Business Administration B.Sc.

 

How do you find the right strategies for a company? What investments lead to reliable profit maximization? How can new markets be created? How do legal guidelines regulate operational options? And how do companies react to unpredictable developments in the stock market?

Studies in business administration teach skills and solution expertise needed to successfully and sustainably direct a company. A challenging basic education in all business administrative and economic topic areas, in quantifying process, and private law forms an indispensable technical foundation.

Students at RWTH also create an individual profile during their Bachelor's studies. Through electives they can orient themselves towards special business and economic topics, such as management, strategy and business development, processes and organization, in house consulting and corporate consulting, finance and controlling, and marketing and sales.

This program offers a look at the School of Business and Economics' research focuses with these initial specializations:

• Sustainability and Corporations: This specialization considers the development of the economy and companies with regards to sustainability. New challenges, resulting for example from scarcity of resources and climate change, are investigated using different methodological approaches.
• Operations Research and Management: This specialization offers analytical models and methods to plan and make decisions in complex management situations, for example to shape globally networked value added structures, in the event of price and availability demands in e-commerce, or when dealing with volatile raw material prices.
• Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Marketing: This specialization aims to explain the rules and structures that shape entrepreneurial decision problems. Focus is placed on questions regarding the design, development, and marketing of technological innovations.
• Corporate Development and Strategy: This specialization offers a look at the fundamental aspects of corporate management, strategic management, and the analysis and evaluation of the company's market environment. A deep understanding of processes within a company and its position in the market environment plays a decisive role.

 

Degree Content

After their basic studies students take five to six electives to learn initial, special knowledge and skills. Modules are offered on the previously mentioned topics, including Energy Economics, Human Resources Management, Business History, Financial Services, Corporate Culture and Social Responsibility, and The Global Economy: Trade and Investment, Environment Protection and Sustainability, International Marketing, Cost Management.

Throughout their studies students learn basic skills such as personality training, presenting, foreign language skills, and more. A twelve-week internship offers a look at the job market. This is supported by the School's own internship database. Students can alternatively choose to complete a stay abroad.

Curriculum

Semester	Obligatory Business Modules	Obligatory Quantitative Modules
1	Introduction to Management, Introduction to Macroeconomics, Accounting and Corporate Accounting	Introductions to Programming in Business Analytics, Decision Theory, Mathematics A
2	Sales and Purchasing, Macroeconomics: Markets and Strategic Decision Making, External Accounting	Introduction to the Design and Analysis of Algorithms, Mathematics B
3	Production and Logistics, Investment and Financing, Organization and Personnel, Empirical Economics Research
4	Macroeconomics: Applied Economic POlicy, Mandatory Economics Seminar	Introduction to Operations Research, Statistics
5	Stay Abroad or Internship
4-5	Basic Competencies (4-5 modules), 5-9 Mandatory Elective Modules
6	Bachelor's Thesis

You can find a detailed layout out of the degree program on the School's website.

Programs Abroad

Multi-lingualism, initial international experiences from studies or an internship abroad, and excellent communication skills are crucial hiring criteria for business economists.

RWTH offers its business administration students a range of programs in European and non-European countries. The mobility window during the fifth semester offers the possibility to attend one of the many partner universities without a time delay. in Asia alone the department maintains 36 university partnerships. International summer and winter schools supplement the exchange program. They offer a chance to spend short periods of time at universities in Europe and Asia, to improve one's knowledge about a country, to talk with others about relevant technical topics, and to network. Students are supported by the School's own exchange office.

RWTH students profit not only from the Faculty's programs abroad but also from the University's strategic partnerships with international universities. For example, you can complete a brief stay at one of the IDEA League universities while writing a term paper. The UROP Abroad program, the only one of its kind in Germany, offers the possibility to participate in research projects at international universities during Bachelor's studies. These stays abroad are partially funded through RWTH financial assistance.

