FAQ

If you are interested in studying at the University of Bern, you should contact the Admissions Office (ZIB), which will clarify the admission requirements for individual applicants. You can find important information about the pre-registration process on the Admissions Office (ZIB)’s website.

Please contact the Admissions Office (ZIB) if you have any further questions regarding the application deadlines and/or the semester and tuition fees.

You can apply online for a Business Administration program.

If you hold one of the listed business administration degrees from a Swiss university of applied sciences with at least 60 ECTS credits, a minimum grade of 5.0, and obtained within the last 6 years, you will be admitted directly to the Master's program in Business Administration. In addition, you must complete 30 ECTS credits of Bachelor's-level business administration courses as a requirement. These 30 ECTS credits can be freely chosen from the business administration course offerings (core study program, excluding internships and the Bachelor's thesis).

With a Bachelor’s degree from a Swiss university of applied sciences with at least 60 ECTS credits in the field of Business Administration and an average grade below 5.0, direct admission to the Master's degree program in Business Administration is not possible. In such cases, applicants are generally placed into the fifth semester of the Bachelor's program in Business Administration. Upon completion, they are awarded a university Bachelor's degree. The 60 ECTS credits typically comprise the following courses:

• Valuation (6 ECTS)
• Bilanzierung (4.5 ECTS)
• Kostenrechnung (3 ECTS)
• Personal und Organisation (6 ECTS)
• Grundlagen des Markenmanagements (4.5 ECTS)
• Management von Geschäftsprozessen (4.5 ECTS)
• Strategische Unternehmensführung (4.5 ECTS)
• Logistik (4.5 ECTS)
• Quantitative Methoden der BWL (6 ECTS)
• Proseminar (4 ECTS)
• Bachelor’s Thesis (10 ECTS)
• Business studies course, freely selectable from the entire range of courses offered at Bachelor level (main study program, except internship) (2.5 ECTS)

Please be aware that it can take some time to review your application. In general, the whole process can take up to eight weeks.

There are two ways to credit external academic attainments:

1. For students who are already enrolled at the University of Bern:
   Please consult the section “Study abroad semester” or the webseite “upon your return (accreditation of external courses)”
2. For students who are not yet enrolled at the University of Bern:

Prospective students should first contact the Admission’s Office (ZIB), which will clarify the admissions requirements for individual applicants.

To be admitted to the master’s programs in “Business Administration” and “Business and Economics”, applicants who have undertaken their academic education abroad must submit an original (or a validated copy) of the GMAT test result. They must achieve the minimum score of Classic 575 points, FOCUS 550 points for the mathematical (quantitative) and language (verbal) sections. The test must be submitted with the application. It is not possible to take the test retrospectively and submit the results later (cf. application documents).

Additional requirements (‘Auflagen’) may be requested for the Master’s programs in BA, B&Ec or B&L. Requirements must not exceed the maximum scope of 60 ECTS credits and are to be met by the end of the student’s master’s program. However, the mark for the requirements at Bachelor’s level that have been completed will not be credited to the Master’s program. It is recommended that the Bachelor's-level requirements be completed prior to beginning Master's coursework, as insufficient prior knowledge may hinder success in Master's-level courses.

Business administration deals with the internal processes and functions of an individual company, e.g. marketing, human resources, finance and accounting or business information systems. The aim is to analyze and optimize economic decisions within a company.

Economics, on the other hand, examines macroeconomic relationships and the behavior of various players (e.g. households, companies, the state) on markets. This includes topics such as supply and demand, inflation, unemployment and international trade relations.

Yes, it is possible to complete the study programs part-time. The maximum duration of study is 10 semesters for the Bachelor’s degree and 8 semesters for the Master’s degree. Students have a high degree of flexibility in the sequence of subjects and can organize their studies in such a way that they can gain valuable professional experience alongside their studies. However, it should be noted that the courses take place during the week and no evening or weekend lectures are offered, as is usual for part-time studies at a university of applied sciences, for example.

In general, we recommend that students start their Bachelor’s degree program in the fall semester, since some of the courses offered in the spring semester complement courses offered in the fall semester. However, with the approval of the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, it is possible to start in the spring semester. In this case, students can postpone complementary courses from the introductory year (i.e. Mathematics I + II and Statistics I+ II) to the subsequent fall semester. Instead, students can complete courses for their minor program(s) so they can still obtain 30 ECTS credits per semester.

It is possible to start the Master’s degree program in either the fall or spring semester.

