Deadlines, Admission Procedure, FAQ

There are several aspects that make studying Economics in Bayreuth so special. One is that our Master’s programme combines rigorous methodological training with unparalleled flexibility: First, you can choose from a wider range of economic topics in your electives than at most other German universities. Second, in your individual specialization you have broad options of earning credit for complementary courses in other disciplines – such as politics, philosophy, history, computer science, mathematics, or business studies. And, third, you can even devote some of your specialization workload to completing free language courses offered by the university’s language centre, for doing an internship, or for participating in our entrepreneurship training. 

Studying in Bayreuth is very different from studying in megacities like Munich or Berlin. Bayreuth is a cozy, safe city with short distances and comparatively low cost of living. Of the 73,000 inhabitants, 12,000 are students. The university is young and well-equipped. We enjoy high academic reputation and one of Germany’s most attractive campuses: several parks, forest, and a supersize botanical garden are just a short walk away from our popular libraries and modern lecture halls. So are student dorms, cafés, and sports facilities such as the neighboring Kreuzstein outdoor pool, which boasts a wave pool, a 50-meter lap pool, and a pool with 10-meter diving tower. In the summer, you have great cycling and climbing opportunities in the nearby Fränkische Schweiz. In the winter, you can go hiking or skiing in the Fichtelgebirge. 

Most of Bayreuth’s economics students and alumni belong to the Volkswirtschaft an der Universität Bayreuth (VUB e.V.)​ club. The club’s social and academic activities foster a familial atmosphere among our students. Our faculty-to-student ratio is better than that of most other German universities. This translates into small learning groups, interactive teaching and high student satisfaction.

Mostly in English. In particular, all compulsory courses and most elective courses are taught in English. So, you can complete the programme without taking any of the optional seminars or lectures offered in German. But your choice of options is bigger if you know or learn German. And a significant part of overall administration is in German. Therefore you are required to have (or obtain during your first year of studies) basic knowledge of the German language corresponding to CEFR Level A1. Respective courses are offered by the UBT's Sprachenzentrum. 

A two-year programme. Students begin their studies in either the summer or winter term, and then typically finish two years later. Most courses are offered in only one of the two terms. So if you start in the winter term, you may begin by taking the compulsory courses in advanced macroeconomics and econometrics and should then take microeconomics and maths in your second semester. If you start in the summer term, this order gets reversed.

This depends on your background. The programme leads to a Master of Science degree which prepares you for PhD studies or for practical work that requires up-to-date theoretical and empirical methods of economics. Students must therefore have a Bachelor’s degree that has prepared them sufficiently well, especially for the quantitative parts of the programme. We recommend that you have a look at some of the material with which you will be confronted in the first weeks of the compulsory core courses

• Mathematics
• Advanced Microeconomics I
• Advanced Macroeconomics I
• Advanced Empirical Economics I

in order to get an idea of what to expect.

Yes. But your chances of getting accepted may be very small depending on the completed curriculum. We expect more than a year's worth of overlap between your completed Bachelor's curriculum and the Bachelor's programme in Economics at the University of Bayreuth. You need a minimum of 35 ECTS in the methodological core courses — mathematics, statistics, microeconomics, macroeconomics, empirical economics/econometrics — at a sufficiently advanced technical level. These should be complemented by more applied or specialized economics courses (such as economic policy, international economics, environmental economics, industrial economics, ...).

If you have a Bachelor’s degree in, say, Business Administration, Management, Commerce, or Banking & Finance and the overlap with a quantitative BSc in Economics consists only of basic microeconomics and macroeconomics, with little calculus involved, then there is no point in applying. If, however, your degree was taught at a relatively high mathematical level (e.g., you know on how to compute the expected value of a continuous random variable, how to maximize utility subject to a budget constraint, you are familiar with the notion of a transitive preference relation, IS-LM diagrams, and OLS regression) then you definitely should apply.

Usually a disadvantage, but this depends on your job. For the great majority of our new students, knowledge of calculus, intermediate microeconomics, macroeconomics and econometrics is still pretty fresh. The compulsory courses on advanced microeconomics, macroeconomics and econometrics in the programme’s first year build on this knowledge. So if your work experience is four years of accounting, sales, or Excel spreadsheets, you might have problems in following some courses. If you did two years of econometric forecasting that rather is an advantage.

No. The programme does not involve a specific tuition fee. But students have to be enrolled at the University of Bayreuth. This comes with an administration fee of currently around 165€ per semester, which includes free access to local public transportation. See “Semesterbeitrag” at Student Registry Office.

No. You will have to fund your living expenses yourself (800-1100€/month, or more depending on your style of living).

No. But prospective employers regularly present themselves to students at conferences and workshops held at the university. There is also an Internship Service at the University of Bayreuth which can be of help to you after enrollment.

Generally not. In particular, we tend to ignore letters of recommendation, writing samples, work certificates, etc.

No. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to compare or convert grades. You’ll find some general information on German grades if you check “Academic grading in Germany” on Wikipedia. But quality of college education is so heterogeneous even within many countries – let alone between countries – that it is impossible to simply take a transcript’s GPA score and convert it into “sehr gut”, “gut”, etc.

Our decision on whether we consider your previous qualifications as equivalent to a final grade of 2.5 obtained in our BSc programme in Economics will be based on an individual evaluation. Understand that we do this evaluation rather cautiously, especially for graduates who come from far away: there are huge costs to you and to us if you are admitted but it should then – after obtaining a visa, finding accommodation, moving to Bayreuth,  etc. – turn out that the programme is too demanding.

In this case, you will receive an email confirmation of your admission at UBT. The admission offer also appears for download in your CAMPUSonline Account. So be sure to check your inbox, your spam folder and your CAMPUSonline Account regularly. The letter of admission contains further instructions for enrolment. 

Note that being admitted to the programme is just giving you an option – exercising it by enroling in the programme requires your own action. Therefore, accept your admission offer as soon as possible! You can do this in your CAMPUSonline Account. Upon accepting your admission offer, you will be given detailed instructions on the enrolment procedure.

Yes. You will receive a notification by email. The result of the admission procedure also appears for download in your CAMPUSonline Account. So be sure to check your inbox, your spam folder and your CAMPUSonline Account regularly.

No. The rejection of an admission will only mention a short reason. This is either that the submitted documents haven’t allowed a definite conclusion on whether your degrees and grades provide sufficient qualification for Master’s studies in Economics at Bayreuth, or that we have concluded they do not. Given the number of applications we receive, we cannot provide more detailed explanations. Nor can we respond to mails saying that – perhaps because of some “conversion table” found on the Internet (see FAQ above) – we should regard the GPA in your Economics Bachelor’s as much better than a German 2.5, etc.

It only makes sense for you to follow up on a rejected application if you have obtained relevant new information, such as improved scores in your language or GRE tests.

The most common reason is that you did not obtain a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and we regard the completed curriculum in your related degree programme as insufficiently similar to our BSc programme in Economics. Applications from many stellar performers in accounting, management, etc., are rejected because the respective curriculum simply has not included sufficient amounts of the core economics topics which are prerequisites for our Master’s programme.

Neither. Finding accommodation in Bayreuth is not trivial, but all your predecessors succeeded. It is one of the attractions of studying in Bayreuth, that distances are short and housing is affordable (by German standards). The student dorms typically have waiting lists. You can obtain more information from the University of Bayreuth’s International Office and private market offerings listed, e.g., on www.wg-gesucht.de or www.meinestadt.de.

No. We don't enjoy any special treatment by the Federal Foreign Office nor do we have contacts to particular German Embassies. We therefore cannot help you getting a visa appointment, etc.