All of RWTH's cooperative programs are listed on the webpages about study abroad. Subject-specific offers are published on the School's page for "Outgoings".

 

Decision Aids

Are you interested in economic relationships? If so, you can choose between economics and business administration. If you would like to know the difference between the two, we recommend taking a look at the books listed in our media library below. Alternatively, you can come to macro- or microeconomics lectures in order to better imagine the problems that arise in economics. If you are more interested in the commercial aspect and are excited by the management and direction of individual organizations, business administration may be a more suitable course of study for you.

Do you enjoy calculating processes? Do terms like profitability, effectiveness, differential costs, or opportunity costs peak your interest? Quantifying processes will appear again and again in business administration. You will have to be able to calculate and think through many relationships between economic factors and their effect on each other, in order to correctly be able to illustrate the consequences of operational decisions. In order to get a first impression of the importance of mathematics in business and economics, you can visit a lecture before you begin studies.

 

Media Library

Do you want to take another glance and get more impressions about mathematics studies? Use the diverse information available! You can find our recommendations in the media library.

 

Application Process

Anyone with a German university entrance qualification – Abitur – as well as citizens of an EU or EEC country with an international school certificate apply for admission to Hochschulstart, the Foundation for University Admission – Stiftung für Hochschulzulassung. All others must apply directly to RWTH Aachen University.

 

Prerequisites

Personal Prerequisites

Good English skills are essential for successful completion of studies. Additionally a good basic understanding of mathematics is required, since the course of study at RWTH Aachen is distinguished by its quantitative orientation. You can freshen up and advance your knowledge of math in a mathematics bridge course.

Language Requirements

The courses in this degree program are offered partly in German and partly in English. Therefore, before taking up studies, students must prove that they have English language skills at level B2 according to the “Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).” As a rule, this proof is provided by the German Abitur certificate.

Enrollment Prerequisite

Proof of participation in the RWTH "Economics" Self Assessment must be submitted at the time of enrollment, but is not necessary when applying.

 

Career Prospects

The course of study systematically prepares its graduates for the current demands of the job market. Due to the extraordinarily broad background RWTH graduates find employment in all fields of business. For example, they work in consulting, banking and insurance, and in production and service companies.

A Master's degree offers further professional options, as RWTH graduates are especially attractive for complex, corporate decision and control processes in upper-level management. The University's special profile makes them particularly valuable in technical branches, such as transport, energy, and the automotive branch.

The individual concentrations within business administration studies and their corresponding career prospects are described on the site Stepstone.de.

 

Master's Degree Prospects

The Master's course of study in business administration reflects RWTH's unique profile in business and economics. Due its special design it teaches a broad foundation of knowledge in business administration while simultaneously allowing students to specialize.

The general mandatory component of the curriculum contains three pre-determined courses with a methodological focus: Advanced Microeconomics, Operations Research, and Corporate Social Responsibility. The general elective component offers over 30 modules from School's four research focuses. Each focus is administered by its own research area, in which disciplinary and interdisciplinary research and teaching are conducted. Here the program's quantitative and international orientation and the unique collaboration between economics and engineering come alive for students.

The School of Business and Economics website can provide you with additional details.

 

Module Handbook and Examinations Regulations

The module handbook provides a description of all modules of a degree program and offers a comprehensive insight into the program contents.

The examination regulations are comprised of legally binding provisions on learning objectives, prerequisites for study, the course structure and processes, and examination procedures.

Regulations that generally apply to all Bachelor's and Master's degree programs, including information on language proficiency requirements, can be found in RWTH's General Examination Regulations. These general regulations are further specified and complemented by the subject-specific examination regulations.

If two examination regulations are valid for a degree program during a transition phase, the most current version shall apply to students enrolling in the program for the first time.

Please note that only the German examination regulations are legally binding.

Module Handbook
Subject Specific Examination Regulations
RWTH's General Examination Regulations

 

Faculty

The Bachelor course of study in Business Administration is offered by the School of Business and Economics.