Students can request a leave of absence if they are completely prevented to attend courses for at least four weeks. Acceptable reasons for a leave of absence may be illness, pregnancy/parenthood, military service or study-related internships outside the plan of studies. Please note the detailed information on deadlines, fees and conditions: 

At Bachelor’s level, students need an extension of their period of study from the 10^th semester onwards. At Master’s level, students require an extension of their period of study from the 8^th semester onwards. To file this, please send this request to the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.

The introductory year (first year of the program) consists of interdisciplinary courses in business administration, economics, social sciences, law, mathematics and statistics. The timetable for the first year of the program is fixed and all students complete the same courses. As a result, it is not possible to select elective courses at this stage. Since the introductory year is of a similar structure for all the degree programs offered by the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, it is easy to switch between the three-degree programs of Business Administration, Economics and Social Sciences.

The introductory year is completed when all the required courses, amounting to a total of 60 ECTS credits, have been undertaken. Upon successful completion, students receive a confirmation. The grades from the introductory studies also count towards the Bachelor’s degree.

Click here to find further information regarding the introductory year (timetables, examination dates, online registration, lecture hall allocation and examination results).

The main study program includes the following components:

• Compulsory subjects in Business Administration (43.5 ECTS credits),
• A proseminar (4 ECTS credits), which provides good preparation for the compulsory Bachelor’s thesis (10 ECTS credits), as well as
• A compulsory business-related internship (6 ECTS credits); further information can be found here.
• Depending on the structure of the Bachelor’s degree program that has been chosen, up to 26.5 ECTS credits of elective courses can be added to the study program. They can be freely selected from the non-compulsory business administration courses on offer at Bachelor’s level.
• The main study program is to be completed with at least one minor, and no more than three, totaling 30 to 60 ECTS credits.

In the main study program, students design their timetables individually. The sequence of the courses is flexible. Students are responsible for coordinating their major and minor subjects.

In general, registration for proseminars is open for approximately two weeks, starting in late October/early November (for the spring semester) and late March (for the fall semester). All students majoring in Business Administration will receive an email with a corresponding link to the registration form shortly before the registration period starts. Students should first find out about the content of the proseminars on offer: the time at which they register will have no impact on their allocation. Once the registration form has been submitted, students will receive a confirmation email from proseminar.bwl@unibe.ch

The final proseminar allocations will be announced via email after the registration deadline and can be accessed on the website of the Departmental Staff Office.

It is important to note that students who drop a proseminar midway through will receive a grade of 1. If a student re-registers for a proseminar in another semester, this registration will be treated as a lower priority. Students who have not yet attended a proseminar will be considered first.

As a rule, students must complete a proseminar prior to starting their thesis project, as this serves as preparation for writing academic papers. The requirements and the procedure for the Bachelor’s thesis are determined by the institutes/departments in which the thesis is written. We recommend that students check the websites of the relevant institutes to obtain further details about requirements and other information.

Students who are already registered at the University of Bern and would like to change their study program/field of study need to do this by the deadline via self-service as part of semester registration. In case of doubt, you should contact the Admissions Office.

In line with this, you can increase your Business Administration major from 120 ECTS credits to 150 ECTS credits at any time. Students can even attend elective courses (up to 26.5 ECTS credits) in the field of Business Administration if the structure of their study program has not yet been officially adjusted. All the completed electives can be stored on the clipboard on CTS. As soon as the structure of the study program has been adjusted, the completed electives can be moved to the relevant blocks.

For the minor ‘required elective courses’, students can study any courses offered across the entire university. The only rule is that the courses must not be part of any of their chosen major and minor programs. This means that students cannot complete any courses offered at the institutes in which they are already completing their major and minor study programs.

Required elective courses are marked accordingly in the electronic course catalog (CTS). To find them, please visit CTS, click on ‘advanced search’, select the relevant faculty, institute and semester and check ‘crediting as optional course’.

Students who have already completed 150 ECTS credits may begin taking Master’s-level courses in advance. The study achievements are stored in the interim section of the CTS (KSL) system until the student officially transitions into the Master’s program.

Once all requirements have been fulfilled, students must actively register their graduation with the WISO Dean's Office. To do so, they must submit the relevant registration form and all required documents to the WISO Dean's Office by the specified deadline.

