use this time to take care of other upcoming issues which are explained in the sections below.

Get your health insurance

Health insurance is compulsory for all students in Germany, including students wishing to pursue masters in computer science. Make sure that you get the proper health insurance coverage while you are studying in Germany.

There are two types of health insurances -

• Public or Statutory health insurance
• Private health insurance

Most International Students in Germany want to opt for MAWISTA. Trusted and preferred by more than 300,000 clients, MAWISTA is regarded as one of the best private health insurance companies in Germany.

Get your finances in order

Depending on the German government’s estimations, a foreign student studying in Germany needs to have €720 per month or €8,640 in his bank account as proof of financial resources per year. If you don’t maintain this amount of money, you won’t be authorized to get a student visa and go for a master’s degree in Germany.

Get your student visa

This is the final step to a successful application to pursue a master’s degree in Germany. As a non-EU and non-EEA international student, you need to get a visa to study in Germany. After you have completed all the steps that are mentioned above, you must reach the German embassy to collect information and initiate the process for getting a student visa.

Application deadlines generally vary between universities, but two general times that apply broadly -

The summer semester runs from the month March to August and April to September at certain universities while the winter semester is from the months September to February and October to March respectively.

Usually, applications for winter enrolments need to be made by 15th of July, and applications for summer enrolments by 15th of January. However, application deadlines differ between institutions, and the same institution may set different deadlines for each master’s program. So, be sure to carefully check the specific dates for your chosen course.

German universities offer summer and winter semesters. If you want to take admission at a German university for MS in computer science, you need to plan a year. Select a list of 4-5 universities from the universities that offer the course you want to pursue and target those universities in terms of requirement.

For a master’s program in Germany, you would need to have completed the German equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in the relevant subjects. In other words, a 4-year engineering degree from any recognized Indian University makes you eligible to apply for an MS degree in engineering/ design/subject from a German University. Some of the universities would also accept a 3-year degree.

Checklist of documents -

• Test scores- GRE or GMAT and IELTS/TOEFL/TestDaf/DSH scores
• Academic transcripts
• Letter of Motivation
• Resume
• 2 -3 Letters of recommendation
• Work experience certificates
• Certificates of extracurricular activities

Germany offers an array of courses which are taught in the English language and also in German. However, most universities require you to possess a minimum of A1 Level of proficiency in German at the time of application for pursuing MS in computer science.

Most of the universities in Germany requires a student to have a 4-year undergraduate degree in relevant fields for admission to its MS courses. GRE is not compulsory for most of the universities in Germany. However, some universities require international applicants to have acquired a certain score in the GRE.

RWTH Aachen and TU Munich are such universities that asks foreign students to have GRE for pursuing MS in computer science from Germany. 310+ GRE score is usually recommended for pursuing masters in computer science from Germany.

IELTS is enough for an MS in CS from Germany. But apart from IELTS, many universities in Germany also accept TOEFL scores as valid proof of English proficiency.

At least 6.5 in the Academic category of IELTS or a TOEFL score of 81 is the minimum acceptable score for admission in German universities. Further, if you are proficient in German as well you will get the upper hand in the admission process. A proof of your proficiency in English is required for all the Master’s programs.

There is no age limit to pursue MS in computer science from Germany. For a master degree, 30 -34 is the maximum as visa’s become difficult after that age for Masters. For MBA even 40 years is accepted.

Most of the European countries and Germany offer affordable education with excellent stay back options.

It depends on the university you are applying and the program you are opting for in that particular university. Though CGPA is not the only criteria to assess your candidature, the more your CGPA is, the better are chances of your admission. To go for an MS in computer science from Germany, the minimum eligibility CGPA is 6.5. To get admission in a standard university like TU Munich, you need the best score in IELTS and your CGPA must be around 8.5.

Only Indian applicants can apply through GATE scores. The minimum required percentile is 90. The Technical University of Munich and RWTH Aachen, Germany, also admit Indian students to the postgraduate engineering courses based on this exam.

GATE is not mandatory for German Universities however RWTH Aachen and TUM accept the scores. The only mandatory requirement is a valid IELTS/TOEFL score and if applicable then GRE score.

Masters degree in German universities is usually regarded as free if they are classed as “consecutive”, i.e. following directly from a relevant bachelor’s degree earned in Germany. Again, there is a small charge per semester for enrolment, confirmation, and administration, along with a semester ticket.

Tuition fees for “non-consecutive” master’s degrees, for students who have completed their bachelor’s degree elsewhere in the world, vary between universities. It may be around €20,000 (~US$24,400) per year at public institutions and up to €30,000 (~US$36,600) at private German universities. However, most of the universities have no tuition fees or a small amount to pay.

From 2017 onwards, public universities in the state of Baden-Württemberg can charge tuition fees from non-EU/EEA students. This includes the universities in Stuttgart, Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Heidelberg, and some other cities. The tuition fees are set at 1,500 euros per semester, which is still more affordable than in many other countries in Europe.

Non-consecutive programs tend to have greater importance on professional development. These prgrams often requires the students to have both an undergraduate degree and some prior work experience in the relevant field. This is not the case with the consecutive programs. Most of the universities do not require work experience to pursue a masters in computer science. Most of the master’s program in Germany take four semesters (two years) to complete, though some are shorter or longer.

RWTH Aachen University is the largest university of technology in Germany which comes under the TU9 university group. It is also one of Europe’s leading institutions for science and research. In this university, the Masters Programme concentrates on all disciplines including arts, social science, and economics.

