The glass-walled European Parliament Paul Henri-Spaak building facade in Brussels.

Germany Open on a rolling basis with five deadlines each year: 1 February, 1 April, 1 June, 1 September and 15 October. Applications are only accepted from students already in the final stage of their KIT degree

KIT Graduation Grant for International Students (STIBET / MWK)

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology is one of Germany's strongest technical universities and a member of the German Excellence Strategy, formed from the merger of a university and a national research centre. Because Sri Lankan applicants are routinely shown pages advertising a large KIT international scholarship, it is worth being direct: KIT does not run a big entry scholarship for degree-seeking international students. Its own awards for overseas students are few and mostly attached to exchange places nominated by partner universities. What KIT does administer for international degree students is a Graduation Grant, funded from two pools — the DAAD's STIBET I programme and the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts internationalisation fund. It is emergency support with a specific purpose: to stop an international student who has hit unexpected financial trouble from abandoning a degree they are close to finishing. The grant pays from EUR 250 a month, about LKR 86,000, for a maximum of six months. It is not means-tested in the ordinary sense, nor is it a merit prize; you must show unforeseen, temporary financial distress arising through no fault of your own, be registered for your graduation thesis, hold a grade average of at least 2.5 on the German scale, and demonstrate that no other funding is available to you. KIT would prefer you to be working part-time or to explain why you are not. There are five application deadlines a year, applications go by encrypted email with a signed data-protection declaration, and you need a German tax identification number. Temporary and exchange students cannot apply. If you are planning your finances for Germany, plan them without this grant — its existence is a safety net, not a funding strategy.

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

University-funded

emoji_events Award Overview

payments

Value

From EUR 250/month (LKR ~86,000)

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Maximum Duration

6 months, one-off

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Deadlines

1 Feb, 1 Apr, 1 Jun, 1 Sep, 15 Oct

fact_check Eligibility Criteria

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This Is Hardship Support, Not an Entry Scholarship

The grant exists to prevent students abandoning a nearly finished degree because of unexpected financial trouble. You cannot apply from Sri Lanka, and it must not appear anywhere in your pre-departure budget. Any agent presenting it as a KIT international scholarship is misrepresenting it.

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Final Stage, Registered for the Thesis

You must be in the concluding phase of your degree and formally registered for your graduation thesis. Students in earlier semesters are not eligible however difficult their circumstances.

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Grade Average of At Least 2.5

On the German scale, where 1.0 is best, you need an average of 2.5 or better. That is a genuine academic condition on top of the financial one.

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Unforeseen Hardship Through No Fault of Your Own

You must evidence that the financial distress was unexpected and temporary and did not arise from your own choices. Having simply underestimated the cost of living in Germany is not what this is for — a family income collapse, currency crisis or medical emergency is.

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Part-Time Work Expected

KIT prefers applicants who are working part-time, or who can justify why they are not. Non-EU students in Germany may work a limited number of days per year on a student residence permit — know your allowance and stay within it.

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Exchange and Temporary Students Excluded

Only degree-seeking international students qualify. If you are at KIT on an exchange semester, this is not available to you; your home university's nomination and any Erasmus or DAAD exchange funding is your route.

account_tree Application Process

Plan your German funding without this grant

Germany requires a blocked account covering roughly a year of living costs before it issues a student visa, and KIT charges no tuition beyond the semester contribution. Confirm the current blocked-account figure with the German mission serving Sri Lanka and fund it fully — that, not the graduation grant, is what makes KIT affordable.

Enrol and reach the thesis stage

The grant becomes available only once you are registered for your graduation thesis. Keep your grade average at 2.5 or better throughout, since that is a hard eligibility line.

Get a German tax identification number

Applications require a German tax ID. Register your address at the local Bürgeramt promptly after arrival, which is what triggers the tax number being issued — students often delay this and then find themselves ineligible at short notice.

Apply to the International Students Office by encrypted email

Submit by one of the five annual deadlines through the International Students Office, using encrypted email with a signed data-protection declaration and full evidence of your circumstances, your thesis registration and your grades.

Look at the external routes in parallel

Germany's substantial international funding sits outside the university: DAAD master's and doctoral scholarships, the Deutschlandstipendium, the Baden-Württemberg-Stipendium and the political and church foundations. These are the schemes that pay for a degree — apply to them on their own calendars.

Why KIT?

KIT combines a technical university with a Helmholtz national research centre, giving it unusual depth in energy, mobility, information technology, materials and climate research, and it sits in Karlsruhe near Germany's south-western technology corridor. As a German public institution it charges no tuition — students pay a semester contribution of a few hundred euros that typically includes regional transport — so the financial planning question for a Sri Lankan family is living costs and the blocked account rather than fees. Non-EU graduates of German degrees can apply for an 18-month residence permit to look for work, and KIT's engineering graduates are well placed in the German industrial job market.