International Business Studies, B.Sc.
Today, companies and organizations employ young people who not only have business and economic training, but also have solid language skills, have a sense of different business cultures and national institutions, and are familiar with internationalization issues.
Programme facts
| Degree | Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) |
|---|---|
| Duration | 6 semesters, 180 ECTS |
| Language of instruction | German |
| Required German | C1 |
| Study mode | Full-Time |
| Start | Winter semester |
| Application | Via uni-assist, winter semester until 31.05 |
| Admission | Admission restriction (NC): a competition of school grades |
| Tuition fee | €0 per semester for international students |
| Semester contribution | €351.15 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 →About the programme
All of these aspects are combined in the International Business Studies (IBS) course. In addition to economics, you will receive training in two foreign languages (in addition to English, you will deepen either French or Spanish). In the respective foreign language, the focus is on you learning the skills that are relevant in the respective language in business. This means that not only the technical languages are taught in language teaching, but also the ability to give lectures in the respective languages, write applications and CVs and communicate confidently. This is not possible without a sound knowledge of the customs of the respective cultural areas. In addition, special courses are offered for IBS students, in which you deal with economic institutions in a country comparison. IBS is not only international in terms of course content: during your studies, you can spend a semester abroad at one of the approximately 70 partner universities of the faculty!
What you study
2 phases - assessment and profiling
In the first year, the so-called assessment phase, your schedule is largely prescribed. You can only choose between French and Spanish for the foreign languages. The choice then applies to the entire Bachelor's degree. In the economics subjects, you learn management theories, entrepreneurial thinking and acting, fundamentals of accounting, taxation and financing as well as economics. The basic subjects give you an overview of the breadth of economics. They also help you identify where your own interests and strengths lie. You will also learn basic methods in math and statistics that will help you in later subjects.
The full curriculum and the programme's parameters are part of programme selection: we compare them with your profile.
Pick programmesCareer
The occupational fields essentially depend on the profile to be selected by the students, which is based on the options:
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- Management: marketing management, market research, personnel management, organizational development, strategic corporate planning, business consulting
- Taxation, accounting and finance: tax consultancy and auditing professions, controlling, internal / external accounting, finance management, risk management, management consultancy, all areas in credit institutions
- Production, logistics & controlling: production planning and control, project management, interface technical vs. commercial area, business consulting, controlling, corporate management
- Applied International Economics: Management positions in companies, public administration (e.g. ministries, EU), international organizations (e.g. IMF, World Bank, UN), non-governmental organization
- Business informatics: data analysis, IT consulting, service engineering and management, supply chain management, operations research, social media management
The two foreign languages enable these activities to be pursued in internationally operating companies (in Germany or abroad).
Cost of study
| Tuition fee of the federal state (North Rhine-Westphalia), international students | €0 |
|---|---|
| Semester contribution | €351.15 |
Requirements and application
| Previous education | Mark Twain once said: "The man with a new idea is a spinner until it turns out to be successful!" But how do companies implement ideas and how do they become successful internationally? |
|---|---|
| Language | German C1 — confirmed by a certificate when you apply |
| Application | Via uni-assist, winter semester until 31.05 |
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 31.05uni-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.
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 31.05.2027 (229 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.