Admission Requirements

 

What Are the Admission Requirements?

As of the winter semester 2015/2016, a two-phase admissions procedure has been in place. This new procedure takes

• the academic and language proficiency requirements as well as
• the grading of the applicant's first degree

into consideration.

A. Academic Requirements:  

a) An accredited degree in business/economics (e.g. an accredited Bachelor's degree)

b) Evidence of your having gained the following ECTS credit points:

• at least 60 ECTS credit points in economics/business subjects
• at least 15 ECTS credit points from modules in general economics
• at least 30 ECTS credit points from modules in general business administration and
• at least  6 ECTS credit points from modules in decision theory or operations research
• at least 14 ECTS credit points from modules in mathematics or statistics

For more detailed information, please consult the following webpages.

Evidence of academic requirement fulfillment must be submitted with the admission application (in the form of examinations passed). Evidence may not be submitted after the deadline for submission of admission applications has expired (for example, if an examination has not yet been graded). There is one exception to this rule, and that is where mandatory modules ("Pflichtmodule") are concerned; however, the applicant must provide evidence with the admission application that the modules in question are actually mandatory ones.

c) Evidence of your language proficiency

• If neither your first degree nor your university entrance qualification was gained from a German-speaking institution, you must provide evidence of your proficiency in the German language. We accept the following qualifications: DSH/TestDaF/KMK II/KDS/Großes Deutsches Sprachdiplom/Deutsche Sprachprüfung II des Sprachen- und Dolmetscher-Institutes München (Münich).

• If neither your first degree nor your university entrance qualification was part of an English-speaking academic program, you must provide evidence of your proficiency in the English language. The following qualifications are accepted: TOEFL/IELTS or equivalent. Certification of the language proficiency must clearly show that the B2 level has been fully acheived in each of the 4 domains "reading", "speaking", "comprehension", and "writing", i.e. that the candidate is entitled to move on to the next level - C1. On the basis of the General Examination Regulations in combination with the conditions for this specific program of study, we also accept as evidence a German "Abitur" certificate showing that the student took English continuously up to the end of the qualification phase 1 (class 11 for the G8-Abitur, otherwise class 12) and that grades of at least satisfactory ("ausreichend") were achieved. The following language proficiency qualifications are accepted:
• TOEFL (at least 90 points)
• IELTS (at least a 5.5)
• FCE (at least a "B")
• Placement-Test des Aachener Sprachenzentrums (at least MK7)

• Evidence of English language proficiency must be provided with your admission application! Exceptions are not possible!
• Where evidence of German language proficiency is required, the deadlines stipulated by the International Office at RWTH Aachen University must be observed.

B. Grading of First Degree Held by Applicant

The selection procedure is guided by the grading of the first degree held by the applicant.

Due to the greatly increased number of applications for the School’s M.Sc. in Business Administration program of study, the School last year made the decision to introduce a restricted admission procedure (“Numerus Clausus”). Together with the Fachschaft (the School’s student representative body), the School elaborated a proposal for such a procedure which – in addition to the grade also took the so-called ECTS-percentile into account (i.e. the applicant ranks among the best 10%, 25%, 30%, or 35%). The intention of this proposal was to ensure a fairer distribution of admissions than a procedure would that is based solely on the grade of the Bachelor’s degree.

Although the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Research of the State of North-Rhine Westphalia – in its capacity as the relevant regulatory authority – essentially welcomed our proposal, the proposal was rejected. The reason given was that there are plans to implement a pilot project across the whole federal state which would consider ECTS-percentiles as entrance and admission requirements. Although the School Council is not in agreement with this reasoning, it is, of course, obliged to respect the Ministry’s decision.

This means, then, that the University’s general selection regulation will enter into force for the Numerus Clausus procedure, according to which solely the grade of the Bachelor’s degree will be relevant. However, all applicants must fulfill the stringent academic requirements which have been applied ever since the introduction of the Master’s degree program. All graduates of the business or business and engineering Bachelor’s programs offered by the School of Business and Economics fulfill the profile of requirements.

The School of Business and Economics regrets the current situation and intends to do all it can to install a fairer procedure as soon as possible. One important step has already been taken: the School applied and was accepted to participate in the above mentioned pilot project.

Consequently, for all applications as of the winter semester 2015/2016, the grade of the Bachelor’s degree will be relevant. If the Bachelor’s degree program of study has not yet been fully completed, the current average grade will be taken into consideration, as will also the sum of the credit points for modules which have not yet been completed but are required in order to gain the Bachelor’s degree, weighted by the grade “satisfactory” (ausreichend).