Admission
Application period
The next application period is from 01 April - 15 May 2025 for start of studies in Oct 2025 in Goettingen or Feb 2026 (with the study semester at Lincoln University).
This master program offers 10 places of study per year.
Application procedure
The next application window opens from 01 April 2025 - 15 May 2025, 11:59 pm CET.- For 2024, the registration window is closed. The next application window opens from 01 April 2025 - 15 May 2025, 11:59 pm CET. From 1 April 2025 on, you will find here the link to the registration form. After sending it in, you will receive the link to the application form and the upload portal
Admission Criterea for the Master of International Nature Conservation
- six semester Bachelor degree in Biology, Biodiversity, Ecology, Forest Sciences, Geography, Veterinary Medicine or equivalent fields (at least 150 of 180 Credit Point have to be achieved so far respectively 83,5 % of the required credit points of your study program)
- At least half of the credits of your Bachelor Degree need to be awarded in one or several of the following fields: Agricultural Sciences, Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology, Forest Sciences, Geography, Nature Conservation, Veterinary Medicine, Wildlife Management or similar.
- sufficient knowledge of the English language
- motivation
- previous special experiences and expertise in international nature conservation
- not to have already finished or definitely failed a master program in the field of nature conservation.
Applicants have to submit
- a copy of your current transcript and Bachelors certificate (in case of an admission, original copies of final parchments need to be handed in until 15th Nov 2024)
- your CV (German or English)
- a letter of motivation (approx. 2 pages in English)
- letters of recommendation / job references (if available) and
- one of the required English certifcates (can be handed in until 15 November 2024)
Applicants who fulfill the admission criteria will be ranked and the best applicants will be selected for a 20 min interview within one month after the application deadline. This interview focuses on the existence of a background in the field of nature conservation, previous knowledge/expertise, your ideas about the content of the program, and your self-assessment of working attitudes.
For this master programme, applicants do not need to find a thesis supervisor for applying. Most students start to prepare for their master thesis during their 2nd or 3rd master semester, which is when they start to contact possible supervisors.
In case the authors of your letters of recommendation wish to send in those directly, they shall email them as pdfs to studienbuero@biologie.uni-goettingen.de.
English language certificate
Applicants have to submit the result of an internationally recognized test of English as a foreign language (in case English is not mother language), either
- a) „UNIcert®: at least. Certificate UNIcert® III; or
- b) NULTE-Zertifikate, at least with Niveau C1; or
- c) Cambridge English Scale: at least with. 180 points; or
- d) International English Language Testing System" (IELTS Academic): at least with Band 6.5; or
- e) Test of English as a Foreign Language, internet-based test” (TOEFL iBT): at least 95 points; or
- f) Global Scale of English (Pearson Academic): at least 76 points; or
- g) at least two years stay abroad for studying or working in an anglophone country within the last three years; or
- h) sucessfull graduation of an anglophone bachelor programme.
- Further official English Certificates can be checked on request.
Semester start
In Göttingen:
- Winter semester: October - March
- Period of lectures winter semester 24/25: October 21, 2024 - February 07, 2025
- Semester one: mid Feb to June
- Semester two: July to mid Oct
Applicants who enroll at the University of Göttingen and wish to start their studies at Lincoln University have to get admitted and fully enrolled for Winter Semester. If accepted then, they can start their studies in February in Lincoln.
This program is offered separately by two Universities, Goettingen University, Germany and Lincoln University, New Zealand. Both programs do have a compulsory study semester at the other partner university. So you are welcome to apply only at Goettingen University or only at Lincoln University for their M.I.N.C.-program, or at both universities. In case you apply at both universities and receive an offer of place by both universities, you may freely choose where you`d like to get fully enrolled. At that university then you have to pay the tuition fees required by that University.