• Computer Aided Conception and Production in Mechanical Engineering, M.Sc (English)
• Robotic Systems Engineering, M.Sc. (English)
• Software Systems Engineering, M.Sc (English)
• Electrical Engineering
• Information Technology
• Computer Engineering (Communications Engineering), M.Sc. (English)
• Media Informatics, M.Sc. (English)

Technical University of Munich

• Informatics, M.Sc (English)
• Bioinformatics, M.Sc. (German and English)
• Automotive Software Engineering, M.Sc (German)
• Data Engineering and Analytics, M.Sc. (English and German, program can be completed entirely in English)
• Computational Science and Engineering, M.Sc. (English)
• Information Systems, M.Sc. (German and English)
• Biomedical Computing, M.Sc. (English)
• Informatics – Games Engineering, M.Sc (English and German program can be completed entirely in English)
• Bioinformatics M.Sc. (German and English)
• Humboldt University of Berlin
• Computational Neuroscience, M.Sc. (English)

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

• Master in Informatics (German)
• Master in Information Engineering and Management (German)
• Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
• Data Science MSc, Elite Master’s Programme (English)

TU Berlin

• Master’s Program Computer Science (English)
• Master of Science in Scientific Computing (German)

Heidelberg University

• Medical Informatics, M.Sc. (English and German)
• Mathematics and Scientific Computing, M.Sc. (English, partly German)

TU Darmstadt

• Master in Distributed Software Systems (English, individual courses are provided in German)

The University of Bonn

• Computer Science M.Sc (English)

Saarland University

• Computer Science M.Sc (English)

Germany has ample opportunities when compared to any other European country, and the UK when it comes to fields like IT and computer science. Pay, vacation, culture, learning experience and work standards are quite satisfactory. The only challenge you might have here is the language, which the companies expect you to know.

So, you can understand and integrate well into their social and professional career path. Some international companies do offer jobs even without a language requirement.

Top employers recruiting masters in computer science graduates in Germany are -

• SAP
• Zalando
• Luxoft
• Amazon.com INC
• International Business Machines (IBM) Corp.
• Fraunhofer

The average salary of an individual pursuing masters in computer science from Germany is €51K.

Some of the highest-paying jobs are as follows -

• Technical project manager – €70000.00 – €80000.00 per annum
• Data scientist - The average salary for a Data Scientist is €48699 per annum.
• Data engineer - The average salary for a Senior Data Engineer is €71588 per annum. The average salary for a Data Engineer is €55653 per annum.
• Software developer – The average salary for a Software Developer is €47068 per annum.
• Software architect - The average pay for a Senior Software Architect is €77,557 per annum.
• Business intelligence analyst - €44,587 per annum.
• System engineer - €50378 per annum.
• Solution architect – €60,689 per annum.
• Information technology architect - €71,875 per annum.
• Development operation engineer - €59,622 per annum.

World-class education

German higher education is considered as one of the best in the world! You can certainly benefit from Germany‘s long and famous university tradition especially in the fields of engineering and science. A German university degree is highly respected and accepted by popular recruiters across the world.

Universities in Germany are known for excellent education, not only in the engineering domain but in other fields as well. Masters program in computer science are recognized all around the world and have a strong international focus on it.

Germany has some of the renowned universities in the World. There are 44 universities listed in the QS World University Rankings 2018, which is more than any other country after countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. There are 43 universities in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018 top 500, with 10 in the top 100.

English-taught courses

Many courses and degree programs in computer science are being provided in English, especially at the master’s degree level.

Variety of programs for you to choose

Germany offers you a variety of courses for you to choose from when it comes to pursuing masters in computer science. Depending on your career goals, you can go for scientific computing, computation neuroscience, data science or information systems as a course specialization for masters in computer science.

Funding Sources and scholarship facilities

Although students don’t pay a big amount as tuition fees and receive a ton of benefits, the cost of living in Germany can be still considerable. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) offers scholarships in Germany for international students for a range of postgraduate courses including computer science at German Universities.

These courses aim at providing academically educated young professionals from developing countries with further specialized studies. Various means of funding like scholarships like DAAD, part-time jobs called “HiWi” (Research assistant) or “Werkstudent” (Part-time job in a company) are always available to students for managing with the living expenses.

As an international student, you are allowed to work for 120 full days or 240 half days in a year.

Ample job opportunities

Germany provides excellent job opportunities when it comes to computer science domain. After completing your degree in Germany, you can stay in the country for up to 18 months to look for a job related to your qualification. As per a study, Germany is likely to face a shortage of 3 million skilled workers by 2030, this means you get more job opportunities after studying masters in computer science in Germany.

Research opportunities

Germany is always at the forefront of cutting-edge research. German universities and research centers have always worked closely with IT and software companies and build close symbiotic and strategic relationships. This gives students different opportunities to use their skills in real-life scenarios to solve real problems.

For example, the Technical University of Munich has partnerships with renowned companies like Siemens and General Electric, BMW and provide students the opportunity to work on research projects in collaboration with local research centers like the Max Planck Institutes and Deutsches Museum.

German Language

Whatever plans you may have for the future, learning the German language will always be helpful and opens door to many job opportunities. German is considered as the world’s 4th most popular language. Living in Germany would provide you an easy way to learn the language.

Affordable Tuition Fees

The most important reason for studying in Germany is that most of the courses in computer science have no tuition fee or a very minimal amount to pay as tuition fees. But, as a student will need to pay a semester contribution up to 250 Euros, depending upon the university and the services or benefits included.

Diversified international environment

Universities in Germany have a multicultural environment which makes any students easily adapt to the academic system in general. According to the recent data provided by ICEF Monitor, over 300 000 international students chose Germany as their study destination. Students often praise the quality of courses and study facilities and highly experienced professors. Computer science is one such domain that is gaining immense popularity as the subject of study for a masters program.