Study at ESMT Berlin as an Exchange Student

The ESMT International Office is here to guide you through every step of your exchange journey — from nomination and application to course selection and beyond. Our team is dedicated to supporting you to ensure a smooth and enriching experience. For any questions about your exchange at ESMT don’t hesitate to contact us!

Explore all the details about an exchange at ESMT on this page. For broader insights into studying and living in Berlin, check out the Student Handbook. We look forward to seeing you in Berlin!

Please note that we are unable to host free movers.

Academic Calendar

ESMT Berlin has three terms per academic year. Master's and MBA students have different academic dates. Please check the dates that apply to you.

Master/MSc exchange students

Incoming students can come for the Fall (September – December) or/and Spring term (January – March). Students joining for the Spring term can potentially join a practical component (ending May, July or later).

	Autumn term	Spring term
Course selection period	May - July 2025	October - November 2025
Orientation (mandatory)	8 September, 2025 (tbc)	5 January, 2026 (tbc)
Term Dates	15 September - 18 December 2025 (tbc)	5 January - 31 March 2026 (tbc)
No classes	3 October, 2025	8 March, 2026

Additional dates for students taking a practical component:

Social Impact Project (SIP): April - May 2026 (virtual preparation from October 2025)
Summer Entrepreneurship (SEP): April - July 2026 (Info session in November 2025)
Internship: April - September

MBA exchange students

The full-time MBA schedule exchange period (September - December) consists of two phases: 1. Tracks (= three specialized courses on either Innovation and Entrepreneurship or Managerial Analytics) including Leadership skills, 2. Elective period. Incoming exchange students may come to ESMT Berlin for a combination of Tracks + Elective period or for the Elective period only.

	Autumn term
Course selection period	May - July 2025
Orientation (mandatory)	for tracks: early September 2025 for elective period: (if needed) September/October 2025
Tracks (+ Leadership skills)	8 September - October 2025
Elective period	Early October - 18 December, 2025 (tbc)
No classes	3 October, 2025

Courses at ESMT

Incoming students can choose from a variety of courses, depending on their program. Please read below more about the courses, workload, and course formats.

Master/MSc exchange students

Courses from all the Master programs (Master in Global Management, Master in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Master in Analytics and Artificial Intelligence) are available to you. You can take courses from the first and second year of the programs.

A preliminary course list will be uploaded here once it becomes available. Course offering is subject to change, availability, and timetable compatibility.

Exchange students will take part in a competitive bidding process to select courses. Due to overlaps of courses, changes in the schedule and capacity reasons, we require that you provide valid alternatives to your course choices. If specific courses are required by the sending institution, these should be indicated during the application process. Accommodations will be made wherever possible.

Most courses at ESMT are valued 2-5 ECTS (Skills courses: 0.5-1 ECTS). ESMT students take 17-22 ECTS (including Skills courses) during each team. Students coming in the Autumn term who require a high number of ECTS (25+), are likely going to have to take courses in January. Students coming in the Spring term who require more than approx. 24 ECTS are expected to take the Social Impact Projekt (SIP), Summer Entrepreneurship Program (SEP), or an internship. Students should consult with their sending institution on how many ECTS points they need to gain.

Courses at ESMT run on a rolling basis, lasting from 1-6 weeks and are immediately followed by an assessment. ESMT’s courses are intense with ongoing assessments, group work, final projects, presentations, assignments and/or exams. For every hour of class time, students should plan for approximately 2-4 hours of additional independent and/or group work. Exchange students are requested to stay until the end of their scheduled For the best exchange experience, we advise that you select courses spread out throughout the whole term.

MBA exchange students

Incoming exchange students may enroll for Tracks (Innovation and Entrepreneurship OR Managerial Analytics) and the Elective period or for Elective period only. Here are examples of electives offered to incoming MBA exchange students:

Geopolitics • Quantitative Methods in Marketing • The Start up Challenge • Global Strategies of Industrial Champions • Power, Politics, and Persuasion etc. Course offerings are subject to change.

Exchange students will take part in a competitive bidding process to select courses. Due to changes in the schedule and capacity reasons, we require that you provide valid alternatives to your course choices. If specific courses are required by the sending institution, these should be indicated during the application process. Accommodations will be made wherever possible.

Incoming students take courses according to their credit requirements of their home institutions. A track is worth 6 ECTS and the Leadership Skills is worth 1.5 ECTS. Electives offered by ESMT are predominantly 2 ECTS courses. In a 2 ECTS elective, students attend 12 80-minute sessions with faculty. 1 ECTS Leadership course comprises 10 sessions (less self-study). German Language Course is worth 2 ECTS. As a reference: ESMT students take 17.5 ECTS in the track and elective period. The maximum ESMT number students could gain is 25.5 ECTS (including, Tracks, leadership courses, electives, not including German Language course). Students should check with their home institution about how many ECTS credits they need to earn.

Courses at ESMT run on a rolling basis, lasting from 1-6 weeks and are immediately followed by an assessment. Depending on the topic, classes are typically comprised of lectures, guest speakers, case studies, group work, and individual assignments. For each hour of faculty time, students should expect an additional 2-4 hours of independent study and/or group work. Exchange students are requested to stay until the end of their scheduled exams. For the best exchange experience, we advise that you select courses spread out throughout the whole term.

Welcome Day

We are welcoming all our exchange students at ESMT Berlin with a few days of introduction and activities at the start of each term. The introduction day is mandatory for all students and it is officially your first day at ESMT, so please mark your calendar already now and do not miss all the fun!

