How to enrol?
At the start of the semester, new students enrol at a university. This turns applicants into students. Enrolment - also known as matriculation - is usually for a degree programme consisting of one or more subjects. Certain requirements must be met and evidence must be provided for enrolment. In addition, the enrolment deadlines must be met. You can find out exactly how enrolment works in our instructions.
If you are already enrolled, you must re-enrol for each new semester.
If you don't have a German university entrance qualification please visit our ➥ Website on enrolment for internationals
At Bielefeld University, enrolment takes place completely digitally by means of "online enrolment".
The online enrolment and the upload of the corresponding documents must be fully completed within the enrolment deadline.
In principle, you can only enrol / matriculate as a full-time ‘regular’ student [Haupthörer*in]; if you wish to enrol as an occasional student (Gasthörer*in) at the University or as a visiting student (Zweithörer*in), special regulations apply.
Furthermore, there are special requirements for applicants with educational certificates from abroad or in a foreign language.
Please note that an application within the deadlines is always required even for Master's degree programmes with open admission.
For degree programmes with restricted admission, you will be informed of the respective enrolment deadline in the Notice of admission (inbox of your application account). If you fail to enrol by the deadline stated, then your notice of admission will no longer be valid.
Under the following links you will find instructions for enrolment and information on the succession procedure from the corresponding notifications:
➥ Admission-free 1-subject bachelor's degrees/combined bachelor's degrees
➥ Admission-free Master's degree programmes & Master of Education
➥ Admission-restricted 1-subject bachelor's programmes and 1st law examination
You will be shown which documents you need to upload in the online enrolment process. More detailed information on these documents is available online on the enrolment procedure info page.
In addition to the university entrance qualification (usually the Abitur in Germany), some degree programmes require applicants to fulfil prerequisites related to the subject in order to study them. Admission requirements may be on the basis of qualitative selection, for example the applicants needs to have passed an aptitude test in order to study on the degree programme. You can find more information on the aptitude tests/ specific admission requirements page.
Selection requirements are those requirements that have to be fulfilled in order to be selected for a place in degree programmes in which only a limited number of places are available, for example programmes with local admission restrictions (Numerus Clausus). Typical admission or selection criteria include the average grade of the school leaving certificate, the waiting period (time accrued between completing the school leaving certificate and application) or results of relevant tests or selection interviews.
You can find out which special requirements might be relevant for you or which documents you have to submit in detail for enrolment in the following drop-down menus.
Please note that for applicants with qualifications obtained outside Germany there are specific instructions and application documents should be sent either to Uni-Assist (Bachelor's degree) or directly to Bielefeld University (Master's degree/doctorate).
Furthermore, there are special requirements for applicants with educational certificates from abroad or in a foreign language.
For certain degree courses, proof of proficiency in the subject must be submitted in addition to the general documents required when enrolling. These include, among others, evidence of language skills, musical or artistic aptitude tests, medical attestations or certified assessments. More about (subject-) specific admission requirements / aptitude tests
If you have submitted your enrolment application but have not yet paid your semester fees and do not wish to take up your studies, please send a short message via the contact form to the student office. After inputting some personal details you can indicate that you are withdrawing your enrolment in the message box. It is not possible to withdraw your enrolment application by telephone.
Here you can find further information on the theme of exmatriculation.
If you initially re-enrol, but then exmatriculate by 15 May at the latest in the summer semester or by 15 November at the latest in the winter semester then the social contribution can be reimbursed on a pro-rata basis if the following conditions are met:
The money for the NRW-Ticket will be proportionally reimbursed by the AStA from 1 April and 1 October respectively; therefore, please contact the AStA directly.
You can also find this information on the application form for exmatriculation, which you can download from the forms section of the Student Office.
If you have submitted your enrolment application but have not yet paid your semester fees and do not wish to take up your studies, please send a short message via the contact form to the Student Office. After inputting some personal details you can indicate that you are withdrawing your enrolment in the message box. It is not possible to withdraw your enrolment application by telephone.
No. All enrolment documents must be submitted on time and in full. Enrolments with incomplete document uploads will not be processed.
Please note the guidance on the documents to be submitted included in your notification of admission.
If the Bachelor's degree certificate is not yet available at the time of enrolment/transfer to the Master's programme, proof of passing the Bachelor's degree from the examination office (4.0 certificate, provisional proof of passing, etc.) is sufficient. In this case, the Bachelor's certificate (certified copy) must be submitted later in the current semester.
Anyone who has enrolled via the application and status portal will receive a new first page in the so-called control sheet for online enrolment as a PDF document in the portal - after the application has been processed in the student office - on which the semester fee to be paid, the bank details for payment of the semester fees, as well as the (future) matriculation number and information on logging in as a student are noted. As soon as the semester fee has been booked, the application access expires and registration takes place with the new matriculation number and the self-set password in the application and status portal via the "Student login" tile.
Students whose enrolment has been completed by other means will receive the relevant information by post.
In the event that you have not saved your matriculation number, as a newly enrolled student you will receive this information again by email to the email address registered in the portal, with the subject First steps in campus management.
Das Studierendensekretariat der Uni Bielefeld unterstützt dich gerne bei Fragen rund um den Bewerbungs- bzw. Einschreibungsprozess und das Hochschulportal.
Da wir unseren Studienbewerber*innen gern den bestmöglichen Service bieten möchten, würden wir uns sehr freuen, wenn Sie sich kurz Zeit nehmen und an unserer Umfrage zum Bewerbungsportal teilnehmen:
➥ Evaluation des Bewerbungsportals der Universität Bielefeld