Health Economics, B.Sc.
This programme equips you with the interdisciplinary skills in Medicine, Management, and Policy required for a career in healthcare. You will gain a foundational understanding of relevant stakeholders and learn methods for applying health economics tools in decision-making processes.
Programme facts
| Degree | Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) |
|---|---|
| Duration | 6 semesters, 180 ECTS |
| Language of instruction | German, English |
| Required German | C1 |
| Required English | B2 |
| Study mode | Full-Time |
| Start | Winter semester |
| Application | Via uni-assist, winter semester until 15.07 |
| Admission | Admission restriction (NC): a competition of school grades |
| Tuition fee | €0 per semester for international students |
| Semester contribution | €355.65 per semester |
What the tuition fee consists of
Will I get in
The programme has an admission restriction: the average grade of your certificate, converted to the German scale, decides. The cut-off changes every year — last year's value shows the order of magnitude, not a promise.
How the selection works and how strong the competition is — we go through it against your certificate when we select programmes for you.
Programme selection →What you study
The Health Economics programme offers an interdisciplinary understanding of healthcare, focusing on Management, Economics, and Medicine. It covers the management perspective (i.e., business administration), the system perspective (i.e., economics and social policy), and the medical perspective (i.e., professionals and patients).
Students can specialise in hospital management and consultancy through the Health Care Manager Track or pursue academic careers with the Health Care Analyst Track, with the option to combine both.
The programme includes a foundational area for essential knowledge, a focus area for advanced seminars, and a supplementary area for profile development. The Bachelor’s thesis, completed at the end of the programme, can be either research or practice-oriented.
The full curriculum and the programme's parameters are part of programme selection: we compare them with your profile.
Pick programmesCareer
In terms of career prospects, Cologne is a very attractive location for students of health economics. Many hospitals, well-known pharmaceutical companies, insurance and consulting institutions are located in Cologne and the surrounding area. We help you to get in touch with our partners, even before completing your studies.
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With the completion of the interdisciplinary Bachelor’s degree in Health Economics, you will be prepared or a job in public or private healthcare institutions. Your work will include tasks in the field of management, administration, or associations as well as health policy institutions. Further career prospects for graduates of this interdisciplinary degree programme are workings in academic teaching as well as in health policy research.
Health Care Manager Track
Exemplary areas for job opportunities are:
- Controller in a hospital
- Assistant to the hospital board
- (Corporate) Consultant
- Project Manager of healthcare providers
- Quality Manager
Health Care Analyst Track
Exemplary areas for job opportunities are:
- Consultant
- Data Analyst
- Analyst for the healthcare system
- Health Economist
- Market Access Manager for Pharmaceuticals
- Pharmaceutical Researcher
Cost of study
| Tuition fee of the federal state (North Rhine-Westphalia), international students | €0 |
|---|---|
| Semester contribution | €355.65 |
Requirements and application
| Previous education | You should have the following skills and knowledge: A keen interest in familiarising yourself with interdisciplinary topics Willingness to perform and ability to work in a team, as working in groups is frequently practised in seminars and is an important skill for combining different perspectives in the healthcare sector Independent, goal- and result-orientated learning Good mathematical understanding and analytical thinking Good verbal communication skills in German and English |
|---|---|
| Language | German C1, English B2 — confirmed by a certificate when you apply |
| Application | Via uni-assist, winter semester until 15.07 |
The procedure and the set of documents depend on your certificate. We check the university's requirements against your documents and give you a list: what to submit, how to certify and translate it, where and when to apply.
Check the requirementsHow to get into this programme
- 1Check your certificate and its recognitionDirect admission, a year at a university at home, or Studienkolleg first — this decides the whole plan.
- 2German up to C1 and a certificateDSH or TestDaF has to be passed before you apply.
- 3Documents and translationsCertified translations of the certificate and transcript, an APS if required. 3–4 weeks.
- 4Application via uni-assist until 15.07uni-assist checks documents for 4–6 weeks — send them well before the deadline.
- 5Admission, visa, movingPlan 2–3 months for the visa and the blocked account in parallel.
How to apply
You can submit the application yourself or with our help — the university decides on admission in both cases.
Applications go through the university's portal or uni-assist. Typical mistakes:
- ×incorrectly made certified copies and translations
- ×a wrong set of documents
- ×the application submitted the wrong way
- ×errors or gaps in the application form
- ×the application submitted at the wrong time — too early or too late
An incomplete or incorrectly prepared application is excluded from the selection — it can no longer be corrected after the deadline.
StudyInFocus does not represent the university and does not influence the admission decision. We do not sell study places and do not guarantee admission — this is a service for preparing and submitting documents on the applicant's side.
If your level is not enough yet
The two most common stoppers are a language level below the requirement and a certificate without direct admission. Both can be solved, but they take months — plan them now, not after a rejection.
Video about the programme
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Questions about this programme
How much does the programme cost?
What language level do I need?
When do I need to apply?
Don't postpone the application
The deadline is 15.07.2027 (274 days left). Language, translations and the document check take months, not weeks. In 30 minutes we will build a plan backwards from the deadline and tell you honestly whether you can make it.