The Master’s program in Business Administration is a mono program which comprises 90 ECTS credits. It includes the following elements:

Compulsory electives (42-60 ECTS credits)

• 4-6 topic modules (36-54 ECTS credits) (refer to Appendix 1)
• Seminar (6 ECTS credits)

Electives: (10-28 ECTS credits)

• Elective module
• Optional non-BA courses (max. 9 ECTS credits)

Compulsory element (20 ECTS credits)

• Master’s thesis (20 ECTS credits)

The structure for the different specializations within the Master's program is described here. To complete the Master’s program, students must successfully complete at least 4 topic modules and one seminar, as well as courses totaling at least 10 ECTS credits in the elective module area, along with the Master’s thesis. The elective module does NOT count as a topic module.

It is not compulsory to choose a specialization. Students are free to choose a specialization that is listed in Appendix 2 of the study plan M Sc in Business Administration 2015. Students who choose a specialization will move the completed courses to the blocks in question on CTS (KSL).

Yes, you can change your specialization during your studies. Please check the requirements for successfully completing your new specialization.

All the courses which are offered in the field in question count as compulsory electives within the specialization, no matter whether they are lectures or seminars.

No, the Master’s thesis does not have to be written within the specialization.

A topic module is classed as failed when you receive an inadequate grade for a course within it, even after the second attempt. In this case, students have to complete another topic module. If the failed topic module was part of a specialization, students cannot complete their studies in this specific specialization. However, in both cases, students will not be expelled from the study program.

Courses which have already been completed as part of the topic module can be credited as compulsory electives.

Many courses at Master’s level can be credited as optional non-BA courses. In general, Master’s students in Business Administration need to obtain approval for non-BA courses. If the non-BA course requires certain prerequisites, these have to be fulfilled, and the individual accreditation can be processed by making a formal request to the examination panel of the Dean’s Office. The tree search on CTS provides an up-to-date list with all the approved non-BA courses. If students are interested in adding further non-BA courses to the list, they should contact the Academic Student Advice with a specific suggestion.

Prior to starting the Master’s thesis, you should have completed academic attainments amounting to 45 ECTS credits, at least. Students are expected to consult the institutes in question (or their websites) well in advance regarding requirements, regulations and the writing process. The institutes may define additional requirements for the Master’s thesis.

Students actively register their graduation with the WISO Dean's Office. They must complete the relevant application form online, sign it, and submit it along with the required documents to the WISO Dean's Office. Registration via email is not accepted. Please refer to the https://www.wiso.unibe.ch/graduation

The master’s in business administration according to study plan M Sc BWL 2024 is a mono program comprising 90 ECTS credits. The structure of the program without a special qualification is as follows:

Compulsory elective achievements (52.5 - 66 ECTS credits)

• 4 topic modules (40.5 – 54 ECTS credits) (see Appendix 1)
• 2 seminar (12 ECTS credits)

Electives (4 - 22 ECTS credits)

• Elective module
• Non-business administration courses up to 9 ECTS credits

Compulsory achievements (20 ECTS credits)

• Master's thesis (20 ECTS credits)

The structure for the different specializations within the Master's program is described here. To complete the master’s program, students must successfully complete at least 4 topic modules and two seminars, as well as courses totaling at least 4 ECTS credits in the elective module area, along with the master’s thesis. The elective module does NOT count as a topic module.

It is not compulsory to choose a specialization. Students are free to choose a specialization that is listed in Appendix 2 . Students who choose a specialization must select it in the CTS (KSL).

Yes, you can change your specialization during your studies. Please check the requirements for successfully completing your new specialization.

All the courses which are offered in the field in question count as compulsory electives within the specialization, no matter whether they are lectures or seminars.

Yes, the master's thesis must be written within the specialization.

A topic module is classed as a failure when you receive an inadequate grade for a course within it, even after the second attempt. In this case, students must complete another topic module. If the failed topic module was part of a specialization, students cannot complete their studies in this specific specialization. However, in both cases, students will not be expelled from the study program.

Courses which have already been completed as part of the topic module can be credited as compulsory electives.

Many courses at master’s level can be credited as optional non-Business Administration courses. In general, master’s students in Business Administration need to obtain approval for non-BA courses. If the non-BA course requires certain prerequisites, these must be fulfilled, and the individual accreditation can be processed by making a formal request to the examination panel of the Dean’s Office. The tree search on CTS provides an up-to-date list with all the approved non-BA courses. If students are interested in adding further non-BA courses to the list, they should contact the Academic Student Advice with a specific suggestion.

Prior to starting the master’s thesis, you should have completed academic attainments amounting to 45 ECTS credits, at least. Students are expected to consult the institutes in question (or their websites) well in advance regarding requirements, regulations and the writing process. The institutes may define additional requirements for the master’s thesis.

