Deadlines for applications and enrollments

Deadlines

Application for a place on the postgraduate study programme /
application for an aptitude test:

for the winter term: submit by 30 June
for the summer term: submit by 31 December

aptitude test if necessary:

for the winter term: submit by September

for the summer term: submit by March

enrollment:

for the winter term: submit by 10 October
for the summer term: submit by 09 April

Application procedure

The application for a place on the postgraduate study programme in linguistics follows these two steps:

Initially, your aptitude has to be ascertained. For this purpose, you submit an application (see below) to the Dean of the Faculty for Humanities (see below for deadlines). The commission in charge associated with the linguistics department decides on your application. If necessary, you have to take an aptitude test.
If your aptitude has been ascertained, you submit a regular application for admission to HHU in order to enrol in the study programme (see below for deadlines). You enrol by way of submitting the letter of admission, which serves to document your aptitude and which has been issued by the commission in charge.

The enrollment enables you to commence postgraduate studies in linguistics in the summer term or the winter term.

Please address your application to:

Hana Filip, PhD Geb. 23.21.04.48

Anja Latrouite, PhD Geb. 23.21.04.52

1. Ascertaining the aptitude of applicants

By virtue of graduating from HHU's undergraduate study programme in linguistics with a grade of at least 2.5, you are automatically qualified for postgraduate studies. In this case, please proceed as outlined in section 2.

If this is not the case we have to ascertain whether you have equivalent qualifications. "The aptitude test for the postgraduate study programme in linguistics offered by the Faculty for Humanities at HHU" serves this purpose and is regulated by the regulation on aptitude tests for Master's programmes offered by the Faculty of Humanities at HHU.

Procedure to ascertain the aptitude of applicants

As an applicant, you are admitted to the aptitude test on the condition that you hold a Bachelor's degree or a comparable degree in a relevant subject. Your undergraduate studies might have concerned linguistics at large and thus be equivalent to one of the three undergraduate study programmes in linguistics offered at HHU. You may have aquired foreign language skills through programmes other than your undergraduate studies. Unfortunately, if you do not meet these requirements, you are not eligible for the postgraduate study programme.

Graduates from interpreting or philological study programmes are usually insufficiently qualified for postgraduate linguistic studies since those study programmes deal with matters of general linguistics only rudimentarily. The aptitude test is conducted by a committee consisting of three experts in the field (currently Hana Filp, PhD, Peter Indefrey, PhD, Anja Latrouite, PhD). The commission initially determines whether your academic achievements to date approximately equal those of graduates from HHU's undergraduate study programme in linguistics and whether you graduated with a good honors degree (i.e. a grade of at least 2.5). Provided these requirements are met, we will certify your aptitude and you may submit the enrollment form.

If you do not fulfill these requirements but are considered potentially eligible by the commission, you will be invited to take an oral test for about 30 minutes. This test will presumably take place at the beginning of September. It serves to ascertain both your English language proficiency, which is essential for postgraduate studies in linguistics, and your knowledge about linguistic core disciplines and associated methodologies (pertaining to phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics) as well as interdisciplinary linguistic fields (historical linguistics, socio linguistics, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics and computational linguistics). If your performance in this test is graded "good" (i.e. a grade of at least 2.3), we will certify your aptitude and you may submit the enrollment form.

Applications for aptitude tests

You have to submit your application for the aptitude test by 30 June if you intend to enrol during the winter term and by 31 December if you intend to enrol during the summer term. Please state the study programme you apply for and send the form to the following address:

Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
Institut für Sprache und Information
Abteilung für Allgemeine Linguistik
Auswahlkommission Master Linguistik
Universitätsstr. 1

40225 Düsseldorf

Please enclose the following documents:

certified copies of certificates evidencing your academic achievements (e.g. the certificate of the Bachelor's degree including the diploma supplement)
if applicable documents evidencing foreign language skills acquired outside the undergraduate study programme

2. Enrollment procedure

If we have ascertained and certified your eligibility to pursue postgraduate studies in linguistics or if you have graduated from the undergraduate study programme in linguistics with a good honors degree (i.e. a grade of at least 2.5), please submit your application for enrollment in the Master's programme in linguistics to the student office at Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf. There you will obtain the forms necessary for your application, which you have to fill in and submit to the student office. Please enclose the requested documents as well as evidence of your eligibility or the certificate of the Bachelor's degree and mind the deadlines.

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