Term of the month: I as in Integration Week

New undergraduates get acquainted with the particularities of HSG studies during the Freshers’ Week. When can this be done by new students at the Master’s Level who obtained their first degree from another university?

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Since autumn 2015, students who join the HSG from another university and start an economic Master’s programme in a similar major have to complete the Integration Week. The Integration Week introduces students to, and helps them understand, the HSG’s particular features before they start their degree course. In this way, the HSG intends to ensure a uniform quality of education

The Integration Week differs according to individual Master’s programmes. The non-specialised Master’s programmes (Business Innovation (MBI), Marketing, Service and Communication Management (MSC), Business Management (MUG), Accounting and Finance (MAccFin) and Economics (MEcon)) are contingent on the completion of both a programme-specific integration week and a Master’s preparatory level.

New students with a degree in a similar major will have to complete an integration week, which combines courses from such areas as Business Administration (financial management, the St.Gallen Management Model and marketing), Economics, Business Law (company law, corporate group law and liability), as well as from Contextual Studies (nature/culture), and thus provides an integrative overview of studies at the University of St.Gallen.

Applicants with a Master’s degree in a different major and applicants with a Fachhochschule degree in Business Administration will have to complete a Master’s preparatory level, which is based on a clearly defined subject catalogue amounting to 60 credits (Business Administration) and 56 credits (Economics). As soon as applicants have acquired these programme-specific fundamentals, they will be able to start the Master’s programme of their choice without any more conditions.

In the specialised Master’s programmes (Strategy and International Management (SIM), Banking and Finance (MBF) and Quantitative Economics and Finance (MiQE/F)), applicants have to complete a programme-specific integration week, which can be done before the beginning of studies at the Master’s Level. The integration weeks focus on the special subjects of the programmes.

On completion of the Integration Week, students can continue their studies at the Master’s Level without any further programme-specific conditions. Thus students are able to fully focus on their degree course.

The Integration Week replaces the previous model of programme-specific admission criteria. Previously, new students from other universities had to satisfy subject-related conditions depending on their degrees and the universities they came from. These conditions had to be satisfied within two semesters, in parallel with studies at the Master’s Level.