The semester fee is not a fee for teaching. For winter 2026/27 it totals 379.77 EUR for full-time study, made up of an administration fee, a contribution to the Studierendenwerk Berlin, a student body fee, and the semester ticket, which at 226.80 EUR is the largest single part and covers public transport across Berlin for the semester. The amount is set each semester by the university, so it changes.

No tuition doesn't mean no proof of funds: for the student visa you still need to show about 11,904 EUR for the year, usually in a blocked account, transferred months before the semester starts.

These are the deadlines that matter to applicants coming from outside the EU. An applicant with a foreign (non-German) qualification applies through uni-assist, and for Master's programmes in most departments that route carries an earlier deadline than the one that applies to applicants with a German degree. Bachelor's deadlines are the same for everyone.

Deadlines are final; late or incomplete applications are not considered. Several Berlin Professional School programmes set their own dates and are not listed here.

Applicants with a German university entrance qualification apply directly to HWR Berlin. Applicants with a qualification earned outside Germany apply through uni-assist, the central pre-checking service used by most German universities, which charges a processing fee of about 75 EUR for the first application and about 30 EUR for each further one in the same intake.

Open the application deadlines page

HWR Berlin runs around 26 degree programmes fully in English, out of 57 degree programmes in total, concentrated in business, economics, international management and finance. Most of the English-taught catalogue sits at Master's level, so a Bachelor's applicant will need German for the majority of the programme list. The English-taught programmes can be studied without German, though everyday German still helps with housing, part-time work and the authorities.

The general admission requirement across most programmes is English at CEFR level B2. Certificates are accepted up to five years old at HWR Berlin, a longer validity window than at many other German universities. A small number of Master's programmes, such as International Finance, set a higher bar than the general minimum. Applicants who have completed at least two semesters of study taught entirely in English can offer that as equivalent proof instead of a certificate, and GMAT holders do not need to submit a separate English certificate. The exact score is set per programme, so check your programme page before booking a test.

At HWR Berlin the semester period and the teaching period start on the same date, 1 October for winter and 1 April for summer, unlike universities where lectures begin some weeks after the formal semester start. Plan to be in Berlin, registered and set up with a bank account, before 1 October.

One of Berlin's largest universities of applied sciences, HWR Berlin was formed in 2009 through the merger of the Berlin School of Economics (founded 1971) and the FHVR Berlin, the former university of applied sciences for administration and law (founded 1973). Its programme portfolio centres on business and economics, public administration, law and security management, with a growing set of engineering programmes, and it maintains close industry ties through more than 700 corporate contacts and a strong international network of over 150 partner universities worldwide.

Teaching runs across two campuses, Schöneberg and Lichtenberg, in the heart of the German capital, which gives students easy access to Berlin's large corporate, start-up and public-sector job market for internships and part-time work.