The Funding Navigator: How does it work?

Getting ready for a master’s programme requires a lot of planning ahead. Deciding how to finance your studies can feel overwhelming, which is why we are excited to present the Funding Navigator – a tool designed to assist our students in the search for funding options. In this blog post, we will go over the Funding Navigator, where to find it and how it works.  

External Funding

There are many opportunities for graduate students to finance their studies outside of the Hertie School – these are what we call External Funding. They include governmental offices, public and private institutions, foundations, or banks.

The Funding Navigator

The Funding Navigator gathers local and international opportunities for students from anywhere in the world, intended to make the research process easier and provide an overview of the types of funding options available.

So, how do you use it? Fill in these three fields for results that are tailored to you:

• Your nationality
• Your German language skills
• The sort of aid that you are interested in

You don’t speak German yet? Don’t worry! There are plenty of funding options available for international students.

Once you choose your nationality and your level of German proficiency, you can decide which types of aid you want to view. Small grants can be found under Awards and prizes; under Loans you have Income Share Agreements (ISAs), banks and other private lenders; Loan-Scholarships include all funding schemes where only a portion of the borrowed amount needs to be repaid (such as BAföG); and Scholarships combine monthly stipends and larger grants.

When you have filled out your search preferences, you get a list of results that are applicable to your profile. Each result provides an overview of the source of funding: the required language skills, the sort of aid, an outline of the financial compensation, the application deadlines, and any other special requirement you need to keep in mind for the application. The Funding Navigator also provides a direct link to the website of the funding institution so you can get additional information.  

You want to narrow down your search? You can change and untick any of the boxes you previously selected to get new results or reset the form to start from scratch.

Remember that the scholarships and awards in the navigator are not administered by the Hertie School unless stated otherwise. We recommend you start looking in your home country as there might be different options online in your own language that we are not aware of.

Preparing for this new chapter in your career is a lengthy process, and we want to make sure you have all the tools at your disposal. Start considering external funding options early on, and if you have any additional questions reach out to the Student Funding Office at studentfunding[at]hertie-school[dot]org