International Parliamentary Scholarships, German Bundestag, Germany

The German Bundestag collaborates with the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin and Technische Universität Berlin to run its International Parliamentary Scholarships (IPS) scheme.

This gives well qualified young people with a strong interest in politics from the USA, France, Israel and Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of Germany's system of parliamentary government.

The scheme involves fifteen-week placements with Members of the GermanBundestag. The participants are introduced to the wide variety of tasks carried out in a Member’s office. For example, they may find themselves drafting speeches, articles and letters or doing preparatory work for plenary sittings.

The exchange programmes of the German Bundestag are conceived of as exciting ways of teaching young people about the significance of friendly cooperation based on shared political and cultural values.

Please send completed application documents by email as a PDF-file to the German mission in their home country; the PDF-file name should consist of their surname, followed by their given name (i.e. “surname-first name”). Their application should be submitted in German and include the following scanned documents:

-Passport photo (please attach this to the first page of the application form);
-Application form;
-Evidence of very good knowledge of German;
-Personal statement of reasons for applying (maximum of two pages);
-Copy of passport or ID card;
-Certified copy of university degree certificate;
-Letter of recommendation in German or English (from a university professor or employer, assessing the applicant’s qualification for the programme).
Copies are officially certified when they have been signed and stamped by a recognised authority (a German or foreign public authority, an embassy or consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany, a university, notary, or translator/interpreter registered with the public authorities) to confirm that they are a true copy of the original. If several photocopies are stapled together, each individual copy must be certified in this way. Unless documents are properly certified, the application cannot be processed.

How to Apply

Application Form

Application deadlines vary depending on the country of origin. For Arab countries application deadline is 31 January 2016