Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - School of Business and Economics

The academic calendar is divided into 2 semesters. The winter semester: 1 October - 31 March and the summer semester: 1 April - 30 September. The lecture period starts in mid-October and mid-April, while the exams take place in February/March and July/August. All academic deadlines and dates can be found here.

Depending on availability and the agreements with your home university, you may spend one semester or one academic year at our faculty.

Bachelor and Master students may complete an exchange programme at the School of Business and Economics. Doctoral students may apply as regular students at the Faculty's Graduate Centre.

Information about halls of residence and flats for students can be found on the website of the central international office. Your contact for these matters is exchange-students@hu-berlin.de.

Information on visa matters can be found on the website of the central international office. Your contact for this is exchange-students@hu-berlin.de.

You can find information about health insurance on the website of the central international office. Your contact for this is exchange-students@hu-berlin.de.

Bachelor students must demonstrate German language proficiency at level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

Master students must provide proof of English language proficiency at level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

The following certificates for German as a foreign language will be accepted:

• Zentrale Oberstufenprüfung (ZOB)
• kleines deutsches Sprachdiplom (KDS)
• Großes deutsches Sprachdiplom (GDS)
• Deutsche Sprachprüfung für den Hochschulzugang – DSH
• Deutsch als Fremdsprache - TestDaF

Here you can find a list of proof of English language skills that will be accepted.

You can take the online test for German as a foreign language on the website of the Humboldt University Language Centre.
The test is called ‘C-Test’ and is free of charge.
You may only take it once.
You should achieve at least 61 out of 100 points.
Download your results as proof of achievement.
Click here for the free German test

We will then accept your application with reservations if you register for a 4-week intensive German course before the start of the lecture period. Intensive German courses (DaF) - HU German Language Academy.

You can take the online test for English as a foreign language on the website of the Humboldt University Language Centre.
The test is called ‘C-Test’ and is free of charge.
You may only take it once.
You should achieve at least 81 out of 100 points.
Download your results as proof of achievement.
Click here for the free English test

Yes, this is sufficient proof of language proficiency if you have already completed one year of university study.

Yes, we accept this as proof of language skills.

Yes, this is sufficient proof of language proficiency.

Yes, we accept this as proof of language proficiency.

This is the notification of your details and the official recommendation as an exchange student at our university made by your home university.
In this way, we ensure that you come from a partner university and fulfil the requirements. Nevertheless, you will have to apply directly to us again.
The nomination itself becomes a requirement.

No, your home university will nominate you.

Your home university has time until 15 May for the winter semester and 15 November for the summer semester to nominate you.

As soon as you have been nominated by your home university, you will receive an e-mail from the central international office with a link to the MoveOn application platform. You can apply there.

Depending on when your home university nominates you, you will receive the e-mail with the link.

These are the application windows:

for the winter semester: 15th April - 31st May
for the summer semester: 15. October - 30th November

No, unfortunately we cannot accept applications from students who have not been nominated.

The best contact person to ask is the outgoing team at your home university.

During your online application, you can also apply for accommodation in a student hall of residence. You can find more information here. Your contact for this is the central International Office.

Yes, although there are no tuition fees for you at the HU, semester fees must be paid. These fees amount to around 250 euros and may vary slightly. You will find the exact amount in the letter of admission that you receive in the e-mail from the central international office.

In the e-mail from the central international office you will also find the current enrolment deadline.

These are the documents:

• completed enrolment application (you will also receive the form by e-mail from the central international office)
• Proof of health insurance
• Proof of payment for the semester fee

 

Further information can be found here.

By returning the required documents by e-mail.

If you have not received the e-mail, please contact exchange-students@hu-berlin.de.

If you have any doubts regarding the modality, the deadline, the payment of fees, the documents required for enrolment, please contact exchange-students@hu-berlin.de.

You can find information on visa and residence permit matters on the website of the central International Office.

There are no restrictions regarding the degree programme or the three areas (compulsory and basic courses, elective courses and interdisciplinary elective courses) of the courses.

Yes, the requirements of your own degree programme at your home university should be met, and you should possess the language and academic level required for the course.

Bachelor students may only take courses from Master degree programmes with the written consent (e-mail is sufficient) of the lecturer. In addition, both the departmental coordinator and the exchange coordinator at the home university should support the application to attend that course.

Master students may take Bachelor courses without restrictions from our side, but it is strongly recommended that you check whether these are then recognised at your home university.

