Timeline & courses
The full-time MBA schedule delivered at ESMT Berlin blends academic theory and practical application, with a significant portion focusing on experiences outside the classroom. The specific skills you learn can be tailored to fit the type of career you are interested in pursuing, with numerous options to choose throughout the program including specialization tracks, electives and summer learning experiences.
Your Full-time MBA learning journey
- All students will begin with a management foundation that establishes core business knowledge and empowers you to develop a holistic perspective as you progress and focus on your chosen specialization.
- During the summer, there are multiple opportunities for personal development and following that, you can tailor the program even more with a range of elective courses. From September, you are in the driver’s seat. Choose from one of two focused tracks: managerial analytics, or innovation & entrepreneurship.
- You can also enrich your MBA experience with further international exposure by taking part in a full-term exchange or joining a social impact project over the summer. Take a look at the full range of international options we offer, if you’re eager to expand your worldwide professional and personal network and launch a truly global career.
Below you can explore the curriculum and courses in more detail, or check out our other dedicated pages for information about networking, personal development, student life, and careers.
Curriculum and course availability are subject to change at any time.
Full-time MBA program timeline
The aim of this module is to equip everyone with the same essential tools required to work through the rest of the MBA program and build a successful career afterwards. It introduces a holistic overview of all the key areas of business knowledge and provides a solid foundation for aspiring general managers.
The courses in this module establish the core competencies for managing organizations, assessing economic impact, and making decisions. This is also where you identify your personal leadership style and continue to develop it throughout the program.
In the latter half of this module, students at German language level A1 or A2 have the option of joining a 10-week program of twice weekly German evening classes.
- Intro to general management
- Presentation skills
- Structure thinking
- Inclusive leadership
- Building high-performance teams
- German evening class (optional)
- Competitive strategy
- From analytics to AI
- Evidence-based management
- Financial accounting
- Finance
- Intro to economic thinking
- Management accounting
- Managerial analysis and decision making
- Marketing management
- Organizational behavior
- Operations and supply chain
Summer options
Choose one of the three summer options to support your personal and professional development and further boost your employability.
Put the skills you’ve learned into practice and/or try a new industry with a summer internship (6–12 weeks).
If you have always wondered what it would be like to work in a particular industry or job role, you can find out in a summer internship. This could be the springboard to change your career or just gain valuable experience, all while presenting an excellent opportunity to start applying the lessons you've learned so far.
Students at A2 or B1 German language level are eligible for the intensive summer language program (6 weeks).
If you are committed to a career in Germany, developing your German language skills will be very useful. The six-week summer language school is a great opportunity to build upon the German you already have and take it to the next level.
Team up to solve a corporate or social challenge (6–8 weeks).
Budding intra- and entre-preneurs can team up to take on a social impact project. It offers participants an opportunity to act as an economic or management consultant for an organization with specific social impact objectives.
Specialization
The curriculum and course availability are subject to change at any time.
Develop specialized skills by choosing from two focused tracks: innovation and entrepreneurship; and managerial analytics. The program tracks are where you begin to tailor your MBA.
In both tracks, you will build on your understanding of management fundamentals and grow beyond basic management theory. The objective at this stage is for you to develop an ability to make a difference – through innovation, or analytics.
Regardless of your specialization, the courses in this module all focus on the areas where future leaders must excel, and where they must have specific awareness.
This module is supplemented with various leadership seminars such as:
- Mastering Negotiation Fundamentals
- Responsible and Ethical Leadership
- Leading Through Networks
- Customer analytics
- Advanced decision modelling
- Machine learning
- Human factor of innovation
- Creating and capturing value
- Entrepreneurial finance & valuation
In the fourth module you can also choose from a broad range of electives focused on topics that include digital transformation, sustainability, entrepreneurship, leadership, personal mastery, and more.
Choose from a suite of electives focused on various themes such as*:
- Sustainability
- Digital transformation
- Industry 4.0
- Entrepreneurship
- Leadership and personal mastery
- Business German (for those at B1 or higher)
*More options are available.
You will also have the opportunity to join a 1-week exchange at one of many fellow Global Network for Advanced Management members. Partner schools include Yale (USA), EGADE (Mexico), HEC Paris (France), HKUST Business School (China), and many more.
If you would like a longer international study experience, complete a full-term exchange at one of our partner schools.
The capstone project for your MBA will apply what you have learned to a real-world consulting project. Budding entrepreneurs can use this time to work on their enterprises.
This consulting project is where you get to see how far you have come by applying the new skills and insights you have learned to a real-life business situation.
Working in teams, the project offers a practical learning experience that can be used to diversify your skills portfolio should you choose to work in a different industry or function, or build upon your previous experience with a new strategic challenge.
