New Process, Lack Of Communication Makes Study In Germany Dreams Difficult For Indian Students

With their University enrollment date for September intake nearing, many Germany-bound Indian students fear missing deadlines as they are yet to receive their Akademische Prüfstelle (APS) certificates.

The mandatory APS certification, introduced for India in November 2022, is issued by the German Embassy’s Academic Evaluation Centre. The process was initiated after German Ambassador Philipp Ackermann highlighted that 15% of study visa applications from India are ‘fraudulent' back in September 2022.

But students, who already submitted their academic documents months ago to the Centre, are yet to see any progress on their approvals despite repeated attempts to get answers from the Embassy.

Students say lack of response to queries by Embassy

“I have only received mail about my account activation and my payment process going through. I got an email regarding the same on June 26 but there has been no response since then,” said Sahil Jondhale, whose lectures begin in October 2023.

Concerns about lack of communication from the APS are not the norm with just one student, as The Free Press Journal had reported on April 22 about similar complaints being raised by multiple individuals about the Centre.

Embassy defends stand to not interact with students

Kasper Meyer, Science Counselor, defended such a decision to not directly interact with the students at the German Embassy.

“Please understand that we do not have the resources to individually reply to requests on the status because we are focussing all our resources on the verification,” stated Meyer, on the Mission’s social media handle back in April 2023.

But students, who have paid upto Rs 18,000 for the certification process, believe they deserve more support from the Embassy in fast-tracking their applications.

“I have been travelling back and forth from my college in Pune to back home in Nagpur to submit my academic documents with the Centre. While the APS officials maintain that they haven’t received a response from my college regarding the verification, my college has assured me that they have replied to their emails. It feels like we have to do everything to prove our credentials single-handedly despite paying so much money,” stated Siddhesh Jadhav, who is set to pursue an MBA from the International University of Applied Sciences in Erfurt.

German univs warn repercussions of APS

The situation has also led to German university representatives warning about long-term repercussions on the image of Germany as a study-abroad destination.

“Many students from my university and other universities have written to me expressing their concerns about APS. There should be a process through which the students can be aware of their status,” said Dr. Balasubramanian Ramani, Advisor, India Relations, Leibniz Universitat Hannover.

“The process has also been initiated for exchange students, who are not going to stay back in Germany. It’s a meaningless process for them. As long as these issues are pending, there’s a threat of Germany’s interest waning among Indian students,” added Ramani, who added that a dashboard that can capture updates with regards to the certification process can be displayed for the students.

As per another university representative, many officials from Germany’s universities have expressed their displeasure with the APS process to the German Embassy.

Embassy set to block 'spam' on continuous APS queries

With students getting increasingly impatient over the delays, the Embassy has warned against sending ‘spam’ to them which can lead to severe action against the applicants.

“The spam situation has gotten worse over the last days and weeks which means our servers are at times on the brink of collapse. From now on we will have to block such abusive behaviour by blocking those email accounts which lead to their exclusion from the APS process,” Meyer warned in a video message, posted by the Embassy.

Students expressed anger over the warning with Sheenam Gautam, a student, stating that many have deferred at least a year just because of APS delay.

“This video is going to do more harm to the reputation of the system than good,” she told The FPJ.  

Embassy working on 1000 certificates per week

As per the official data, APS is currently working on 1000 certificates per week with numbers accessed by The Free Press Journal back in April 2023 showing that only 7,000 students received certification between November 2022-April 2023.

“Authorities received 25,000 applications from Indian students in that duration,” a German Embassy spokesperson had told The FPJ in April 2023.

The FPJ has sent queries to the German Embassy on the latest numbers of APS approvals and pending applications, responses to which are awaited.