DAAD is one of the most searched study-abroad terms in India, and one of the most misunderstood: people apply to "DAAD" as though it were a university. It is not. Getting the relationship right is the first step, and the English requirement follows from it.
Short answer: DAAD does not admit you to anything — it funds you. The university admits you, and the university sets the English requirement.
For English-taught programmes that requirement commonly sits around IELTS Academic 6.0 overall with about 5.5 per section as a floor, with many programmes asking 6.5 and competitive ones effectively expecting more.
Sit IELTS Academic, not General Training, and make sure the certificate is still inside its two-year validity on the application deadline.
What is DAAD, and what does it actually fund?
DAAD — Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, the German Academic Exchange Service — is a publicly funded organisation representing German universities abroad. It is the world’s largest funder of international academic exchange, and it runs a scholarship database covering hundreds of programmes.
Two structures matter for Indian applicants. The Study Scholarships support a full Master’s degree in Germany across a range of subjects.
The Development-Related Postgraduate Courses programme, often referred to as EPOS, funds professionals from developing and emerging countries on a defined list of Master’s courses, and typically expects a couple of years of relevant work experience.
The division of labour is the thing to internalise: the university decides whether you are academically admissible, DAAD decides whether to pay for you. That is why there is no single "DAAD IELTS score" — there are as many requirements as there are programmes.
Does DAAD require IELTS?
It requires proof of language ability appropriate to the programme, and IELTS is one of the accepted ways to prove it. For an English-taught Master’s you will normally submit IELTS or TOEFL; DAAD recognises several English proficiency examinations, which gives applicants some freedom in how they certify.
Two qualifications on that. If the programme is taught in German, an English certificate does not substitute for a German one, and you will be looking at TestDaF or DSH instead.
And a "medium of instruction" letter from your Indian university — a letter stating your bachelor’s was taught in English — is accepted by some German programmes and rejected by others. Never assume; the programme page states it.
What IELTS score do DAAD-relevant programmes ask for?
Published requirements cluster, but they are genuinely programme-specific. Treat the table below as a planning range to aim at, then verify the exact number on the page of the specific course you are applying to.
| Level | Typical IELTS Academic | Rough TOEFL iBT equivalent | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common floor | 6.0 overall, about 5.5 per section | around 80 | Clears the minimum on many English-taught programmes; leaves no margin |
| Commonly requested | 6.5 overall | around 90 | The most frequently published requirement; a safe planning target |
| Competitive / selective courses | 7.0 overall | around 95–100 | Some business, public policy and communication-heavy courses |
Because DAAD selection is competitive rather than threshold-based, clearing the floor by one point is not the same as being competitive.
If the programme says 6.0 and you have 6.0, your language score is doing nothing for your application; at 6.5 or 7.0 it stops being a question the committee has to think about.
Our guides to reaching Band 7 and what a Band 7 actually means cover what that step involves.
Academic or General Training?
Academic. German universities, and DAAD-funded programmes with them, require IELTS Academic for admission. General Training is built for work and migration routes and is not accepted for university study.
This is a common and expensive error — the test fee is not refundable because you sat the wrong module. If you are unsure which you booked, our Academic versus General Training guide settles it in a minute, and the India fees page shows what a resit costs.
The validity trap that ends applications
IELTS results are treated as valid for two years. The mistake is anchoring that to the wrong date. Your certificate must be valid on the application deadline — and for some processes, still valid when you enrol — not merely valid on the day you sat the test.
Work backwards from the deadline, not forwards from today:
- Find the scholarship deadline and the university admission deadline. They are different dates, often months apart.
- Confirm your certificate will still be inside two years on the later of the two.
- If it expires in between, book a new test before you start the application, not after.
- Leave three weeks of headroom for a One Skill Retake in case you miss one section by half a band.
Our post on how long IELTS results stay valid covers the edge cases, including what happens when an institution asks for a certificate that is still in date at enrolment.
Do I need German?
Not for an English-taught programme, in the sense that admission does not usually depend on it. But it is not neutral either.
Some DAAD programmes, EPOS courses in particular, ask for basic German at A1 or A2, and DAAD has long signalled that German ability strengthens an application and makes life in Germany substantially easier — from the residence permit office to a part-time job.
If you have a year before applying, a beginner German certificate is one of the cheapest ways to differentiate an application in which everyone has similar grades.
Two deadlines, not one
The most common structural mistake Indian applicants make is treating DAAD as a single application. In most cases you are running two processes: getting admitted to the programme, and getting funded to attend it.
Sometimes the university forwards your application to DAAD, sometimes you apply to DAAD through its own portal, and the sequence differs by programme. Read the specific course page and build a calendar with both dates on it before you book anything — including your test date.
What if you miss by half a band?
It is the most common outcome, and it is usually one skill.
Before rebooking the whole test, check whether a One Skill Retake is available to you: it lets you resit a single section and receive an updated Test Report Form, and in India it costs ₹12,650 against ₹19,000 for a full retake.
Confirm the receiving institution accepts an OSR result — most now do, but not all, and a German admissions office is the only authority on its own policy. Our guides to OSR versus a full retake and which universities accept OSR cover the decision.
To know whether you are in half-a-band territory at all, sit a timed full paper and convert it honestly with our band score calculator, or check an essay against the four criteria with the writing checker. Guessing at your current level is how people book a test three months too early.
This guide is general information, not admissions or immigration advice, and reflects publicly available material as of August 2026. DAAD programme rules, English requirements and deadlines are set per programme and change between cycles — always confirm on daad.de and on the specific course page before you apply or book a test.