• Integration of the course offerings due to the introduction of the Bachelor/Masters system
• Structure and Contents
• Graduate Studies Guide

In the course of the so-called “Bologna Process” all German institutes of higher education are transforming their courses of study into the established, international Bachelor/Masters system by the year 2009. The business faculty is accommodating this development with the start of the new Bachelor of business administration and Bachelor of information systems in the autumn semester 2006.

For students in the Hauptstudium (graduate studies) of business administration the restructuring means that:

• The general business subjects (ABWL) and specialised business subjects (SBWL) are expected to phase out. Therefor a number of equivalent master courses will allow to complete the studies without deferment.

General business administration in the Hauptstudium (graduate studies) is made up of the following six fields:

• Marketing
• Production
• Finance
• Business Management
• Management Accounting
• Financial Reporting

In total, five 90 minute examinations from five of the six fields mentioned must be passed. It is not allowed to write six examinations and choose the best five results.

The AVWL is made up of the following four fields:

• Micro-economics III (spring/summer semester)
• Economic Policy (spring/summer semester)
• Finance (autumn/winter semester)
• Foreign Trade Theory (autumn/winter semester)

In total, three examinations from the four fields must be passed. At the same time, you can only register for three examinations and it is therefore not allowed to sit four examinations and subsequently choose the three best results. A change of field is possible but failed attempts in the original subject still count.

The first and second compulsory specialisations (SBWL) within the Hauptstudium (graduate studies) serve the purpose of deepening and elaborating knowledge in specialised business fields of study. Furthermore, emphasis on a subject which goes beyond the business-specific field into an interdisciplinary focus is put in the final examination through the compulsory elective (Wahlfach). The choice of the two specialisations (SBWL’s) and the compulsory elective (Wahlfach) is open to the student’s personal interests and tendencies in line with the examination regulations.

Students can choose two specialisations (SBWL’s) from the following subjects:

1. Banking and Finance
2. Business Tax Theory
3. Business Administration of Public Authorities and the Public Sector
4. Industrial Management
5. International Management
6. Logistics (focusing on the transport sector)
7. Marketing
8. Organizational Behaviour
9. Organisation and information systems
10. Human Resource Management and Ergonomics
11. Insurance
12. Auditing and Trusteeship

If new specialisations (SBWL’s) are established during the course of your studies, these will also be permitted.

See the chairs of the business faculty for information about this as well.

Along with the two specialisations (SBWL’s) students can choose one elective, which covers at least 10 contact hours, from the following subjects:

1. Labour and Social Law
2. Chemical Technology
3. Finance
4. Mathematics
5. Physical Technology
6. Political Science
7. Psychology for Business Students
8. Sociology
9. Constitutional, Administrative and International law
10. Statistics
11. Taxation Law
12. Economic Geography
13. Economic and Social history
14. Economic and Social politics
15. Civil Law, in particular Commercial Law

Darüber hinaus kann der Diplomprüfungsausschuss auf begründeten Antrag des Studierenden auch ein anderes Fach als Wahlfach zulassen, wenn es durch einen Lehrstuhl an der Universität Mannheim - in Ausnahmefällen auch durch einen Lehrstuhl an einer anderen wissenschaftlichen Hochschule - vertreten ist und in einem sinnvollen Zusammenhang mit dem Studium des Antragstellers steht.

Furthermore, the board of examiners (Diplomprüfungsausschuss) can allow students with a justified request to take a different subject as their elective if it is through a chair at the University of Mannheim – in exceptional cases also at a chair of another academic institution – and is linked in a justifiable way to their studies.