The funded deadline closes a year before the course starts
Munich’s IP master’s costs €39,500, and the scholarship that waives it shut on 15 October — for a course beginning in October 2027. The ordinary admission window for that same intake opens on 1 November. So you can still be admitted, and then discover the money went a year earlier. The free route is the one to start this week.
2 routes · 1 free · checked 20 October 2026
Do the free one first, and do it now
WIPO’s general IP course costs nothing, takes about six weeks, and registration for this session closes on 10 December. It is not a scholarship and nobody should pretend otherwise, but it gives you the vocabulary that makes a Munich application writable instead of vague, and a UN certificate on a CV that may be thin on credentials. If a funded LL.M. is your real goal, the earliest window you can still reach runs 1 June to 15 October 2027, for an October 2028 start. That is twenty months of preparation time, and six of these weeks belong at the front of it.
The two routes, and what each one actually is
One is a free certificate. The other is a degree with a four-figure fee and six scholarships.
| Guide | What it actually is | Cost | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| WIPO DL-101, General Course on IP | Not a scholarship. A free online course from the WIPO Academy in Geneva, twelve modules, a multiple-choice final exam and an electronic certificate on passing. Available in seven languages, with an accessible format for print-disabled learners. | Free | Registration closes 10 December 2026 for this session |
| MIPLC LL.M. in IP and Competition Law | A one-year master’s in Munich, two semesters, taught in English. Needs a degree worth at least 240 ECTS and a year of professional experience. The DAAD route waives the whole fee, usually for about six people a year. | €39,500 plus a €50 application fee | Regular window 1 November 2026 to 30 April 2027 |
Start with the honest framing of the free one, because it saves readers from disappointment. DL-101 carries no stipend, no travel money and no degree. What it gives you is a verifiable certificate from a United Nations agency for six weeks of work and zero rupees, plus the entry key to WIPO’s advanced and specialised courses, which is where the subject genuinely deepens. For a law student, an engineer with an invention, a designer or anyone drafting a research proposal on IP, that is a good trade.
If you have never studied IP at all, there is a shorter course underneath it. The Primer on Intellectual Property, DL-001, is also free and much shorter, and it stops the first two modules of DL-101 feeling like a wall. Doing both still costs nothing.
Munich runs two calendars, and they barely overlap
This is the single most expensive misunderstanding in the field.
| DAAD EPOS route | Regular route | |
|---|---|---|
| Window | 1 June to 15 October of the previous year | 1 November to 30 April |
| For an October 2027 start | Closed on 15 October 2026 | Opens 1 November 2026 |
| What you get | A full fee waiver, usually about six a year | Admission, and a chance at a partial waiver |
| Work experience needed | Two years, plus a letter from your current employer | One year of full-time professional experience |
| Decision | DAAD decides in early March | Scholars chosen by the end of June |
| Next reachable window | 1 June to 15 October 2027, for an October 2028 start | Open now, for October 2027 |
Read the first two rows together and the trap becomes obvious. Someone who finds MIPLC in January sees an open application, applies in good faith, receives an offer in the spring, and only then learns that the scholarship closed the previous October. What remains at that point is a bill for €39,500, payable in three instalments, the first of which is a non-refundable guarantee payment due within four weeks of admission. Housing, living costs and travel sit entirely outside that figure.
One line from MIPLC’s own instructions is worth memorising before you start either route: where MIPLC’s requirements and DAAD’s differ, the stricter one applies. You do not get to pick the easier rule, which is why the two-year experience bar and the employer letter govern anyone chasing the waiver.
The details that end Munich applications
Four of them, and the first is worth checking before you read any further.
| Requirement | What it means in practice | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 240 ECTS credits | Generally a four-year bachelor’s or longer. A degree below that figure shuts the programme to you. | Check this first. There is no route around it. |
| The €50 application fee | Charged on every application including scholarship applications, by wire transfer only. No cards, no PayPal. You cover the bank charges and your name must appear in the reference. | Non-refundable, even if you are not admitted. |
| Two referees who send letters themselves | One academic and one professional, sent directly by the referees rather than by you. This is the item that sets your whole timeline. | Ask them months early, not weeks. |
| Transcripts with ranking information | Grading scales and class ranking for every degree, plus a completed Grade Conversion Sheet. Pakistani universities are slow with ranking data. | Request it in the first week you decide to apply. |
One detail is worth a quiet sigh of relief. The APS certificate requirement applies to applicants from India, Vietnam and China, and Pakistan does not appear on that list in MIPLC’s instructions. That removes an entire bureaucratic step that catches applicants from neighbouring countries, so do not copy their checklists.
Another is worth knowing if you worry that your year of experience does not count. Postgraduate internships, graduate research assistant posts and legal traineeships all qualify, and part-time work counts pro rata. A year spent as a research assistant is not wasted time here.
Questions readers ask about IP funding
The five that arrive most often.
Is WIPO DL-101 a scholarship?
No, and you should ignore any page that describes it as one. There is no stipend, no travel funding and no degree. It is a free certificated short course from a UN agency, and its value sits in the certificate line on your CV, the vocabulary it gives you, and the access it opens to WIPO’s advanced courses.
How long does the free course really take?
About six weeks, with roughly 55 to 65 hours of material depending on which WIPO or national office sheet you read, so the figure varies a little by source. Sixty hours across six weeks is ten hours a week, which is manageable. Across a final week it is a failed exam, and you need to pass the multiple-choice final to receive the certificate.
Can I get the Munich LL.M. funded for next year?
Not for October 2027. That funded window closed on 15 October 2026. You can still apply for admission between 1 November and 30 April, but without the waiver you face €39,500. If the money matters, aim at 1 June to 15 October 2027 for an October 2028 start and use the extra year to reach the two-year experience bar.
My bachelor’s is three years. Can I apply to MIPLC?
Probably not. MIPLC asks for a completed degree worth at least 240 ECTS credits, which it describes as generally equivalent to a four-year bachelor’s. Check your own credit total before you spend anything, including the non-refundable €50, because nothing in the rest of the application rescues a shortfall.
What should I write the motivation letter about?
A specific IP problem you have actually met at work, in a thousand words or fewer. Not a general interest in the field, which every applicant claims. If you lack the vocabulary to frame that problem precisely, the free WIPO course is six weeks well spent before you write a line of it.
Start here
The documents both applications need, and the fields next door.
Free Europass CV builder
MIPLC wants a Europass CV in English, which is not an ordinary CV layout, and the WIPO certificate belongs on it.
Tool
Writing your motivation letter
A thousand words is tighter than it sounds. This covers getting one argument into that space.
Documents
Asking for a reference letter
Munich’s two referees send their letters themselves, so brief them early and properly.
Documents
Law scholarships
The wider set of funded law routes, several of which run on the same DAAD scheme.
Related field
The ladder is the point of this page. Six free weeks with WIPO this winter, a year of relevant work, then the funded Munich window in June 2027 for an October 2028 start. Written out like that, a programme that looked unreachable becomes a plan with dates in it. The two slow items on the Munich side are the referees and your university’s ranking information, so request both the week you decide rather than the month before. And confirm every figure on the funder’s own page before you pay anything, because the €50 application fee is non-refundable and payable by wire transfer only, with the bank charges on you.