You can find it on AGNES. You can search by degree programme or by faculty. No password is required for the course catalogue. Please make sure that the correct semester (winter/summer) is displayed at the top left and enter ‘Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät’ (Faculty of Business and Economics in German) under ‘Department’ in the search window if you are searching by faculty.

The updated catalogue for the winter semester is published in September, the catalogue for the summer semester in March. If the catalogue for your semester abroad has not yet been published, you can refer to the previous year's catalogue with caution. Please note that some courses may be cancelled or changed from year to year.

Most lectures are worth 6 ECTS points.

You can usually find them under ‘Remarks’ after the abbreviation ‘LP’, which stands for 'Leistungspunkte', credit points in German.

No, registration/enrolment is not required. Exceptions are clearly marked on AGNES.

Yes, the registration/enrolment procedure and deadline are indicated on AGNES.

Yes, you can find out about the registration/enrolment procedure and deadline on the programme website Berlin Perspectives Programm.

Yes, you can find out how and when to register/enrol on the language centre website.

The Learning Agreement is a document that lists the courses you would like to take during your stay abroad. The Learning Agreement also contains the equivalent courses that you would like to have recognised at your home university.

You must send us the Learning Agreement for signature before the start of the lecture period (mid-October for the winter semester and mid-April for the summer semester).

Yes, the Learning Agreement may be amended up to 3 weeks after the start of the lecture period. Special cases must be discussed individually.

Yes, even if your home university does not require a Learning Agreement, we need to know which courses you intend to take at our faculty/university.

The Learning Agreement should ideally be submitted via the OLA portal. If your home university does not support the portal and/or you are not an Erasmus student, please use the form from your home university and send it to us at incomings-wiwi@hu-berlin.de.

In principle, it is not permitted to take courses from other faculties. However, if you have applied for and got an approval, please make sure that the courses at the School of Business and Economics (the internal courses) do not make up less than 50% of the chosen course load.

No, these courses are neither internal nor external, i.e. they are excluded from the calculation of the ratio.

No, the School of Business and Economics does not set a minimum or maximum number of ECTS points that you should achieve. However, we recommend that you do not attemtp to achieve more than 30 ECTS credits, otherwise the workload would be too heavy.

Yes, please note that your home university may have different conditions (for example, most likely regarding the minimum number of ECTS credits) and deadlines. You must also comply with these too.

AGNES is the online portal where you can find all Humboldt Universität (HU) courses. Through AGNES you can also sign up for exams. Fun fact: it is called after the first female student at Humboldt.

Yes and no. You don´t need a password for checking the course catalogue. On the other hand, you need a HU-Account log in to access your personal area on AGNES.

The account consists of a username and a password. It is required to use all the digital services at Humboldt.

A HU-Account will automatically be created as soon as you enrol. You will only need to activate it.

To activate the HU account and also to reset the password, all HU students receive a PIN number. You will then need to visit this page and enter the PIN from the letter to activate your account.

The central Incoming Team will organise pick up days when you can go and personally get your letter. If you did not receive any information about this within one month prior to the beginning of the semester, please email the central Incoming Team.

A TAN letter is a piece of paper containing a list of randomly generated codes that uniquely correspond to your HU-Account.

There are three main options to apply to get a TAN letter. You can apply through your personal area in AGNES, you can apply personally at our examination office, you can- in urgent cases- delegate someone. (More info here)

A TAN list is necessary for exam registration and deregistration, for checking your grade overview
and to change your address. All these actions can be performed on your personal area in AGNES. For each action the system will ask you to insert a TAN code from the TAN list to verify your identity.

A HU email address is an email address ending in @student.hu-berlin.de or simply @hu-berlin.de. Your HU account is linked with such an email address, which will be used by all HU services as the standard communication channel. Library notices, annual prompts to change your password as well as messages from Moodle, Agnes and our examination office are sent to this address. Furthermore, using an HU email address makes it easier to communicate with the support team because HU students can be recognised as such through their email address.

A HU email address is automatically created together with your HU-Account. You don´t need to apply for it.

You don´t need to activate the account. As long as you have activated your HU-Account you can access your HU email address any time from one of the clients available on this page.

Moodle is an online platform that provides secured and customisable digital course rooms designed to support courses, work groups and projects.

