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 provider that provides a centralized application platform for international applicants to over 180 German universities. Different universities have different document requirements, and it can be exhausting for students to keep track of all of these distinctions and application procedures, or to keep submitting documents for each university again and again. With uni-assist, you can upload all of your documents at once in a consolidated platform for all of the universities and courses to which you want to apply. Uni-assist then verifies these documents and submits them to the appropriate universities in accordance with their requirements. If you are confused about what uni-assist does and how it works, then this article will provide you with all the necessary detailed information regarding the what’s, why’s, and how’s regarding uni-assist.

What is uni-assist?

uni-assist e.V or uni-assist is a Berlin based service provider that support international students in their application process to German universities. It caters by providing generic as well as course and university-based information regarding the application procedures and the necessary document requirements. uni-assist helps ensure that all the application documents are ready and the official documents like transcripts are verified prior to transferring them to the university to which the student has applied. Different countries have different grading systems, different certificates, or different name for the same level of degree (E.g. B.Tech, BE, B.Sc, etc.). uni-assist takes these differences also into consideration and ensure that all international students have their necessary application documents, irrespective of these differences.

Uni-assist, on the other hand, has no say in the final admissions decision. They just serve as a trustworthy intermediary in aiding you with your application documents and verification. They examine all official documents, such as transcripts and degree certificates, to see if they satisfy the criteria to study in Germany. They also check your profile to see if you satisfy the prerequisites for the study programs you would like to apply. They are also authorized to convert your country-specific grades into the German grading system. They next take on the task of registering your information and sending your documents to the respective universities in accordance with their application procedures, after which they will notify you of the result of your application. The next section will go through how to apply via uni-assist in detail in just six easy steps.

Most German universities (around 180) use uni-assist to process international applications to most of their courses. However, there are several universities which do not use uni-assist, or there are universities that use uni-assist only for a selected-few courses. So, applicants need not be disheartened in not finding your interested university or course in uni-assist. Rather, you can directly apply to it from the respective university websites.

How to apply with uni-assist

With uni-assist you can apply to your desired courses in just 6 simple steps.

1.    Get information

You can find all information regarding the universities and courses with the uni-assist info. You can be informed about all the universities and the courses to which they invite applications via uni-assist’s services.  You could also use the filter button to narrow down your search results to match your desired study program.

2.    Application planning

Once you've gathered all of the information about the study programs, you'll need to figure out how to plan your applications, as well as the deadlines and processing times. Certain programs have additional requirements, such as a preliminary review of documentation, referred to in German as "Vorprüfungsdokumentation" (VPD). Here you can get all of the information you need to plan your applications.

3.    Assembling documents

Gather all necessary documents, make copies, and, if necessary, arrange for all official certified translations. Once you've gathered all of your documents, create high-quality digital copies of them to upload to the uni-assist portal. Find out more.

4.    Online application

Once you have all the necessary documents and their digital copies ready, create an online application for any study program you intend to apply to after registering with the uni-assist online portal and uploading all relevant documentation. Find out more.

5.    Fee payment

Once the online application is complete, pay the processing fees for the applications. uni-assist charges for its services because processing documents, validating their authenticity, converting grades from different grading standards to German grading standards, and then submitting all of these verified applications to respective universities takes a significant amount of time and effort. The initial payment, also known as the first course payment, is 75 Euros. It is, however, only 30 Euros for each extra course you apply to. The application processing starts once the payment is received. More information regarding fee payment can be found here.

6.    Hard copy submission and tracking

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 at uni-assist end and at university end. Find out more.

What is “Vorprüfungsdokumentation (VPD)”?

Don’t be overwhelmed! Vorprüfungsdokumentation (VPD) simply means “Pre-review documentation”.

As aforementioned, several universities offer their application entirely through uni-assist, while others offer it directly through their own university websites. Some institutions, on the other hand, offer their application on their website but simply employ the uni-assist service to validate the application documents. As a result, students must first submit their required documents to uni-assist, which, after reviewing the documents, will provide the VPD to the students. Students must then submit the VPD along with their original application documents when applying directly through the university's website.

In short, the VPD acts like a certification of validation for the application documents. It provides information on the educational certificates that students submitted to uni-assist, the types of university admissions that these certificates allow for, and how uni-assist converts and assesses their country-specific grades according to the German grading system. Once students receive the VPD, they must upload it to the university website, along with the original application documents, before the application deadline. To be clear, while students must have their documents checked by uni-assist in this scenario, the final application is still submitted directly to the university.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Provides you with a centralized platform to create and manage your applications.
• Irrespective of the number of uni-assist applications you have, you just need to submit all documents and official certificates once.
• You may keep track of your application status, and uni-assist will notify you when they have been evaluated.

Cons

• Application via uni-assist costs. It is 75 Euros for the first application or first study program and 30 Euros for each additional application.
• Incase of specific queries, students cannot reach the university directly. Rather, they can reach out only to generic customer service center at uni-assist
• In certain cases, the application deadline to non uni-asssist using universities are much earlier than uni-assist universities. So, students have to be aware of that as well.

All the Best :-)