Capstone projects are secured by our career services through our corporate partners and contacts. Entrepreneurship Club members can choose to work on innovation projects from local startups. You will use your team’s experience to write a final analytical paper.
- Develop a business plan for a social entrepreneurial venture in the solar power industry in rural India
- Design a development plan, strategic and operational, to internationalize a successful Berlin real estate startup within the next three years
- Create a market overview and strategic recommendations for launching a new technological innovation onto the global market for a design and manufacturing firm based in New Zealand
- Write a market entry strategy for a European-based renewable energy smart grid system moving into the US market
- Study a recent merger between a German company and a Chinese company, and outline the strengths and weaknesses involved in the process, developing realistic organizational solutions to problems faced
Graduates of ESMT Berlin automatically qualify for an 18-month work visa in Germany for which no employer support is needed.
Graduate from the program and jump straight into your career. With over 80% of graduates staying in Germany, the ESMT Berlin MBA is a great way to bring your international talents to Germany.
Graduating from the program with an MBA is just the first step in a new phase of your career. Will you continue to live and work in Germany, as over 80% of ESMT Berlin graduates do? Find out more about the career outcomes of ESMT Berlin MBA graduates.
Additional options
Post-program options
- Become a Responsible Leadership Fellow and complete a social impact project (up to 6 months)
- Access the Berlin ecosystem with the Vali Summer Entrepreneurship Program (April to June)
Expand your learning experience during the program
Leadership skills development
- Leading through networks
- Leadership under pressure
- Negotiating leadership challenges
- Responsible and ethical leadership
Integrative leadership development
Your MBA journey at ESMT Berlin features many opportunities to complement your academic studies with different courses on personal development. These are designed to round-out your competencies and prepare you fully for the senior leadership roles of your future and competitive job markets.
Throughout the MBA program, you will attend a series of personal development workshops and seminars designed to allow reflection on the MBA experience and facilitate personal growth outside of the classroom. Activities include:
- Intense team-building exercises that create a sense of camaraderie with your classmates.
- Presentation skills workshop
- A course on negotiation skills.
- Simulations, to help you put what you have learned into practice.
The full-time MBA from ESMT Berlin offers a bespoke learning experience, where you can focus your studies on topics, skills and experiences that will help you reach your career goals.
Achieve your goals
Here's how you can combine different tracks, electives, and summer options to develop an ideal profile for three key career types.
Intra- or entrepreneurship
ESMT was ranked #2 globally (and #1 in Germany) in Poets & Quants' Best MBA Programs for Entrepreneurship 2024.
If you are interested in intra- or entre-preneurship:
- The Innovation and Entrepreneurship track in module three will be the start of your journey
- In module two during the summer, take part in the Sustainability in Practice project and apply entrepreneurial ideas to overcome a corporate and social innovation challenge.
- In the electives, choose courses such as Entrepreneurial Strategy, Design Thinking, From Ideas to Business, and the Start Up Challenge.
- Use the capstone project to build out your business or devise expansion plans.
- And post-program, join the incubator program offered by our partner VALI Berlin
Over 230 ESMT alumni and students have so far founded over 200 companies in more than 15 countries in Europe, Africa, North and South America, and Asia. To learn more, please access the ESMT Berlin Venture Report.
Future business leader and innovator
If you want to make your mark on the business world:
- Choose the Managerial analytics track in module three
- In module two during the summer, complete an internship anywhere in the world
- During module four choose elective courses like Matchmakers in the digital economy, Quantitative Methods in Marketing, Integrative Leadership, and Conflict Management
- Take advantage of the career services support throughout the year to visit companies at their headquarters and meet with them on campus.
- Work as a consultant for an established company during your capstone project and get first-hand experience of the challenges and opportunities involved in solving the issues of another company
German Mittelstand (SMEs)
The German Mittelstand (SMEs) are the companies that have helped forge Germany’s economic success.
If you want to make your mark:
- Improve your German language skills with evening classes and take them further in the intensive 6-week Summer Language School
- Choose from electives such as Business German, Global Industrial Strategies, Geopolitics, and Sustainable Supply Chains
- And use the capstone project to be a consultant to a leading German company
Pre-MBA, I worked as a primary care physician. Post-MBA, I work as an in-house consultant at Allianz, working on wide range of internal projects.
The value I bring to my organization, network, and career have all grown exponentially as a consequence.
Alumni stories
Interested in entrepreneurship, but not ready to take the full leap yet?
The Financial Times interviews MBA graduate Luisa Rouillard about running a Berlin-based accelerator after graduation as a more stable way into the sector.
