If you are planning to pursue higher education in Germany, you probably would have come across “Uni-assist”. Uni-assist is a higher-education application service that provides a centralised application platform for international applicants to over 180 German universities. But before you start navigating this platform, Team Coracle gives you a quick run-down of everything you need to know about it.
Why do we need Uni-assist?
uni-assist e.V or uni-assist is a Berlin-based service that supports international students with their application process to German universities. It caters by providing generic as well as course- and university-specific information regarding the application procedures. uni-assist helps ensure that all the application documents are up to the required standards and official documents such as transcripts are verified prior to sharing them with a university.
Different countries have different grading systems, certificates, or names for the same degree (such as B.Tech, BE, B.Sc, etc.) and uni-assist takes these differences into consideration and makes sure that they are all translated to German standards at the time of application. However, it is not a part of the decision-making process for your applications and does not have a say in the final selection of candidates.
180 German universities (around 180) use uni-assist to process international applications to most of their courses. However, there are several universities that do not use uni-assist or only use the platform for a selected few courses. In such situations, you would need to directly apply with your selected institution.
How to apply with uni-assist
uni-assist is quite simple to use and gives you a very streamlined approach to shortlist, apply and receive your results. Here are the 6 stages of using the platform for your university applications.
Get information
Uni-assist is a consolidated platform for you to get all the necessary information that you need for your selected course. You can filter, search and collect information about your bachelor’s or master’s courses here and enquire about the required application process at one of the 180 partner universities here. It also allows you to shortlist your universities before you move on to the second step of planning and preparing your application.
Application planning
Once you’ve gathered all of the information about the study programs, you need to plan your applications, taking deadlines and processing times into consideration. Certain programs have additional requirements, such as a preliminary review of documentation, referred to in German as Vorprüfungsdokumentation (VPD), which you might need to take into account.
Assembling documents
Once you know what you need for your different applications, gather all necessary documents, make copies, and, if necessary, arrange for official certified translations. Once you have all of your documents, create high-quality digital copies of them to upload to the uni-assist portal.
Apply online
Once all your documents are ready, you can register through their online portal ‘My Assist’. This is where you create applications for each of your shortlisted universities and upload all the necessary documents. You are almost ready to submit your applications once you have finished this step.
Pay the fees
Once the online application is complete, you need to pay the processing fees for the applications. The initial payment, also known as the first-course payment, is 75 Euros. It is, however, only 30 Euros for each extra course that you apply for. uni-assist starts processing your application once the payment is completed.
Submit hard copies and track your application
Finally, after all the online steps are complete, send all the certified hard copies of the application documents by post to uni-assist. Once the documents are sent, you can also track their status both through uni-assist and the university.
What is “Vorprüfungsdokumentation (VPD)”?
Don’t be overwhelmed by this long German word. Vorprüfungsdokumentation (VPD) simply means “Pre-review documentation”.
Some universities offer their application on their website but simply use the uni-assist service to validate the application documents. As a result, students must first submit their required documents to uni-assist, to review their documents and provide the VPD. Students have to submit the VPD along with their application documents to their university.
In short, the VPD acts as a certification of validation for the application documents. It provides information on the educational certificates that students submitted to uni-assist, checks the student’s eligibility for courses in German universities, and how uni-assist converts and assesses their country-specific grades according to the German grading system.
Simplify your application journey with uni-assist
uni-assist is the easiest way to get your applications completed and sent to your selected universities in Germany. They ensure that your documents are up to standards, does not require you to submit the same documents several times and allows you to track the progress of your applications albeit at a small fee.
And once you get accepted at your university of choice, Coracle will ensure that your blocked account needs are solved as easily as your application.