Students actively register their graduation with the WISO Dean's Office. They must complete the relevant application form online, sign it, and submit it along with the required documents to the WISO Dean's Office. Registration via email is not accepted. Please refer to the additional information on the registration process.

The application and accreditation procedure is described in detail on the Business Administration website in the section ‘Registration and accreditation of internships’

In general, you must register your internship before it starts. However, we make an exception if you completed the internship prior to starting your studies. In this case, it is possible to request subsequent accreditation, if the internship meets all the additional formal requirements.

If the required prerequisites are fulfilled, the internship can be credited retrospectively by means of an application. The following documents must be submitted to the Department of Business Administration:

• Written request to the Departmental Staff Office:
  Departementsstab BWL
  Engehaldenstrasse 4
  3012 Bern

• Request addressed to the Departmental Staff Office
• Registration and accreditation form
• A brief description of the activity undertaken (job ad/job description, employment contract and/or a brief description written by the student and signed by the employer)
• Internship Report with the student’s original signature and that of their superior
• Your current transcript of records

The internship must meet all the additional formal requirements:

• The internship must last a minimum of 12 weeks full-time (100%). For every reduction in working hours of 10%, 2.4 weeks must be added to the overall duration of the internship. The minimum degree of employment is 50%, with the duration of the internship being extended accordingly (24 weeks).
• The activity must be clearly related to the field of Business Administration.

Military service (officer or senior non-commissioned officer) can be credited as an internship if all formal requirements are met. Attendance at the recruiting school and officer school cannot be credited.

Students may be given an exemption from the internship if they provide valid evidence that an internship could not be obtained due to the situation on the labor markets, even though they went to sufficient efforts to do so. For this purpose, a request must be written to the examination panel.

Yes, it is possible to complete the internship abroad. For more information, please contact studienberatung.bwl@unibe.ch.

As part of their business studies, students have many opportunities to complete parts of their studies at other universities. Here you can see all exchange opportunities at the University of Bern briefly.

This must be done before going to another university.

This must be done after returning from abroad.

External academic attainments are deemed to be equivalent to a course taught in Bern if the course content is largely the same. When in doubt, the lecturer who offers the course in question at the University of Bern will decide whether they are equivalent. The number of ECTS credits credited from an equivalent external course is capped at the number of ECTS credits that a student would receive if they took the identical course at the University of Bern. If an externally completed course is equivalent to a course offered at the University of Bern, the external course can only be credited if the equivalent course offered in Bern has not yet been completed.

According to the WISO 2024 regulations, business administration as a minor can be studied at bachelor’s level with 15, 30 or 60 ECTS credits (see RSL WISO 2024).

The five business administration courses from the introductory year (15 ECTS credits) are compulsory for all minor programs:

• Einführung in das Management (3 ECTS)
• Einführung in die Wirtschaftsinformatik (3 ECTS)
• Einführung in das Marketing (3 ECTS)
• Einführung in das Finanzmanagement und das Rechnungswesen (3 ECTS)
• Finanzielles Rechnungswesen I – Grundlagen (3 ECTS)

As a result, students who wish to complete a minor in Business Administration encompassing 15 ECTS credits will only complete the five compulsory business administration courses from the introductory year.

For a minor program amounting to 30 ECTS credits, the five business administration courses from the introductory year (15 ECTS credits) are compulsory. The remaining 15 ECTS credits are to be completed by selecting courses from the rest of the Bachelor’s lecture program for Business Administration (cf. BWL-Studienplan 2007, Bachelorstufe, Art. 19, Abs. 3).

Students who wish to obtain the minor in Business Administration encompassing 60 ECTS credits must complete the following compulsory courses (18 ECTS credits), in addition to the 15 ECTS credits for the business administration courses from the introductory year (cf. BWL-Studienplan 2007 Art. 19 Abs. 2):

• Bilanzierung (4.5 ECTS)
• Kostenrechnung (3 ECTS)
• Grundlagen des Markenmanagements (4.5 ECTS)
• Personal und Organisation (6 ECTS)

The remaining 27 ECTS credits are to be completed in the form of courses that students are free to select from the rest of the Bachelor’s lecture program for Business Administration (cf. BWL-Studienplan 2007, Bachelorstufe, Art. 19, Abs. 3).

According to the Business Administration study plan 2007 (BWL-Studienplan 2007), the minor program in Business Information Systems encompasses either 15 or 30 ECTS credits. (cf. BWL-Studienplan 2007, Bachelorstufe, Art. 20). However, this minor program is only available to students who are not majoring in Business Administration.

