Application for the first semester

The programme has open-ended admission and starts in the winter semester.

In order to apply for the programme, you need to submit your application to uni-assist. Your application will then be evaluated (please note: this can take up to 4-6 weeks) and if it meets the entry requirements, it will be forwarded directly to the university. Candidates will then receive their login-data for the university’s applications portal, where they can check the status of their application. For more information on the application process in uni-assist, please check the International Offices’s FAQ, the uni-assist checklists and the uni-assist country by country information.

Admission requirements

• University entrance qualification

• CV

• B2 certificate in English

Please make sure that your school-leaving certificate or university degree qualifies you to study at a German university. You can check your university entrance qualification here. For further information please visit the German Academic Exchange Service’s website. While a B2 level of English is mandatory for the degree programme Global Information Management, prospective students need no prior knowledge of German.

International Office

The International Office (IO) is the first point of contact for prospective international students and for international students at all stages of their studies. The IO provides information, offers support regarding application, admission and other organisational matters and organises events for international students.

Contact Person for International Bachelor Students:

Here you can find a list of the International Office’s members of staff and their roles. And here is the International Office’s list of frequently asked questions for international bachelor and master students.

Please note: The first semester is held online.

Only students who pass module 0 at the end of the first semester advance to the second semester, in which face-to-face classes begin.

Depending on your home country, you may need a visa to study in Germany. To apply for a visa, you need to visit the German embassy or consulate general in your home country. If you are an EU-citizen or come from Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland you do not have to apply for a visa, but you should register with your local resident’s registration office. To find out more about the visa regulations check the IO’s FAQ section on the study start and take a look at Study-in-Germany and the German Academic Exchange Service.

Here you can download a flyer about GIM.

GIM has a unique structure designed to guide international students towards a German bachelor’s degree. The first semester is held online to help international students embark on their studies. The students will come to Hildesheim for the second semester having completed Module 0.

GIM students start with a 2-year period of part-time studies (ca. 15 ETCS per semester) in which classes are held only in English. The reduced number of classes compared to other degree programmes allows students to attend a specifically designed four-semester German language course to prepare for their B2 German language exam in the 5^th semester.

From the 5^th semester (3^rd year) onwards, German will be the main study language and students will attend their courses on a full-time basis. The 3^rd year starts with a one-semester internship in a German company, followed by three semesters of lectures in German and English. The 8^th and last semester (year 4) contains the final module, which includes the bachelor thesis.

During the first two years of your degree, you have the opportunity to take German language classes. Even though it is not mandatory, GIM students are highly encouraged to attend the course since they have to reach a B2/C1 level of German (according to the CEFR) by time they take their German language exam in the 5^th semester. The course is offered in cooperation with the adult education centre Volkshochschule Hildesheim and is designed especially for GIM students: The course starts from the beginner level (A0) and teaches both everyday language as well as the language of information science. After the course, students are prepared to follow classes in German and do their internship in a German company. You can find out more about the course here.

The internship is a key element of the degree programme and it puts particular emphasis on practical training. In the 5^th semester, GIM students will do a full-time internship in a German company in a job area relating to the content of the degree programme. The internship is designed to give students of Global Information Management an impression of the German culture and organisation of companies as well  as some insights into a specific field of work within Information management or Information sciences.

Global Information Management is a degree programme house in Faculty 3, the Faculty for Linguistics and Information Sciences. The faculty is made up of five departments:

• Department for German Language and Literature

• Department for English Language and Literature

• Department for Information Science and Natural Language Processing

• Department for Intercultural Communication

• Department for Translation and Specialised Communication

The faculty’s main scientific interests are information and communication processes analysed from an applied linguistic perspective. Within this thematic framework, each of the faculty’s departments has its own research focus, for example communication between different languages (translation), between different cultures (intercultural communication), between humans and machines (human-machine interaction or computer-mediated communication); communication in the media and in literature or language teaching and foreign language learning. Example project is the virtual language learning program Hololingo.

Currently, Faculty 3 is active in various research projects from virtual reality to artificial intelligence. You can read more about the research projects of the Faculty for Linguistics and Information Sciences here (in German). 

The degree programme is open to all international students, regardless of their current place of residence. Please note, however, that the first semester will be an online semester for all students of Global International Management and that the language classes are designed for students without prior knowledge of German.

