University of Bonn
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
A German University of Excellence in a baroque palace, with eight Clusters of Excellence and a top mathematics centre.
- Students
- 31,318
- International
- 17%
- of students
- Tuition
- Free
- 2026-27
- Founded
- 1818
About Uni Bonn
The Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn was founded in 1818 and has used the baroque residence palace of the former Electors of Cologne as its main building ever since. Today around 31,000 students study in about 200 subject areas across seven faculties: Protestant Theology, Catholic Theology, Law and Economics, Medicine, Arts, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, and Agricultural, Nutritional and Engineering Sciences, the only agricultural science faculty in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Bonn has been one of Germany's eleven Universities of Excellence since 2019, and from January 2026 it holds eight Clusters of Excellence, more than any other German university. Its best-known strengths are mathematics, where the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics is home to Germany's only two Fields Medal winners, Gerd Faltings and Peter Scholze, and economics, where the ECONtribute cluster builds on the legacy of Nobel laureate Reinhard Selten. Other clusters cover immunology, quantum computing, agricultural robotics, particle physics, astrophysics and the history of slavery and dependency.
Like other public universities in Germany, Bonn charges no tuition, only a semester fee of about 363 euros. Almost all bachelor's degrees are taught in German, so international applicants need DSH-2 level German to enrol. It suits students who want a research-heavy university in a compact, green city, and who are ready to study in German.
Why students choose Uni Bonn
The Hausdorff Center for Mathematics makes Bonn one of the strongest places in the world to study mathematics, with both of Germany's Fields Medal winners on its books.
Eight Clusters of Excellence from 2026, including ECONtribute in economics and PhenoRob, Germany's only cluster combining agricultural science with robotics and engineering.
No tuition fees: the only regular charge is the semester fee of 363.07 euros (winter 2026/27), most of which pays for the Deutschlandsemesterticket for local and regional transport across Germany.
International applicants apply directly to Bonn through its own online portal, with no uni-assist step and no application fee.
Admissions
Winter semester 2027/28 entry (deadlines follow Bonn's standing annual schedule)
Selectivity
Bonn publishes no overall acceptance rate. Programmes with open admission take every qualified applicant; programmes with a local numerus clausus (NC) allocate places after quotas: 20% by best Abitur grade, 20% by grade in the university's own selection procedure, and 60% by a points score combining grade and up to seven semesters of waiting time. Human Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy are allocated centrally through hochschulstart.de.
Typical entry requirements
| German Abitur | Direct access. NC programmes rank applicants by Abitur grade (converted to points, e.g. 1.0 = 70, 1.9 = 48.3) plus waiting time in part of the quota |
|---|---|
| International school-leaving certificate | Must count as a German university entrance qualification (check anabin or the DAAD admissions database); otherwise a Studienkolleg assessment test (Feststellungsprüfung) is needed first |
| IB Diploma | Recognised if it meets the German KMK conditions for the IB and follows at least twelve consecutive years of full-time school |
| Chinese, Indian or Vietnamese certificates | APS certificate required with the application (group APS through partnership schemes is not accepted) |
| English language | IELTS 5.5 · TOEFL iBT 72 Bachelor's degrees are taught in German: B2 German is needed to apply and DSH-2 (or TestDaF 4 in all parts, DSD II, Goethe C2, telc C1 Hochschule, or ÖSD C2) to enrol. Economics, Economics and Computer Science, English Studies, Celtic Studies and Anthropology of the Americas accept DSH-1. English at B2 (TOEFL iBT 72, IELTS 5.5, Cambridge B2 First, PTE 59) is also required by the deadline for Archaeologies, Geography, Economics and Computer Science, Economics, Media Studies, Molecular Biomedicine and Musicology/Sound Studies. |
Deadlines
- NC bachelor's programmes, all applicants (winter semester 2027/28) Non-binding Next deadline · In ~9 months15 July 2027
Online application from early June; results in the portal at the end of July.
