How to apply to study in Germany

Arrangement between NZ and Germany

NZQA has an arrangement with the Kultusministerkonferenz (KMK) to convert NCEA Level 3 results for German university entrance (Abitur).

KMK recommends that German universities and regional recognition authorities accept NCEA results for applying to German universities if minimum requirements are met.

Comparison of NZ and German requirements

Here is a comparison of New Zealand and Germany’s university entrance requirements:

Comparative table of New Zealand and German UE requirements [PDF, 49 KB]

Minimum requirements for applying to German universities

KMK determines the minimum requirements for applying to German universities. These requirements are published on the:

Anabin database (external link)

New Zealand students must achieve NCEA Level 3 with University Entrance (UE), and meet KMK’s further conditions as below:

KMK’s Literacy requirement

10 credits at Level 2 or above in English (or Te Reo Rangatira), made up of 5 credits for reading and 5 credits for writing.

Check the list of UE literacy requirements to see which English and Te Reo Rangatira standards count towards reading and/or writing.

University Entrance literacy requirements

KMK’s Numeracy requirement

14 credits in Calculus (or Mathematics ), made up of 7 credits at Level 3 and 7 credits at Level 2 or above.

Mathematics credits must be predominantly Calculus, not Statistics.

Numeracy requirements for entry into German universities are higher than New Zealand’s UE requirements.

Study at least five subjects

Students need at least five distinct subjects, including three subjects with at least 14 credits each at Level 3.

The other two (or more) subjects can be at Level 2 or Level 3.

In total, these subjects must amount to at least 60 credits at Level 3 and 20 credits at Level 2 or higher.

If you follow the recommendation below, you will automatically meet this requirement.

Recommendations to make a competitive application

Entry to the German university system is competitive.

To increase your chances of being accepted into your preferred German university, NZQA and KMK strongly advises that you follow ALL the recommendations below:

Check with your intended German university and regional recognition authority (where applicable) about their specific admission requirements, (i.e. prerequisite subjects, grades and years of study).
Achieve 90 or more credits from Level 3 subjects.
- Abitur values are calculated using your best 90 credits from Level 3 assessment credits. If you achieve fewer than 90 credits, you will get a lower Abitur score.
Choose your five subjects from the recommended list of NCEA Level 3 subjects. This subject list has been reviewed and endorsed by KMK and NZQA:

NCEA Level 3 subjects recommended for university entrance in Germany [PDF, 121 KB]
Some German Länder may expect you to have studied across a range of subject areas. The subject combination that most closely follows the German system would include:
- English or Te Reo Rangatira
- Calculus or Mathematics
- A natural science subject (preferably Biology, Chemistry or Physics)
- A language, literature and arts subject (preferably a second language)
- A social science subject
Study Calculus (or Mathematics) at Level 3.
- Wherever possible, we recommend you take Calculus over Mathematics.
- If you take Mathematics, you must achieve mostly Calculus credits, not Statistics credits.
Study English (or Te Reo Rangatira) at Level 3.
- German is compulsory in Germany, however students studying in New Zealand should take English or Te Reo Rangatira as their primary language instead.
- NCEA Level 3 German can be counted as one of your five subjects, but not as a primary language.

Calculating an Abitur score

The Abitur score, Abiturdurchschnittsnote, is used in Germany to rank students for the competitive allocation of university places.

NZQA calculates values (called 'N values') based on NCEA results and records them on the German Overseas Results Notice (ORN). German recognition authorities and universities use the N values enable to calculate an equivalent Abiturdurchschnittsnote (Abitur).

This calculation uses your best 90 NCEA Level 3 credits to determine your N value. To determine which 90 credits are your best, your credits are weighted based on their relative difficulty and category.

If a student re-sits a standard, the calculation uses their best grade. If they achieve the same grade twice, the calculation uses the relative difficulty of the latest result.

The formula for Abitur

The formula for Abiturdurchschnittsnote is:

1 + 3 * ((Nmax - Nd) / (NMax - NMin))

If a student’s Nd score was the lowest in their year level, Nd would equal Nmin and the equation would simplify to 1 + 3 * (x / x) = 4 where x / x = 1.

If a student’s Nd score was the highest, it would simplify to 1 + 3 * (0 / x) = 1 where 0 / x = 0.

How can I get a high Abitur score?

To maximise your chances of getting a high Abitur score, we recommend you:

Choose UE-approved subjects over non UE-approved subjects.
Choose external standards over internal standards.
Choose achievement standards over unit standards.
Aim for as many Excellence and Merit grades as possible.
Achieve 90 or more credits from Level 3 subjects.

Example of NCEA results and how they contribute to an Abitur score

The NCEA Level 3 results below would meet all the minimum requirements and also follows the recommended advice.

This is a fictional example to show how the best results might be distributed.

Subjects (NCEA Level 3)	Credits achieved	Best 90 credits used for Abitur
English	21	21
Calculus	18	18
Chemistry	18	18
Economics	18	17
Spanish	20	16
Credits at Level 3: (the best 90 credits will be used to calculate the Abitur score)	95	90
+ NCEA co-requisite (Literacy)	10
+ NCEA co-requisite (Numeracy)	10
Total credits	115

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What documents to provide to German universities

We recommend you provide these 2 NZQA documents to German universities:

German Overseas Results Notice (ORN) (includes your N values)
New Zealand Record of Achievement
- Third parties can verify this using our online tool:
  
  Verify NZQA documents

You can access these documents through the MyNZQA learner portal.

For more information, check out:

Getting NZ qualifications documents

German Overseas Results Notice (ORN)

The German ORN is available from mid-January each year and includes all NCEA results from previous academic years.

The ORN may be updated with late reported results and those arising from successful reviews and reconsiderations.

Students leaving New Zealand partway through a year will not be able to have the current year’s results included in their ORN until the following January. This is because the Abitur values cannot be calculated until all students’ results are available.