International
No Studienkolleg, no extra year. Straight into your Bachelor's degree.
Your school-leaving qualification from abroad doesn't grant you direct admission to a German university, and you'd technically need to attend a Studienkolleg? At HdWM, there's a better way: the Preliminary Study Program (PSP).
Instead of completing an extra preparatory year in form of a Studienkolleg, you start your Bachelor's degree in Management in International Business at HdWM right away – as a fully enrolled student from your very first semester, with real lectures, real exams, and real ECTS credits that count toward your degree.
This is made possible by § 58 (3b) of the Baden-Württemberg Higher Education Act (Landeshochschulgesetz), which allows HdWM to directly admit qualified international applicants through its own structured aptitude assessment procedure – conditionally at first, but fully enrolled from day one.
The PSP is designed for international applicants whose school-leaving qualification does not yet grant direct access to higher education in Germany, but who can demonstrate their academic potential, for example, with:
It's simple: you apply just as you normally would for the Bachelor's program in Management in International Business. There is no separate application process for the PSP. Our admissions office reviews your previous educational qualifications as part of your application and automatically places you into the PSP if this turns out to be the right path for you. The aptitude assessment committee will then contact you directly to arrange the next steps.
Instead of a one-year Studienkolleg, you go through a compact, institution-specific aptitude assessment. It consists of a written component (letter of motivation) and four oral examination sections. A minimum of 70 out of 100 points is required for admission. Once you pass, you're admitted – no additional preparatory year required.
From your first semester, you are a fully enrolled HdWM student:
There is no additional entrance exam at the end of the first year. Your performance alone decides: if you successfully earn at least 40 ECTS credits within the first two semesters, pass the required core modules of your program, and meet the usual academic progress requirements, you will automatically be moved into the third semester. All credits and achievements you've already earned remain fully valid and count toward your degree.
The PSP is not a shortcut at the expense of quality, but a legally grounded, quality-assured admission process featuring a standardized aptitude assessment, admission decisions made by a committee, ongoing academic support, and regular review of academic success and retention rates. It is based on § 58 (3b) LHG BW in conjunction with HdWM's general examination regulations (Rahmenprüfungsordnung).