- Applicants with a non-EU/EEA school certificate, all bachelor's programmes (winter semester 2027/28) Non-binding In ~9 months15 July 2027
Application period from June; all documents must be uploaded by 15 July. Results at the beginning of August.
- Open-admission programmes, EU/EEA applicants (winter semester 2027/28) Non-binding In ~12 months30 September 2027
No application needed: pre-register and enrol online from the beginning of June; 30 September is also the last date to upload documents.
- Human Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy (EU/EEA) Non-bindingSet by hochschulstart.de
Central admission procedure; Human Medicine and Dentistry start only in the winter semester.
Bonn publishes standing annual windows rather than dated 2027 deadlines: early June to 15 July for NC programmes and for all non-EU applicants, and enrolment until 30 September for open-admission programmes. The 2027 dates above apply these standing rules to winter semester 2027/28. For the summer semester the equivalent deadline is 15 January.
How to apply
Apply online through the University of Bonn's own application portal and upload all documents there; there is no application fee. Non-EU applicants must apply by the deadline even for open-admission programmes, while EU/EEA applicants only pre-register and enrol for open-admission programmes. Human Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy go through hochschulstart.de (non-EU applicants use Bonn's portal).
What admissions looks for
- A school-leaving certificate that counts as a German university entrance qualification, or a passed Studienkolleg assessment test.
- German at DSH-2 level (DSH-1 for a handful of programmes) by enrolment, with at least B2 at the time of application.
- For NC programmes, the average grade of your entrance qualification, with waiting time counted in part of the quota.
- For certain programmes, English at B2 level submitted by the application deadline.
Tips for applying to Uni Bonn
- 1 Check each programme page for its admission status (open, local NC or central) because it changes both the procedure and the deadline.
- 2 If your German is at B1 or above, you can apply for Bonn's DSH preparatory course (choose 'Deutschkurs' as the course of study) instead of direct admission.
- 3 If you are admitted without full German proof, your admission letter includes an invitation to Bonn's DSH exam; you can only enrol after passing at the level your programme needs.
- 4 Get certified copies of your documents early: Bonn may request them by post during your first semester and can revoke enrolment if you cannot provide them.
- 5 US applicants can send AP scores with Bonn's code 9149.
Costs & financial aid
2026-27 · figures in EUR
Public universities in Germany charge no tuition, and applying to Bonn is free. The semester fee can be partly waived for social hardship. Bonn directs international students to the DAAD scholarship database; students who need a visa must show funds in a blocked account.
- 363.07 euros (Deutschlandsemesterticket 226.80 euros, Studierendenwerk 115.00 euros, student self-administration and other items 21.27 euros)
- Semester fee, winter 2026/27
- None
- Application fee
Academics
Academic calendar: Semesters (winter semester starts in October, summer semester in April)
Mathematics (BSc)
Taught within the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics, where Fields medallist Peter Scholze studied and was made Germany's youngest professor at 24.
Economics (BSc)
Linked to the ECONtribute Cluster of Excellence and the BonnEconLab founded by Nobel laureate Reinhard Selten; requires DSH-1 German plus B2 English.
Economics and Computer Science (BSc)
A combined programme that pairs Bonn's economics with computer science; requires B2 English alongside German.
Molecular Biomedicine (BSc)
A life-sciences degree with an online self-assessment for admitted students and a B2 English requirement alongside German.
Agricultural Science (BSc)
Offered by the only agricultural faculty in North Rhine-Westphalia, home of the PhenoRob cluster on robotics in crop farming.
Physics (BSc)
Bonn's physics has its own electron accelerator, ELSA, built on the synchrotron of Nobel laureate Wolfgang Paul.
Research
- Eight Clusters of Excellence from 2026: BCDSS, ECONtribute, Hausdorff Center for Mathematics, ImmunoSensation3, ML4Q, PhenoRob, ColorMeetsFlavor and DYNAVERSE.
