Business Management

FAQs about Starting Your Studies

• Courses in the 1st Semester

  The courses you take each semester are determined by the study and examination regulations. You can find all the timetables for your degree programme, organised by semester, on the university's own LSF portal, which can be accessed from the HTWG network or via VPN. The following courses are scheduled for the first semester of the ‘Business Management’ programme:

  • Corporate Strategy and Transformation (Strategie und Governance)
  • Corporate Governance and Compliance (Strategie und Governance)
  • Value Creation Management (Value Creation)
  • Management of Hybrid Value Creation (Value Creation)
  • Group Accounting (Finance)
  • Performance Measurement and Management (Finance)
  • Global Marketing and Communications (International Business)
  • Global Value Networks (International Business)
  • Courses in the specialisation “Digital Transformation” OR “Sustainable Transformation”

   

  To the course schedule BWM1 for the winter semester 2025/26

   

   

• Module Handbook

  The Master's programme in Business Management is divided into individual modules. A module can be subdivided into several sub-modules, i.e. courses. A course itself can comprise various types of courses/parts (e.g. lectures, exercises, workshops).

  The current version 5 of the BWM Module handbook contains important information on the content, scope and type of courses you must attend in the ‘Business Management’ programme. Here you will also find details on the type of learning, type of examination, workload and ECTS credits, among other things.

• Study and Examination Regulations (SPO)

  The study and examination regulations (SPO) consist of a general section that applies to all degree programmes and a specific section for the BWM degree programme. The faculty council may decide on deviations from the study and examination regulations on a semester-by-semester basis. As a rule, this is done after consultation between the teaching staff and the students.

  The module handbook is subordinate to the study and examination regulations (SPO). For all content regulated by the SPO, e.g. ECTS credits, examination forms, requirements and types, the information in the study and examination regulations is decisive and legally binding. The information in the module handbook supplements and explains the regulations in the study and examination regulations.

  Relevant legal bases, including the study and examination regulations, admission statutes, modalities for registering for and withdrawing from examinations, and grade calculation

• Essentials

  The Master’s thesis is an extended written piece of work demonstrating that you can address a problem from your field independently using academic methods within six months. 

  In the declaration of originality that you attach to your thesis, you affirm that you have written the thesis independently and without unauthorised help from third parties, and that you have not submitted it to any other institution for examination.

• Topic

  It is best to contact a lecturer from the Business Management programme whose teaching or research area covers your proposed topic. Alternatively, you can go through the list of announcements or ask your professor whether there is currently a topic that interests you.

  In addition to the first examiner, your professor, with whom you have agreed on the topic of your Master's thesis, you must also find a second examiner: for example, a professor from your own or another programme, or alternatively a lecturer/teacher for special tasks or a person with experience in professional practice and training.

  Important to know: If the Master's thesis is to be written at an institution outside the university, the approval of the chair of the examination board is required. In case of doubt, the chair of the examination board BW will also decide whether a topic is suitable for a Master's thesis.

• Registration

  Once you have completed all other examinations in the Business Management programme, register for your Master's thesis via the INdigit online platform. Please note that you must submit your Master's thesis by the end of the sixth semester at the latest and that you must not exceed the maximum duration of study. The start date for your Master's thesis should therefore be before 1 March if it is a summer semester (semester deadline 31 August) and before 1 September if it is a winter semester (semester deadline 28 February).

  When planning your schedule, please also bear in mind that if you exceed the semester deadlines by even a short period, you will have to re-register for the following semester. Please take into account that an extension of the processing time may be necessary.

  The workflow for your Master's thesis is mapped via the INdigit online platform. For more details, see “Helpful Online Tools and platforms” further up on this page. 

• Submission

  There is no fixed, prescribed submission format for Master's theses. Most Master's theses are now uploaded via INdigit and submitted online, then digitally archived for at least five years. A paper archive copy is not required for the BW degree programmes; it can be provided after consultation with your primary supervisor.

  If your Master's thesis does NOT contain a confidentiality notice and/or a confidentiality agreement, you are welcome to submit your final thesis in paper form as a review copy to the BW degree programme – for other students to review and orient themselves to. Of course, this does not require permission to copy.

• Extension

  In exceptional cases, the six-month processing period may be extended once by three months. You must submit a (informal) application stating and providing evidence of plausible reasons for the extension. The decision on whether to extend the processing period is made by the chair of the BW examination board.