DAAD scholarships Indian graduates can actually apply for

Start here, because this is the part that wastes people's autumn.

DAAD's scholarship database gives every programme its own list of eligible countries of origin, and prints the rule next to it:

> "Your status and/or country is not in the list? If your status and/or country is not included in the list, you cannot apply for this scholarship programme."

So "DAAD funds international students" is not a fact about you. Whether DAAD funds *you* depends on whether India is in the list for the specific programme you are looking at. Checked on 29 August 2026, with status set to Graduates:

• Study Scholarships – Master Studies for All Academic Disciplines: 65 eligible countries. India is not one of them. Neither is any other South Asian country. Set the country to India and the page says "Currently you cannot apply for this programme" and shows no deadline at all.
• Study scholarships for STEM disciplines: 25 eligible countries. India is not one of them.

Those two are the ones most often written up as "the DAAD scholarship". They are not open to you.

The four that are open to India

Each of these lists 177 countries of origin, India among them, and each shows a real deadline once India is selected. Each has its own page on this site with the full documents list, the selection criteria and the traps:

• Architecture — postgraduate study in architecture, interior design, urban design, landscape architecture, landscape planning or monument conservation. Closes 23 September 2026. Selection January 2027, funding from September 2027.
• Music — a Master's, Konzertexamen or Meisterklasse at a German state college of music, decided on video and sound recordings. Closes 24 September 2026. Selection February 2027, funding from October 2027.
• Fine Art, Design, Visual Communication and Film — decided on an artistic portfolio you send only after a formal check. Closes 15 October 2026. Selection April 2027, funding from October 2027.
• Performing Arts — same process, same money, for dance, theatre and choreography. Closes 15 October 2026. Selection April 2027, funding from October 2027.

All four pay 992 euros a month, plus a travel allowance on application, a one-off study allowance, and payments towards health, accident and personal liability insurance. All four fund either a Master's degree or a complementary course leading to no qualification at all. None of them asks for an income certificate. None of them covers tuition fees, though most German public universities charge none.

Other DAAD programmes DAAD India does list

The DAAD India programme list also carries these, which are separate programmes with their own rules and are not covered by the four pages above:

• EPOS — Development-Related Postgraduate Courses, for graduates from developing countries with two years of professional experience, funding a Master's or PhD in preselected courses for 12 to 40 months.
• Helmut Schmidt Programme (Public Policy and Good Governance), a Master's in political science, law, economics or administration, 12 to 42 months.
• KOSPIE, for students at Indian Institutes of Technology to do master's thesis project work at a TU9 university, up to 7 months.
• DLR-DAAD Research Fellowships, with the German Aerospace Centre, in aeronautics, space, energy, transport and digitalisation, up to 9 months.
• University Summer Courses (HSK), for students at higher education institutions in India, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka with at least B1 German, funding a course of at least 18 teaching days.
• IAESTE, processed at the Manipal Institute of Technology, placing interns in Germany for 2 to 12 months in natural sciences, engineering, agriculture and forestry.

We have not yet verified the current deadlines for those six against the database, so no dates for them appear here. When we do, they will get their own pages.

Why this page changed

Until today this page described the all-disciplines Master's scholarship and carried 15 October 2026 as its deadline. That date came from secondary reports, and the programme does not accept applicants from India. The page has been rewritten around what the DAAD database actually offers an Indian graduate. If you came here from an older link expecting the all-disciplines scholarship, the four above are the real answer.

Where to ask. The DAAD Regional Office in New Delhi is the advisory centre for India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and www.daad.in is its site.

Checked on 29 August 2026 in the DAAD scholarship database and on the DAAD India programme list. DAAD updates its deadlines at least once a year, so open the official page linked above before you apply.