DAAD, Germany’s main scholarship agency, funds postgraduate study but deliberately targets a narrower profile than most Nigerian applicants expect: it wants working professionals, not fresh graduates, and applications for the 2027 intake are already open.
Current requirement:
- A minimum of two years of relevant professional experience after your bachelor’s degree is required for most DAAD EPOS programmes, and internships or voluntary work do not count toward this
- Your first degree normally cannot be more than six years old at the time of application
- Deadlines are staggered by individual course and mostly fall between July and October 2026 for the 2027 intake, so check your specific programme rather than a single DAAD-wide date
Funding covers €992 a month for master’s scholars and €1,300 a month for doctoral candidates, rising to €1,400 from February 2026, plus travel and insurance costs. The experience requirement is not a formality: DAAD is specifically funding mid-level professionals capable of returning home and applying their training immediately, rather than academics starting from zero, and applicants already resident in Germany for more than 15 months by the deadline are not eligible. If you graduated recently, spend the gap building genuine, documentable work experience in your field before you apply, rather than trying to talk around the requirement.
Since most DAAD scholars also need a blocked account for the visa stage unless their scholarship letter covers the full monthly minimum, see Germany Blocked Account Amount 2026.