Moodle focuses on content-related support. The individual teachers determine whether their course will be supported by Moodle and in what way. If a course you are attending is linked to a moodle course, you will find most likely find not only learning aids but also tools for organisation, communication and collaboration with other students there.

Registration for courses is generally not mandatory (especially for lectures and exercises). Seminars registration on the other hand usually takes place via email (info about it on the specific page of each seminar on AGNES). If you subscribe to a moodle-course you will just benefit from the extra content material.

Once you have a HU-Account you can start configuring the connection to Eduroam on your computer/phone/tablet by following these instructions.

Please use these contacts for more questions:

•  about HU-Account- how to get the PIN letter: exchange-students@hu-berlin.de
•  about HU-Account- technical issues: cms-benutzerberatung@hu-berlin.de
•  about PIN letter: exchange-students@hu-berlin.de
•  about HU-email address- technical support: cms-benutzerberatung@hu-berlin.de
•  about connecting to Eduroam- technical support: cms-benutzerberatung@hu-berlin.de

This is a document, mostly relevant for Erasmus students, which confirms your academic exchange at our faculty.

Yes, as a rule, all these designations are for a single document. However, some universities may have more than one form. If you are in doubt, please ask your home university.

You will receive the form from your home university.

The certificate is signed by the International Office of the School of Business and Economics at Spandauer Straße 1.

At the beginning and end of your academic stay. We will sign the document a maximum of 2 weeks after the start and 3 days before the end.

The arrival date will be the beginning of the semester (01 October for the winter semester and 01 April for the summer semester). If you have taken an intensive German course at our language centre, we can take the start of the course as your arrival date.

The departure date will be the day of your last assignment at the HU (exam or assignment submission).

We are not allowed to consider flight or train tickets or rental contracts for determining arrival and departure date.

Yes, it is not possible to take exams without registering for them.

No, all the examinations in the examination list may only be taken if you register for them. Some tests, especially term papers and presentations in the scope of seminars, are not on the list. Only in this case is it not necessary to register through AGNES and it is sufficient to register directly with the teaching person.

The examination registration takes place through AGNES. An HU account and the TAN letter are essential for this. You can find detailed instructions here.

The examination list is uploaded on this page of the examination office in good time each semester.

A medical certificate must be submitted to the examination office no later than the third working day after the examination date. The certificate should be based on an a medical examination that took place on the day of the exam at the latest. The certificate should state the matriculation number and the exam for which you have to be registered as sick. The certificate can be submitted by post (postmark is decisive) or by dropping it in our letterbox. Once a valid certificate has been successfully received, the status "sick" will be visible in AGNES.

Please register through AGNES also for a 2nd attempt. Here are the instructions.

You may only register for a 2nd attempt after the 1st examination date (in the event of illness) or after the grades have been recorded. The registration deadline for the 2nd attempt is identical to the withdrawal deadline for the relevant examination.

In principle, such a solution is not advisable. However, it is permitted in exceptional, well-founded cases. You organise the procedure with the examination office. An examination registration through AGNES is necessary anyway.

Your primary contact for examination matters is the examination office.

The German system is a figures-based one and it spans from 1,0 to 5,0.

The best grade is 1,0.

The lowest passing grade is 4,0.

A 5,0 means that the exam has been failed. This can either be because the performance was not sufficient or because the exam has not been attended after having registered for it and not withdrawn from it.

Your home university, and most likely the examination office there, will be responsible for the conversion of the grades into your home university system.

The Transcript of Records (ToR) is the official document with the exam results you got during your exchange at the Humboldt Universität. You will most likely need it for your home university to be able to possibly recognise the credits you earned here.

The examination office will issue your Transcript of records.

All in all, it might take up to eight weeks after the date of your last exam.

You will automatically get it via post at the physical address registered in AGNES and via email to your HU email address.

The Transcript of Records will automatically include all the results of the exams relative to lectures you attended at the School of Business and Economics. If you have taken any courses at other departments (e.g. language courses, Berlin Perspective Courses, Career Centre courses) and you did not communicate the results from those exams to the examination office, then these results will not appear in your Transcript of Records.

Your HU-Account is valid until you will be automatically deregistered on the last day of the semester (30/04 for the winter semester and 30/09 for the summer semester).

The HU-Account services (email address, personal area in AGNES, wi-fi access, etc.) will work until four weeks after your deregistration.

Please follow this link to set up the email forwarding.

This page will help you with more information about how to manage your HU-Account.

Please contact the User help desk.