The minor degree program in Business Information Systems encompassing 30 ECTS credits comprises the following compulsory courses:

Introductory courses (12 ECTS credits):

• Einführung in das Management
• Einführung in die Wirtschaftsinformatik
• Einführung in das Marketing
• Einführung in das Finanzmanagement und das Rechnungswesen

In addition, at least 12 ECTS credits are to be completed by undertaking courses that students are free to select from the rest of the lecture program for Business Information Systems. Furthermore, 6 ECTS credits must be completed in the form of courses to be freely selected from the rest of the lecture program for Business Administration (not Business Information Systems).

The minor degree program in Business Information Systems amounting to a total of 15 ECTS credits comprises the following compulsory subjects:

Introductory course (3 ECTS credits):

• Einführung in die Wirtschaftsinformatik

In addition, 12 ECTS credits are to be completed by undertaking courses that students are free to select from the rest of the lecture program for Business Information Systems.

The Department of Business Administration offers a minor in Business Administration (30 ECTS credits) at master’s level. To study the minor program at master’s level, students are required to have previously completed the minor program at bachelor’s level, encompassing at least 30 ECTS credits (cf. BWL-Studienplan 2024, Masterstufe, Art. 19).

The minor program at master’s level encompasses at least one topic module as a compulsory elective. To reach 30 ECTS credits, the remaining credits are to be completed by selecting elective courses from the rest of the lecture program.

No, there is no timetable for students minoring in Business Administration. Timetables must be individually compiled by each student. Please have a look at the overview of the lecture program and further information when planning your studies.

Examinations usually take place at the end of each semester. The first examination period for the fall semester starts at the beginning of January. The second examination period for the fall semester usually takes place in the week before the new semester starts in February. The first examination period for the spring semester starts in June while the second examination period for the spring semester usually takes place in the week before the new semester starts in September.

Students can register and deregister for examinations in CTS. It is important to observe both the registration and deregistration deadlines. If you deregister for an examination, you are not automatically registered for the next examination date.

Short notice deregistration’s from examinations due to health reasons are to be directly reported to the institute/department conducting the exam (and a medical certificate should be provided). An unexcused absence will be classed as an attempted examination and will result in a grade of 1.

Students have a right to view the script for each examination they have taken. Examination script viewings are organized by the relevant institutes/departments. Students will be informed of the process and must register individually to view their examination scripts.

In principle, the bachelor’s degree course is deemed to have been passed if you have achieved a grade of at least 4.0 (or higher) in all examinations. The weighted average of the individual grades of all performance records then gives the average/grade point average achieved in the degree program.

However, up to two unsatisfactory examination results (grade < 4.0) can be compensated for in the introductory course with other more than sufficient examination grades (grade ≥ 4.0). The weighted average of the individual grades of all performance records must be at least 4.25, a 4.0 is not sufficient in this case (see RSL WISO 2024, Art. 49). However, if no insufficient grades are compensated for in the introductory studies, i.e. all grades are sufficient, a grade average of 4.0 is sufficient for the introductory studies to be considered passed and completed.

Grades can no longer be compensated for in the main study program. However, all compulsory business studies courses can be repeated twice, i.e. you have 3 examination attempts for each of them. The remaining courses (freely selectable business administration courses and/or courses of the minor(s)) can only be repeated once, i.e. you have 2 examination attempts for each of these (see RSL WISO 2024, Art. 41).

In the introductory year, students will be expelled from the study program if they have more than two inadequate grades, or if they have exactly two inadequate grades but do not reach the required overall grade of 4.25, which is why they cannot compensate for their inadequate grades.

In the main study program, students are excluded from their program if they fail compulsory courses on their third attempt.

Students have three attempts for the compulsory lectures, while two attempts are possible for the freely selectable courses. 

Students who started their Bachelor’s study program in the fall semester 2007, or later, are studying in accordance with the ‘WISO-Reglement 2024’ and the associated ‘BWL-Studienplan 2007’.

For minor students, the authoritative regulation is determined by the date of the first examination attempt. It does not matter whether the first examination attempt is in the field of Business Administration or in another field of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences (e.g. Economics). In general, students study in accordance with the ‘WISO-Reglement 2006/Studienplan 2007’.

>>Regulations

Students who started their master’s degree in the fall semester 2015, or later (according to the registration form), are studying in accordance with the ‘WISO-Reglement 2024’ and the associated ‘BWL-Studienplan 2014’.

The same regulations apply to minor study programs.

>>Regulations