First of all, welcome to the program!

Upon receiving your acceptance letter, look to see which university you have been assigned to, then follow the instructions listed in your letter on enrolling. Even though you applied to Freie Universität, your main enrollment can be with either Freie Universität or Humboldt Universität. The letter of acceptance is an official document that entitles you to enroll within a certain time frame. The enrollment has to be done directly with the admissions office before the deadline given in your letter. Please note that enrollment period at Freie Universität ends earlier than at Humboldt-Universität, but please check your letter for exact dates.

For information on enrollment you can contact info-studium@fu-berlin.de or compass@hu-berlin.de.

Once you have submitted all documents required for enrollment, you will receive your student ID from your main university. After receiving your student ID from your main university, it is important to enroll at your secondary university! After each enrollment, you should receive your account data for the online communication systems for the respective university.

1. Additional registration at FU Berlin
The Student Records and Registration Office of FU assists students in enrolling at Freie Universität.
Students enrolled at HU must hand in the following documents to the registrar’s office by the deadline stated in your acceptance letter: a certification of enrollment at HU (an original, not a copy), a copy of their acceptance letter, and a completed application for enrollment at FU. There are no additional costs.
Further information can be found on FU’s general academic advisory page.

2. Additional Registration at HU Berlin
HU’s Office of Enrollment (Immatrikulationsbüro) assists students in enrolling at HU.
Students enrolled at FU must hand in the following documents to the Office of Enrollment by the deadline stated in your acceptance letter: a certification of enrollment of FU (an original, not a copy), a copy of their acceptance letter, and a completed application for enrollment at HU. There are no additional costs.
Further information can be found on the HU’s Office of Enrollment page and academic advisory page.

Having one university as your assigned primary university is really just an administrative formality. It just means that you pay your semester fees to your primary university. All Global History students have full access to classes, student support services, libraries, and other resources at both universities. So you can take mostly FU classes or mostly HU classes or a mix of both, whichever you prefer. The two obligatory M1 classes (the lecture series “The World in Global History” and the “Approaches” seminar) both take place at FU.

You can transfer up to 50% of credits, excluding the MA thesis. However, some required courses may not be offered every year, so you may still have to complete two years to finish the program.

There are no tuition fees for the MA Global History. Fees for registering with Freie Universität and Humboldt-Universität are currently around €320 per semester (including use of the Berlin public transport system). For more information about the exact costs, please see the website of the student administration.

No, you do not need to pay semester fees to your secondary university. You only have to pay semester fees at your primary university.

There are no specific scholarships for the MA Global History, but students can apply for funding independently. Helpful sites about living costs in Berlin and funding possibilities are:

 https://www.stw.berlin/en/counselling/student-financial-counselling/overview-of-financing/

https://www.daad.de/deutschland/stipendium/en/

https://www.daad.de/en/studying-in-germany/scholarships/

It is not possible to defer your place, unfortunately: If you don’t accept your place, you will have to apply anew next year. The fact that you already applied and got in this year won’t have any positive or negative effect on your application next year.

In order to stay enrolled, you need to re-register at both universities every semester. You have to re-register at your primary university by paying the semester fees. You also need to re-register at your secondary university, but you don’t have to pay any fees to your secondary university.

Please see here for information on how re-registration at FU works: https://www.fu-berlin.de/en/studium/studienorganisation/immatrikulation/rueckmeldung/verfahren/index.html

Please see here for information on how to re-register at FU if FU is your secondary university: https://www.fu-berlin.de/en/studium/studienorganisation/immatrikulation/rueckmeldung/mehrfachimmatrikulierte/index.html

For information on how re-registration at HU works, please see here: https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/studies/admission/enrolment-office/enrollment-office/re-registration

Please note: We (i.e., the Global History team) are not in charge of re-registration matters. If you have any questions related to re-registration, you will need to contact the relevant university’s student administration department.

In case of questions about re-registration at FU, you can reach FU’s student administration via their contact form: https://ssl2.cms.fu-berlin.de/fu-berlin/en/studium/beratung/PM_Kontaktformular/index.html

In case of questions about re-registration at HU, you can reach HU’s student administration via this contact form: https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/studies/compass.-the-central-information-service-en/form

If you do not re-register, you will be exmatriculated. Therefore, it is very important that you re-register within the re-registration period. Thankfully, the university’s student administration department sends out reminders via email, so make sure to always check your university email account.

Yes, it is possible to apply for a semester-long leave of absence (“Urlaubssemester”) under certain conditions. For more information on how to apply for a leave of absence at FU, please see here: https://www.fu-berlin.de/en/studium/studienorganisation/immatrikulation/rueckmeldung/urlaubssemester/index.html

For information on how to apply for a leave of absence at HU, please see here: https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/studies/admission/enrolment-office/enrollment-office/leave-of-absence-1/leave-of-absence

Please note: Taking a leave of absence can have an impact on various bureaucratic matters (e.g. on grants or scholarships, social insurance contributions, tax matters, child benefit and allowances, …). If you need more information or advice on whether or not taking a leave of absence is a good choice in your specific situation, please contact your primary university’s student advisory services. 

You can reach FU’s student advisory services at info-service@fu-berlin.de. You can reach HU’s student advisory services via their contact form: https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/studies/compass.-the-central-information-service-en/form

Yes, you will not be able to re-register. As consequence you might not be able to and maintain your student status with just one enrollment. Since this is a dual degree program, it is mandatory to be enrolled at both FU and HU for the entire duration of your degree, regardless of the courses you choose.