New: Application fees
As of winter semester 2026/27, FAU will be charging a processing fee of 100 euros per application for applicants from non-EU states. For more details please go to the FAU website.
Schedule
15 February 2026
Begin of application period: Applications are submitted via the FAU application platform www.campo.fau.de
15 April 2026
Recommended deadline for international applicants (see below)
15 July 2026
Final deadline for submission of applications
Important note for non-EU applicants
International applicants who need a visa for a stay in Germany are strongly requested to apply as early as possible, if any possible by 15 April 2026. Later applications will be processed, and a late application will not reduce the chances of being admitted. However, a late application will make it very dificult to realise the actual start of studies for the the winter term 2026/27 in case of admission. In particular, the visa application process after admission can take several months!
Note for applicants from China, India and Vietnam
It is mandatory to submit the APS certificate at the time of the application. Please make sure to have it available by then. Note that you can apply for it as soon as you have completed the fourth semester of a sex-semester Bachelor’s programme.
For more details please go to https://www.fau.eu/education/application-and-enrolment/applying-for-masters-degree-programmes/
Evaluation stages
The evaluation comprises two stages:
- Academic evaluation by the MAOT office
- Formal evaluation by the master addmission office
Academic evaluation
- Applicants will be informed several weeks after submitting their application whether they will be invited for a telephone interview or not (FYI: in recent years, about 15-20% of the applicants were invited for an interview).
Applicants who do not receive an invitation cannot be considered for the programme. They will be informed about this on the Campo platform. Please do not contact us regarding the status of your application but wait until we contact you. - Interviewed candidates will be informed about the results of the academic evaluation after the interview. This can take up to several weeks after the interview. In case of a positive evaluation the second step is the formal review.
Interviews will only be scheduled in the following time periods:
- mid of March
- early April
- end of April
- early May
- late July
Applications ariving after 15 April will only be considered for the interviews in July!
Formal evaluation
- The master admission office conducts a formal review of those applicant’s documents, which has been positively evaluated academically. If the formal requirements are met, the master admission office issues the admission letter, which is a prerequisite for the visa applications. The admission letter is made available on Campo.
Please note:
- For both stages, all documents can be submitted electronically via Campo and copies do not have to be authorised. For enrolment in case of an admission (early August to end September) authorised hard copies will have to be submitted.
- Provided the candidates followed the applicaton requirements thoroughly rejection on the basis of the formal evaluation is possible but very rare.
The Max Planck society runs the “IMPRS Physics of Light” programme which offers scholarships for master students:.
Scholarship holders have to study either MAOT or a master in physics at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. However, the application procedures for MAOT and IMPRS are completely independent of each other.
There are two application deadlines for the IMPRS-PL:
- 15 January – when you apply for this deadline and receive the scholarship you still have to apply for MAOT afterwards. The admission to MAOT is quite likely then but not guaranteed. On the other hand, a rejection at the IMPRS does not (!) affect your chances to get admitted to MAOT in any way.
- 31 May – applicants for this date usually already know whether they got admitted to MAOT. If they were admitted for MAOT and don’t receive the IMPRS-PL scholarship this does not affect ther MAOT admission. If they were already rejected for MAOT a possible IMPRS-PL grant will not change that. They can still apply for the master in physics at the FAU, though.
If you consider applying for the IMPRS-MPL we recommend to use the first deadline. However, an application for the second deadline is also possible.
Starting in the winter semester 2026/27, FAU will, in addition to MAOT, also offer the Master’s degree programme Photon Science and Technology (MPST) in cooperation with the Universities of Jena and Karlsruhe. The principal distinctions between the two programs are as follows:
- MPST is a programme with a strong emphasis on physics, while also offering opportunities to study topics in engineering. MAOT, by contrast, is designed as a more interdisciplinary programme bridging physics and engineering, and in many respects has a stronger engineering orientation.
- MPST provides scholarships to the majority of admitted students; admission requirements are correspondingly more competitive (admission without a scholarship is nevertheless possible).
- The application period for MPST is from 15 September to 1 December for commencement in the following year. The application period for MAOT is from 15 February to 15 July for commencement in the same year.
- In MAOT, all courses (including laboratory work and projects) take place at FAU. In MPST, courses are offered both in Erlangen and at the Universities of Karlsruhe and Jena, as well as online in cooperation among the three universities.
Recommendation
- From an academic perspective, students are advised to select the program whose orientation best corresponds to their interests. From a formal perspective, applications to both programs are possible with a Bachelor’s degree in either physics or an engineering discipline.
- It is possible to apply to MAOT after being denied admission to MPST. A prior rejection from MPST does not diminish the likelihood of admission to MAOT.