Your path to the DAAD lan­guage cer­ti­fic­ate

  • The DAAD language certificate is proof of your current language skills.
  • When applying for a semester abroad, students must prove that they have sufficient knowledge of the language of instruction (usually English, French, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish).
  • Alternatively, proof can be provided via other language certificates(TOEFL, IELTS, Cambridge, DELE, DELF/DALF, UNIcert®).
  • For the DAAD language certificate you go through 3 steps: Registration - Written pre-assessment - Oral exam

You do NOT need an extra DAAD language certificate if you fall under the categories below. You do NOT have to pay the registration fee of 15€.

In this case, you can have your DAAD certificate issued directly by your respective lecturer (see table below). Please print out the DAAD form and bring it with you to the office hours.

Students at the
Institute for English Studies/
American Studies.		Erasmus programmes and non-European partner universities:
Grade of 4.0 or better (CLC Intermediate)
Please contact your CLC lecturer for further information.
Students at the
Institute for Romance Studies.		You do not need to submit a DAAD language certificate,
a transcript of records (incl. practical language modules) is sufficient.
Students of the International
Business Studies (IBS).		In consultation with the lecturer of your last language course.
Students of Paderborn University,
who have attended a language course in English, French
or Spanish at the ZfS and completed
with an exam.
The course was not
more than two semesters ago.		Take your certificate to the consultation hours
of thefull-time ZfS teacherof the relevant language.
Ask for a DAAD language certificate to be issued.
DAAD Sprachzeugnis deutsch
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Important information from the International Office

  • The DAAD language certificate is always sufficient for the application (regardless of the destination country and partner university).

  • In some cases, the TOEFL is required as proof of language proficiency for the USA, Australia and Asia, but some partner universities accept the DAAD language certificate as an alternative to the TOEFL. Detailed information on this can be found in the respective description of the partner university under "Other".
    As the TOEFL certificate is only valid for 2 years, the exam should only be taken after you have been accepted.

If you have any further questions that cannot be clarified after carefully reading the above information, we look forward to receiving your e-mail at: zfs@upb.de