Here (in German) you can find information regarding semester dates (beginning and end of semester). General application deadlines can be found here (in German). You can also visit the Institute’s website for Global Information Management where relevant dates and deadlines will be posted.

In general, students in Hildesheim need approximately 600 euros per month for their living expenses. Once per semester there is a semester fee. The fee includes a season ticket for public transport in Lower Saxony and a discount to a range of cultural activities in Hildesheim.

GIM students are strongly encouraged to attend the German language course during the first four semesters; the costs for the course can be found here [Link fehlt noch].

You can find out more about the financial requirements in the International Office’s FAQunder “Student Financing and Bank Account”. You can also check the information about funding and financial requirements provided by Study in Germany.

The university offers scholarships that are open for all students, including international students. Scholarships available are the Deutschlandstipendium, the Minerva-Kolleg and the Lore-Auerbach-Stipendium. More information can be found here (in German).

The university’s International Office offers scholarships for particularly committed international students as well as graduation grants for international students. For more information please visit the International Office’s FAQ for international bachelor and master students.

Information on scholarships outside the university is provided by the German Academic Exchange Service.

If your school leaving certificate or university degree does not qualify you to study at a German university (you can check your certificate here) you can obtain the university entrance qualification by completing a preparatory year at the Niedersächsisches Studienkolleg, a college of further education situated in the nearby city of Hanover. The Studienkolleg offers subject-specific preparatory courses which prepare you for taking the university entrance exam for a specific subject at the end of your preparatory year.

Please note that the Studienkolleg in Lower Saxony does not offer courses in English. If you want to attend the preparatory courses, you need to have one of the following German language certificates: Telc B1, Goethe B2, ÖSD B1, DSH 1, DSD 1, TestDaF 4x3.

For further information on the Studienkolleg you can visit the International Office’s FAQ or make an appointment with the International Office’s contact persons for international students.

The following English B2 certificates are accepted:

• IELTS min. 5,5

• TOEFL iBT min. 78

• TOEFL CBT min. 207

• TOEFL PBT min. 543

• Cambridge First Certificate in English (FCE)

• Cambridge Business Vantage (BCE Vantage)

• Cambridge English: Legal (IELC)

• Cambridge English: Financial (ICFE)

• IGCSE 1st/2nd language average B2

• TOEIC Listening and Reading Test min. 785

• TOEIC Speaking Test min. 160

• TOEIC Writing Test min. 150

• Telc B2 certificate

• UNIcert II

If you already know some German and a beginners course is not optimal for you, we will try to find another course for you with our cooperation partner, the VHS Hildesheim.

If you need a visa, you must apply for it in advance at the German diplomatic missions in your home country (embassies or consulates general). Please visit the website of the Federal Foreign Office to find the addresses of the German diplomatic missions in your county. To find out which visa you need for studying in Germany and which documents are required for your visa, please visit the Federal Foreign Office’s website. You can also take a look at the information provided by Study in Germany and the German Academic Exchange Service.

All students at the University of Hildesheim need to have a health insurance and must hand in a proof of it upon their arrival at the latest. Students who have a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) can use this. Please note, however, that the EHIC can be used only for studying purposes. If you want to work (which includes paid internships), you need to change to a German health insurance.

Since January 2022, there is a new regulation regarding health insurance for students in Germany.
All students are obliged to contact a German statutory health insurance company (AOK,TK, Barmer, DAK...) in order to receive a so-called M10 certificate.

EU-Students:
When contacting the German statutory health insurance company you should add a scan of your EHIC certificate. With this certificate you can be exempt from compulsory insurance.

Non-EU-Students:
You have the option to contact a German statutory health insurance company of your own choice in order to get insured there.

The insurance company will check the insurance status and can send the M10 form electronically to the University of Hildesheim. This is necessary for your matriculation.

For further information, visit the International Office’s section on Health Insurance "Your start of study". Information on health insurance in Germany can also be found with the German Academic Exchange Service and on this information sheet. Here you can compare health insurance offers (in German).

The international office organises various events for international students and exchange students – from welcome events to guided tours and consultation hours. An overview of the IO’s events can be found here. International students can also participate in the Buddy Program (in German) or find a partner for tandem language learning.

In addition, international students are welcome to participate in all of the university’s campus events - in activities such as sports courses or cultural events like the midsummer night or the campus festival you can connect with other students from the university. Find out more about life on campus here.