Notification of Admission

The TUHH uses the dialogue-oriented service procedure (DoSV) provided by the Stiftung for Hochschulzulassung (Foundation for University Admissions) for all applications for Bachelor’s courses. To familiarise yourself with the different phases of this procedure, please see the information provided here (German only).

If your application is successful, you will receive an offer from the TUHH on hochschulstart.de. This is the only way in which you will be sent an offer.

Once you have accepted your offer on hochschulstart.de, you will be able to download your notification of admission (Zulassungsbescheid) from the university’s application portal. You are strongly advised to keep a copy.

In principle, admission can occur up to 4 weeks after the start of teaching. When your application will be approved depends on the number of available places for your chosen course and your position in the ranking.

Please note that if you accept an offer on hochschulstart.de, any open application procedures for other courses will be cancelled, and it will no longer be possible for you to be admitted onto those courses. This cannot be reversed. Please therefore check your offer carefully and decide whether you actually want to take up this course or would prefer to wait for a different offer.

If you have applied to the TUHH for two Bachelor’s courses, it is possible that you will receive an offer for both. Please consider which course you actually want to take before accepting an offer for it.

If you receive an offer from the TUHH, but cannot accept the study place because you want to participate in the German Federal Volunteers Service (Bundesfreiwilligendienst), print out your offer from hochschulstart.de and then apply there to defer your place. You can then apply for prioritised admission next year.
 

Notification of Rejection

Your application may be rejected based on the selection criteria or on formal grounds. If this is the case, you will receive a notification of rejection. If your application was rejected because there was an insufficient number of available places, you will be able to participate in the waiting list procedure.

The waiting list procedure

If an offer was not accepted, either because the applicant decided not to accept the place or because admission was forfeited, the place will be offered to the next applicant on the waiting list up to four weeks after classes have commenced. Deviations can be made from this ranking where this appears necessary to fill all study places promptly.

Don't miss the deadline for enrolment!

The deadline for enrolment can be found in your notification of admission. You must submit your enrolment application with all necessary documents in the correct form to the TUHH by this deadline. If you fail to do so, you will forfeit your place. Once you are enrolled, you will receive confirmation of your enrolment with a request to pay your semester fee.

Documents to be submitted on enrolment

The enrolment application contains details of the documents you are required to submit on enrolment. Academic and Student Services may require you to submit additional documents. You will be informed if this is the case. In general, the following documents must be submitted (please note that this list is not exhaustive):

•    Officially certified copy of your university entrance qualification (school leaving qualification, German Abitur certificate, or similar)

•    certificate from your statutory health insurer or notification of exemption from compulsory insurance (see here for more information).

•    If applicable, an officially certified copy of your certificate of service (voluntary or other) as evidence of your reasons for deferment, as well as your notification of admission from a previous admission procedure (when applying for preferential treatment in the current round).

•    If applicable, evidence of previous university studies (e.g. certificate of enrolment, evidence of grades, degree certificates, notification of de-registration). These documents must be submitted as officially certified copies.

•    If applicable, evidence of language level. See here for more information. You must provide an officially certified copy of your language certificates.

•    Individuals who fall under section 37, paragraph 1, numbers 3 to 7 of the Hamburg Higher Education Act (HmbHG), that is, applicants who hold the German professional qualification ‘Meister’ or ‘Fachwirt’ must provide evidence of having attended a consultation with the relevant study advisers (Studienfachberatung) at the TUHH.

•    Applicants from the People’s Republic of China, India and from Vietnam must provide an original APS certificate or original confirmation from the German embassy in their home country that their documents are authentic.

Official certification

Officially certified documents must be submitted on enrolment. In Hamburg, ONLY certain city-state authorities (Bezirksämter, Ordnungsämter and the Behörde für Inneres) and notaries can provide an official certification. In the rest of the Federal Republic, please contact the relevant offices of your town or city, a seal-keeping office of a federal authority or a notary public.

Regardless of the regulations in other federal states, certifications provided by churches, banks, lawyers, auditors, associations, health insurance companies or similar are not recognised in Hamburg. You will not be able to enrol if you do not submit officially certified copies of the required documents. 

Official certification must include the following:
1.    A certification declaration confirming that the copy corresponds to the original (Beglaubigungsvermerk).
2.    The signature of the certifying person, and
3.    The official stamp. An official stamp normally includes an emblem. A stamp that just contains text is not sufficient.

If the copy consists of more than one page, it must be evident that each page is from the same document. It is sufficient to have the certification declaration and signature on just one page, so long as the official stamp is visible on all pages of the document. To achieve this, the person who certifies the copy attaches the pages to each other in a staggered arrangement, and then stamps them all with the official stamp. This results in every page carrying a part of the official stamp. Each page may also be certified separately. In this case, you must make sure all pages bear your full name. If they do not, your name and the type of certificate must be included in the certification declaration. If a copy is printed on both the front and back of a sheet of paper, the certification declaration must also mention this, stating “I hereby certify that the front and back of this copy corresponds to the original.” ("Hiermit wird beglaubigt, dass die vor-/umstehende Kopie mit dem Original übereinstimmt"). If this is not the case, the front and back of each page must be certified separately. If the certification does not meet the above requirements, the TUHH cannot recognise the document.

Applicants submitting foreign certificates can have their certificates certified by the embassy or consulate of their home country here in Germany. Certified documents from abroad are only recognised if they are issued by the German embassy/consulate or the issuing school/university. Documents that are not in either German or English must be translated into either German or English by a certified translator.

You should submit both the original documents and the certified translations. Please note that translations into other languages will not be accepted.

Enrolling through an authorised representative

If you are unable to deal with bureaucratic formalities such as your enrolment application in person, you can authorise someone you trust to represent you. There is no specified way of granting authorisation but both the authorising party and the authorised party must be clearly identifiable (their full names, dates of birth, places of birth, and current addresses must be stated). The authorisation document must also clearly state the context to which it applies (e.g. university enrolment). The authorised party must provide identification (a copy of their ID card/passport, authorisation certified by a notary, or appearance in person with proof of identity).