Application and Admission

General Remarks on Application

All prospective students interested in the Master’s degree program have to complete the admission procedure as described here which assesses their professional aptitude and qualifications.

In addition, international students also have to apply separately at the International Office. In the latter procedure, your formal qualifications will be assessed. Both procedures might overlap in time, so please pay attention to the respective deadlines and prepare in time the documents, you need to submit respectively.

Important Dates and Deadlines

Profile of Prospective Students

As an applicant you should have a dual interest in humanities and the study of cultures and computational and digital methods and techniques, ideally (but not necessarily) having gained experience in both areas in your undergraduate studies. You should prefer an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge and have a strong interest in cultural heritage research and practice. You should also be open-minded and able to work in interdisciplinary and international teams.

Admission Requirements

For admission to the Master's program in Digital Cultural Heritage, you need a Bachelor’s degree comprising at least 180 ECTS credits or an equivalent degree from Germany or abroad. This degree needs to have been completed in one of the following fields:

• a discipline in the humanities or a subject in the study of cultures related to cultural heritage (e.g. Cultural Heritage Studies, Digital Humanities, Heritage Preservation, Museology, Archaeological disciplines, Ethnology, Anthropology, Art History, History, Egyptology, Sinology), or
• an environmental science discipline (e.g. Geography, Geosciences), or
• an information technology or data science discipline (e.g. Computer Science, Data Science) or
• a subject related to the above-mentioned disciplines.

In addition, you need to prove within the Admission Procedure, that you are qualified for the special qualitative requirements of the Master's program in Digital Cultural Heritage. These requirements include:

• a demonstrable interest in interdisciplinary work in the integration of digital and information technology methods in cultural heritage research,
• the willingness and basic ability to use digital tools and information technology methods for research and preservation of cultural heritage and to engage critically and theoretically with this discipline,
• a strong interest in research or practical work in the field of digital cultural heritage to underscore a commitment to furthering the understanding and practice in this developing field, and
• a very good knowledge of English.

Language Requirements

The Master’s degree program Digital Cultural Heritage can be studied fully in English. As a program in the Humanities and the Study of Cultures, it requires high competencies in English (level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).

This level corresponds to the following minimum scores or levels in some of the most common tests:

Alternatively, if you have earned your university entrance qualification in English, or have completed a university degree in English, the respective certificates are accepted as well.

No proof of German language proficiency is required for admission to the program.

Admission Procedure

Application documents

For your application you need to prepare the following documents:

1. a curriculum vitae in tabular form
2. a completed questionnaire issued by the Institute for Digital Heritage Studies (see Downloads section);
3. a copy of the degree certificate from your first degree program with a detailed list of all course-related examination achievements from the first degree program and a stated average grade; if a corresponding certificate is not yet available at the time of application, a corresponding transcript of records with a detailed list of all course-related examination achievements completed up to this point in time and a provisionally determined intermediate grade according to the performance level of at least 135 ECTS points must be submitted; the degree certificate must be submitted immediately upon receipt;
4. an academic written work sample in English; that can be either
   • 1. a written work sample from your previous studies in English (e.g. a term paper or seminar paper, a chapter of the Bachelor's thesis, an essay or a comparable written work) of 10,000 to a maximum of 15,000 characters or
     2. an article in English that has already been published or accepted for publication or accepted for publication or
     3. a summary of the Bachelor's thesis from the previous degree program in English with a maximum length of 12,000 characters or
     4. an essay of a maximum of 12,000 characters as a continuous text in English on a topic specified below; the essay must be accompanied by a declaration that the text was written independently and only with the sources and aids specified;
5. proof of English language proficiency with a proven minimum level of C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages; that can be either
   • 1. a test certificate with the minimum scores as stated above, or
     2. a different certificate attesting the specified level of English language proficiency, or
     3. an English-language university entrance qualification,or
     4. an English-language university degree.

Essay topic

If you do not have or do not want to submit any other type of written work sample in English (see above Application documents, no. 4), you may submit an essay of maximum 12,000 characters according to the following instructions.

Topic: “Outline a potential research project in the field of Cultural Heritage Studies or Digital Heritage that matches your interests and could be pursued as part of the Master's program.”

The essay should contain an introduction to the topic, outline the topic, develop a research question, present the research methods and give an outlook on the expected results. It can, of course, refer to literature and key areas of work in the field of Cultural Heritage Studies or Digital Heritage, or build on your preliminary work for the Bachelor's thesis.

Your essay should enable you to assess your abilities with regard to a research-oriented Master's degree in Digital Cultural Heritage. You should also demonstrate within the essay to what extent you meet the following special requirements for the Master’s program:

• a demonstrable interest in interdisciplinary work in the integration of digital and information technology methods in cultural heritage research,
• the willingness and basic ability to use digital tools and information technology methods for research and preservation of cultural heritage and to engage critically and theoretically with this discipline,
• a strong interest in research or practical work in the field of digital cultural heritage to underscore a commitment to furthering the understanding and practice in this developing field.

You are not expected to carry out this exact project as part of the Master's program.

The essay must be accompanied by a declaration that it was written independently and only with the sources and aids specified (see Downloads section for template).

Submission of application

The application documents have to be submitted by June, 15, 2025, no later than 11:59 p.m. (Central European Time) to admission@dkes.fak12.lmu.de. Please submit all documents as PDF files!

Aptitude assessment

Based on the academic work sample (see above no. 4) one professor and another academic employee will assess whether your application complies with the desired admission requirements. This is the first stage of the aptitude assessment or preselection phase.

If at least one committee member recommends you for admission, you will be invited to an (online) interview, which is the second stage of the aptitude assessment. The invitation will be sent to you at least two weeks before the interview takes place. If you agreed that the invitation may be sent to you by e-mail, please make sure, you do not miss it by adding admission@dkes.fak12.lmu.de to your contact list.

The interview will be conducted by one professor and another academic employee and last c. 15-20 minutes. The subjects of the interview will be your competences in respect to the admission requirements, your motivation and your previous experiences and achievements in your studies as disclosed in your application documents.

You will not be admitted to the program, if both admission committee members conducting the interview assess that your application does not meet the requirements. You will be directly admitted to the Master’s program, if either both interviewers, or at least the professor involved, agree on your aptitude for the program. Else, the complete admission committee, consisting of three professors and two academic employees decides about the application.

Additional Application for International Students

As an international student, you must also apply for admission through a separate procedure managed by the LMU International Office, unless one of the following criteria applies to you:

• you obtained your German university entrance qualification in Germany,
• you obtained your German university entrance qualification at a German school abroad,
• you obtained a German university qualification with a regular study period of at least six semesters (e. g. a Bachelor’s degree),
• you are family member of a (non-German) EU/EAA citizen who is resident in Germany.

More information about who needs to apply where

Information on the application process and required documents is provided by the LMU International Office. Please follow the instructions carefully, and contact the responsible persons in case of questions directly. Please remember, that your application at Digital Cultural Heritage Studies might not yet have been finally evaluated, when you have to submit your application to the International Office.

Applying to the International Office

Registration

After you have been admitted to the program, you will have to register at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität as a student.

International students will receive information on how and when to register for the Master’s program with the letter of admission issued by the International Office.

German citizens and applicants who do not have to apply at the International Office, because they fall into one of the groups exempted from this procedure (see above), can register themselves directly at the Office of the University Registrar (Studentenkanzlei), after receiving the confirmation of aptitude from Digital Cultural Heritage Studies.

Registration at LMU Munich