Pre-Master: Master's Degree in Business Administration for Career Changers drafted

Program Overview

What is a pre-master's degree?

A pre-master’s is a transfer programme that prepares students with a bachelor’s degree from a university of applied sciences or research university for a master’s programme. It has been designed for students who are not qualified for direct entry to the postgraduate (Master’s) programmes at CBS, in terms of academic qualifications, English language proficiency, and/or work experience. The aim of the Pre-Master programme is to prepare students for entry onto the postgraduate degree that CBS offers. 

Career changers moving ahead

Economic correlations and the knowledge of tasks and processes in companies are usually studied in an undergraduate economics degree. Apart from classically trained business professionals, graduates of the naturals sciences or humanities also need to deepen their business knowledge in order to advance in their respective fields.

The CBS International Business School Pre-Master programme gives prospective students, who have completed an unrelated undergraduate degree the possibility of entering a Master’s programme in economics.

One programme – many possibilities

Depending on the level of your previous professional skills, it will be assessed individually whether you need to acquire basic business administration knowledge for one or two semesters before starting a Master’s programme.

Depending on the language the Master's programme is taught in, the course contents can be completed either in German or English. You also have the option to catch up on your missing ECTS points by completing an intensive course during the summer months. After successfully completing your agreed-on courses, and taking your previous economics skills into consideration, we will be able to grant you admission to the CBS Master’s programme.

Program Outline

Individual check and support

After an individual assessment of your documents, we will determine how many ECTS you need to catch up on. We, therefore, ask you to submit your complete documents (transcript of records, module handbook – if available) as well as your CV through our application form. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our study advisory on the respective campus.

Your options as a career changer:

Option 1:

Entry into a Master’s programme without any prior economic knowledge: usually two semesters in the German- or English- taught Bachelor programme; start: winter semester (September)

Option 2:

Entry into a Master’s programme with existing basic economic knowledge: usually one semester in the German- or English- taught Bachelor programme; start: summer (February) or winter semester (September)

Option 3:

Entry in an English or German taught Master’s programme with existing basic economic knowledge or entry in the German taught General Management without any prior business knowledge: Pre-semester as a digital intensive summer course (Crash Courses@CBS). English programme: May – July; German: May – August.

If you already have work experience you can also apply to our MBA programme.