- 69 ERC grants and 23 Leibniz Prizes (including emeriti and alumni), with 214.67 million euros in third-party research funding.
- Wolfgang Paul built Europe's first electron synchrotron in Bonn, later expanded into the ELSA accelerator, and won the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physics for the ion trap.
Schools & faculties
- Faculty of Protestant Theology
- Faculty of Catholic Theology
- Faculty of Law and Economics
- Faculty of Medicine
- Faculty of Arts
- Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
- Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional and Engineering Sciences
Student life
Student life in Bonn centres on two palaces: the Electoral Palace in the city centre, which houses the humanities and theology faculties and the university administration and faces the Hofgarten lawn, and Poppelsdorf Palace at the end of the tree-lined Poppelsdorfer Allee, which houses the Mineralogical Museum and several science departments, with the Botanical Gardens in its grounds. The science campus in Poppelsdorf hosts the university's summer festival. There are no campus colleges: most students rent rooms in the city or in dorms run by the Studierendenwerk Bonn, and the semester ticket covers local and regional transport across Germany.
- The main building is the baroque residence palace of the Electors of Cologne, used by the university since 1818.
- An annual summer festival on the Poppelsdorf campus.
- Poppelsdorf Palace, a former residence of the Electors at the end of Poppelsdorfer Allee, now houses the Mineralogical Museum and science departments, with the university's Botanical Gardens in its grounds.
- The semester fee includes the Deutschlandsemesterticket for regional transport across Germany.
Housing. The Studierendenwerk Bonn runs the student dorms and takes applications for rooms; most students rent privately, with rent averaging about 410 euros a month.
Location
Bonn is a city of more than 320,000 people on the Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia, about 24 km from Cologne. It was West Germany's capital from 1949 to 1990 and still hosts six federal ministries and 20 United Nations institutions, more than any other German city. The university's buildings are spread through the compact city centre and Poppelsdorf. The university's cost breakdown adds up to about 970 euros a month, including average rent of 410 euros.
Nearest airport: Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN)
Notable alumni
- KM Karl MarxPhilosopher and economist; studied law at Bonn from 1835
- HH Heinrich HeinePoet; studied at Bonn in 1819
- FN Friedrich NietzschePhilosopher; studied theology and classical philology at Bonn
- KA Konrad AdenauerFirst chancellor of West Germany; studied law and politics at Bonn, Freiburg and Munich
- PA Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and GothaHusband of Queen Victoria; studied law, political economy, philosophy and art history at Bonn
- ME Max ErnstDada and surrealist painter; studied philosophy and art history at Bonn
- PS Peter ScholzeFields Medal-winning mathematician; completed his bachelor's degree at Bonn in three semesters
Frequently asked questions
Does the University of Bonn charge tuition fees?
No. Students, including international students, pay only a semester fee, which is 363.07 euros for winter 2026/27 and includes the Deutschlandsemesterticket. Applying is also free.
Can I study a bachelor's degree at Bonn in English?
Bachelor's degrees at Bonn are taught in German, so you need DSH-2 level German to enrol (DSH-1 for a few programmes such as Economics). English-taught programmes are mainly at master's level.
What is the application deadline for Bonn for winter semester 2027/28?
Under Bonn's standing rules, 15 July for all programmes with restricted admission and for all applicants with a non-EU school certificate. EU applicants to open-admission programmes can pre-register and enrol until 30 September.
Do I apply to Bonn through uni-assist?
No. Bachelor's applicants, including those from outside the EU, apply through Bonn's own online portal. Applicants from China, India and Vietnam also need an APS certificate.
What does NC mean at the University of Bonn?
NC programmes have more applicants than places, so places are allocated by Abitur grade and, for part of the quota, a points score that also counts waiting time. Open-admission programmes admit every qualified applicant.
Sources & methodology
Figures on this page were checked against official university publications, national application services and ranking publishers in September 2026. Each number is shown with the year or admissions cycle it describes. Always confirm deadlines and fees on the university's own website before applying.
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