Autumn term 2025: 08 September 2025 (tbc)

Spring term 2026: 05 January 2026 (tbc)

Practical components

Practical components are an integral part of our MSc programs. Two practical components, the Social Impact Project, and the Summer Entrepreneurship Program, as well as an internship, are open for incoming students to join when staying longer after their Spring term.

The Social Impact Project is an integral part of the ESMT Master in Management curriculum, in which teams of students act as economic or management consultants for an organization with specific social objectives, such as a non-profit organization, a development agency, a social entrepreneurship venture, or the CSR department of a forprofit organization. Most teams travel outside of Europe but some Berlin based projects are also available. Find out more about the project here.

Social Impact Project

The Summer Entrepreneurship Program supports entrepreneurial talents in the development and implementation of their own startup ideas during the three summer months (mid April to mid July). We foster extraordinary entrepreneurial talents and support them in finding co-founders, in identifying trends and opportunities, in finding and building solutions, and in pitching in front of potential investors. There will be an ideation process in which aspiring entrepreneurs will either generate or validate ideas. Find out more about the program here.

Summer Entrepreneurship Program

Visa

Generally, all non-EU citizens entering Germany and staying for more than 90 days with the intention to work or study need a visa before entry. Exchange students do not necessarily need a student visa.

If you already hold a valid residence permit for studying in another EU country and want to stay in Germany for more than 90 but less than
365 days, ESMT can submit your documents to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees and inform them of your intention to study in
Germany, because we participate in the EU mobility program. The notification to the Office must be made as soon as your intention to study in Germany is known and at the latest 35 days before the planned entry date.
If the duration of your stay in Germany will not exceed 90 days, you may enter Germany with a tourist visa which is usually easier to obtain
than a student visa. If you already hold a valid residence permit for studying in another EU country, you can use it to enter Germany and
stay for up to 90 days.

You can find more information about visa in the ESMT Student Handbook. All applicants should consult the website of the local German consulate to find out about the visa procedure. Please start your research early to understand what rules apply to your circumstances.

Those of you who require an entry visa should request an appointment at their local embassy or consulate, even if you do not have all the required documents yet. Depending on the country, appointment allocation and application processing can take several months, so the earlier the better. Once you have booked an appointment and made your deposit, please send us an email at student-services@esmt.org. Kindly note the embassy or consulate at which you will apply and, if possible, the date of your visa application appointment. If you need a visa support document, are unsure about your individual situation, or if you have general questions on the topic, feel free to send us an email.

Health Insurance

Under German law, all students are obliged to have health insurance in order to study at a German university.

EU/EEA students should make sure they bring a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) from their home countries. If you do not hold an EHIC, you can choose to take out German public or German private health insurance.

German public student health insurance plans are more expensive than private insurance plans, and the sign-up process is more complicated. For this reason, exchange students who plan to stay in Germany for just a few weeks or months are generally better served taking out private student insurance. There are, however, a couple of advantages to having public insurance. Firstly, publicly insured individuals do not need to pay their medical costs up front. Instead, the insurance provider pays these to the healthcare provider directly. The other advantage is that public insurance plans cover preexisting medical conditions. Please refer to the ESMT Student Handbook for more details.

Accommodation

Housing is not available on-campus. However there is limited ESMT housing close to the campus students can apply for. For the first days in Berlin, students can consider an interim housing solution, like a hostel or renting a private room via AirBnB. Students can also consider private providers/platforms such as:

• The Social Hub
• Tannhaus
• Housing Anywhere
• Spotahome

Alternatively, you can get in touch with outgoing ESMT students, who may be interested in swapping rooms with you, for the duration of the stay. The International Office will help you with this. The Student Services Team is very happy to give students all possible information and answer all questions, but it remains the student’s job to find a place to live.

Please refer to the Student Handbook to find more information about housing.

Living in Berlin

Our campus

Students playing table tennis on ESMT campus

ESMT Berlin student clubs

I would like to study at ESMT as an exchange student. What do I need to do?

Your university needs to nominate you first. If your home institution is an exchange partner of ESMT Berlin, you can apply for an exchange term. After the nomination you will receive an email with a registration link where you need to submit your information and documents (e. g. CV, passport-style photo, scanned passport page, latest transcript, English language confirmation if applicable).

Please note that we currently do not accept free movers.

Can I take a German Language Course during my exchange at ESMT?

Incoming students can enroll in a German language course at our partner language school at a discounted rate. They should indicate their interest during the application process and may be required to take a placement test.

Gustav & Feng's Berlin Experience

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Emanuele Rolando

"The advantage of being a rather small institution is that ESMT pays close attention to each of its new students and ensures that their academic needs are taken into account. I found Berlin to be an amazing city to live in as the qualify of life is unmatched. Whatever kind of person you are you will find the suitable space for you in this multifaceted city."

Margherita Mulé

"All professors are really available and classes are very interactive and less frontal. I really enjoyed the classes at ESMT. With ESMT’s modern study rooms you have the possibility to study in a pleasant and quiet environment. Furthermore Berlin is an extremely international city, full of beauties to discover."

Muhammad Fajri

"The courses were structured comprehensively and the student buddy program was particularly useful during my first week at ESMT. My buddy Rishab helped me navigate the campus and introduced me to students from other courses. Overall, it was a wonderful experience, and I am thrilled to have completed my exchange term at ESMT Berlin. I had a great experience during my exchange at ESMT Berlin."