SAGSE was advised by the Victorian Registration & Qualification Authority (VRQA) that international student exchange programs in Victoria could resume in 2022. Accordingly, SAGSE restarted its exchange at the end of 2022. The resumption was conditional on being able to meet all COVID-19 vaccination and health requirements in sending and receiving students from Australia to Germany and vice versa. SAGSE retains the capacity to cancel its exchange program in case the regulator or health authorities in either country restrict, suspend or disallow any exchange or international travel.
Each year, the Victorian, Western Australian and New South Wales (TBC) branches of SAGSE each offer approximately a dozen scholarships to students in Year 11 (and Year 12 in Victoria) who are studying German. Scholarship opportunities have also been offered in QLD including opportunities to host a German student. Students leave Australia at the end of November and spend 10 weeks living with a German family and attending a German school, returning at the beginning of February. During their stay in Germany, the students attend a camp run by GASS Germany, as well as a group trip to Berlin which includes a reception at either the Australian or New Zealand Embassy before returning home.
Students are accompanied by a Group Leader elected by SAGSE and an experienced former scholarship recipient, who will be the first point of contact
through the exchange period. Students are hosted by German scholarship winners, who will subsequently travel to Australia the following June
- August period.
Upon arrival in Germany, students are met by their host families and representatives of the German arm of SAGSE, GDANSA e.V.
Students often speak of their personal growth whilst overseas as they become more self confident, tolerant, independent and self reliant. Whilst living away from home for 10 weeks is highly rewarding it can be quite demanding and requires students to have a great strength of character, be understanding and self responsible.
Whilst this exchange provides students with lifelong friendships, memories and experiences, it teaches them valuable life skills as it is often their first extended period of separation from their family.
Scholarship winners receive fully-paid return airfares from their home town to their destination in Germany. Students do not pay board to their host families and are not required to host a German student on their return. Students should be aware that accepting a scholarship may involve missing some part of the school year in Australia.
Applicants who have previously hosted a German student through our hosting program are advantaged in the selection process. Click here for more
information about Hosting a German Student.
When applying for a scholarship consideration should be given that there will be some additional expenses. These include the GASS Germany Wintercamp (approximate cost $200) and Health and Travel Insurance (approximate cost $300).
Each student will require his or her own spending money whilst in Germany (approximately 2-3 months).
SAGSE is seeking well-rounded young adults who have the capacity to be positive ambassadors for themselves, SAGSE and Australia. To be eligible for selection, students must be in Year 11 or 12 and either be studying VCE German at the time of their application, or have previously completed VCE German.
Some of the attributes of an outstanding candidate may include:
Sign up for a SAGSE account and follow all instructions for submitting an application. This process is outlined below. APPLICATIONS IN VICTORIA FOR 2023/24 OPEN UNTIL 23 June 2023 @ 5pm.
Sign up and submit application
For any queries, please email selection.vic@sagse.org.au
The application process involves a three-step process:
The online application process requires you to complete 5 parts: A. Information about yourself, B. School information, C. Your motivation to apply for a SAGSE scholarship, D. School and German language teacher references and E. Parental/guardian consent.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION IN RELATION TO THE ONLINE PROCESS: It is highly recommended to prepare as many steps as possible offline and save your responses to the online questions and selection criteria locally on your device. Please minimize file sizes of the attachments to ensure successful uploads. At the end of the upload process you will receive an on-screen message/confirmation email if all compulsory fields have been completed and the application has been uploaded successfully. PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU CANNOT SUBMIT OR SAVE PARTIAL APPLICATIONS FOR LATER.
Also remember to subscribe to SAGSE in order to receive automated information regarding the process.
If you are considering to apply for a 2023/24 scholarship in Victoria you can start preparing by collating the following information:
- passport-style photo
- most recent end-of-year school report
- parent/guardian consent (download the form here)
- confidential school report (download the form here)
- confidential German language teacher report (download the form here)
Give the confidential school report and German language teacher report to your school representative as soon as you decide to apply. Please emphasise the need for your school to forward that to selection.vic@sagse.org.au by the due date.
SAGSE recommends that you collate all necessary information prior to starting the online application. We recommend to keep the file names of your attachments as short as possible, include your lastname as part of the file name (e.g. Report_Smith2023.pdf or Photo_Smith2023.jpg) and avoid using spaces and special characters in file names. If you have previously applied, we recommend to rename files by using, for example a year reference in the file name (see above) before uploading.
Applicants will be informed within a month of their application if they have been short-listed for an interview. Applicants who have not been informed of an interview within two months should assume that they have been unsuccessful.
IMPORTANT UPDATE FOR STUDENTS IN NSW
Due to a reorganisation of the SAGSE activities in NSW, we regret that currently
no details in relation to scholarship activities in NSW can be confirmed. At this stage, no German exchange students are scheduled
to come to NSW and consequently the reciprocal exchange from Australia to Germany has been suspended. Whilst the situation is certainly
disappointing, SAGSE encourages everyone interested in the scholarship in NSW to check back for further updates next year.
Scholarships are made possible by our generous Sponsors.
