Stephanie Einbrodt
Student Office
04103 - 80 48 - 12
sdt@fh-wedel.de
Degree Programme IT Engineering MSc at FH Wedel
The demand for computer scientists and engineers is much higher than the number of suitably qualified graduates, and this disproportion will certainly grow in a world which is highly determined by technological progress. Graduates with skills in both fields are in even higher demand.
FH Wedel offers a consecutive programme in IT Engineering. The bachelor's programme is conducted in German and is open to all high school graduates with a dedicated mathematical and technological interest who wish to keep their future field of professional employment as open as possible. The master's programme is conducted in English and provides students with the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and build upon their skills. Applicants coming from abroad need good programming skills and good understanding of mathematics and technological basics. They will have the chance to obtain a German master's degree which will enable them to apply for a wide range of jobs in an economically strong and politically stable country.
IT Engineering Master's programme
If you want to enhance the knowledge obtained during your bachelor's programme via a scientific and technological challenge, you may want to undertake our 3-semester-programme in IT Engineering in order to obtain your master's degree. If you prefer studying part-time, it may take up to 7 semesters.
Our master's programme enables you to carry out scientific work and provides you with profound theoretical and analytical skills. You will acquire techniques that enable you to solve complex problems. You will become acquainted with challenging fields such as medical engineering and robotics and you will be trained for leading positions in companies. If you decide to stay in science, you may pursue a PhD thesis as a follow-up step. Our professors will support you in this endeavour.
The programme's contents
In our master's programme IT Engineering, you will acquire advanced skills in computer science and engineering. During the winter semester you will receive further tuition in the fields of dynamical systems, distributed systems, embedded systems, and medical engineering. During the summer semester you will have the choice between more computer science-oriented subjects, such as algorithmics and IT security, and engineering subjects, such as technical optics and modern production methods. Other possible choices are robotics, which combines computer science and engineering, and business intelligence, which will let you gain leadership competence. You are free to choose which subjects you want to focus on - computer science, engineering, or both.
At the end of your studies you will possess an advanced skill set which can be applied to all application domains. You will also have obtained specialised knowledge in some selected areas of application.
Job market and prospects
Germany is one of the world's most export-oriented countries, especially in fields that require IT Engineering. Hosting Europe's second busiest seaport as well as several global players such as Airbus, Hapag-Lloyd, Philips, and Lufthansa, the Hamburg Metropolitan Area offers excellent work opportunities in an international setting, even at entry-level. This particularly applies to jobs that your master's degree in IT Engineering qualifies you for.
Engineers with dedicated IT skills are highly sought after in the automotive sector, the aerospace industry, medical engineering, automation, and a great variety of other sectors in technological production. Graduates will be able to choose whether they want to be involved in the production of large technological objects such as sea vessels, or small devices such as mobile phones. They can also freely choose the size of their employer - from global corporations to garage shops.
Admission criteria
Our master's programme IT Engineering requires a certain proficiency in English. A B2 level (CEFR, Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment) is obligatory.
The immediate admission criterion for our master's programme IT Engineering is a bachelor's degree in a related field with a GPA of 2.5 or better. Applicants should have obtained 210 ECTS credits, which is equivalent to seven semesters of full-time studies.
The majority of our applicants graduated in a programme which, according to German authorities, corresponds to only 180 ECTS credits, or six semesters of studies, even if the programme was designed for seven semesters in their home country. To participate in our master's programme, they need to study some of our bachelor's programme's modules. We have therefore designed a four-semester-curriculum (cf. below) integrating six modules from our bachelor's programme. These modules are of course also held in English.
To prove your bachelor's degree's relevance to IT Engineering, your studies need to have included at least 80 credits’ worth of mathematics, information technology, science, and/or engineering. If your bachelor's programme did not contain modules of this kind and value, you cannot be admitted to our IT Engineering master's programme.
For bachelor's degrees with 180 ECTS credits the only other requirement is that your studies have included at least 10 credits in mathematics, and 5 credits in software development lab courses. Any further necessary adaptation to our master's programme will be accomplished by the additional bachelor modules of our four-semester-curriculum.
Bachelor's degrees with 210 ECTS credits need to meet the following requirements in mathematics and software development, which can partially be made up by bachelor modules taken at our university:
- Your studies need to have included mathematics worth at least 20 ECTS credits, encompassing at least 5 credits in engineering mathematics and at least 5 credits in discrete mathematics. You cannot make up for engineering mathematics via our bachelor modules, unless you are sufficiently proficient in German to partake in our German modules. You can make up for discrete mathematics by taking our English bachelor modules. Five additional credits can be made up by taking our Signals & Systems module.
- You also need to have passed basic software development modules worth at least 10 ECTS credits. These modules have to be made up of laboratory courses, not lectures. If your programming modules have been valued at less than 5 credits, there is no way for you to be admitted to the IT Engineering programme. By partaking in our Programming 2 module, you may make up for 5 credits.
- You have to provide advanced knowledge in at least one of the object-oriented programming languages Java or C++. This knowledge will be examined in an entry assignment at the beginning of your first semester. You may partake in our module Advanced Object-Oriented Programming to gain this knowledge.
If you, according to these rules, need additional modules, you will most likely need at least 4 semesters, as our three-semester-curriculum is very tight and requires the above-mentioned prerequisites.
If your GPA is worse than 2.5 (higher), you may still be admitted. Your GPA needs to be 2.9 or better, and you will have to provide adequate additional qualifications. With a GPA of 3.0 or worse you have no chance of being admitted into the master's programmes. Note that the GPA in Germany ranges between 1.0 (the best possible grade) and 4.0 (the worst grade that is still sufficient to obtain a bachelor's degree). If your grade needs to be converted into the German grading system by uni-assist, your own grad will then be converted according to this scale.
Overview
Below you will find a survey of our three-semester-curriculum (regular master's programme curriculum) as well as a survey of our four-semester-curriculum (applicable for most international incomings). In addition you will find a detailed syllabus (Modulhandbuch).
The modules of the elective block (5 out of 7) are independently combinable. However, we do suggest that you choose one of the following combination profiles:
- Computer Science: Algorithmics, Cryptography Workshop, Security Engineering, plus two additional modules
- Engineering: Technical Optics, Modern Production Methods, Robotics, plus two additional modules
Foreigen admission certificate
All students who have completed their degree outside of Germany must register with our national service provider, uni-assist, the international employment and service office, before they go through our application procedure. Our service provider evaluates your documents and sends you the results back, the so-called Vorprüfungsdokumentation (VPD). You must enclose this with your application.
Please send uni-assist all documents relevant to your Bachelor's degree and all language certificates. If you are not sure which documents to submit, please contact uni-assist. Make sure that you pay the processing fee to uni-assist, otherwise they will not process your documents. The preliminary examination documentation can only be accepted if it is issued for a degree programme at FH Wedel. You must therefore explicitly apply to uni-assist for the degree programme of your choice at FH Wedel. The preliminary examination documentation gives you a file number with which we can assign your application as well as your GPA (Grade Point Average) according to the German education system. If your GPA is 3.0 or higher, we will not offer you a place at the FH Wedel. Only if your GPA is lower than 3.0 can you continue with your registration.
Language Skills
To gain access to the programme, you must take the Deutsche Sprachprüfung für den Hochschulzugang (DSH). For the German-language Bachelor programmes IT-Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering und the Master`s programme IT Securityyou need German language skills at level DSH-1. For all other German-language programmes you need German language skills at level DSH-2.
In addition, you need English language skills at level B1 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). For all English-language study programmes, you need English language skills at level B2 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), but no German language skills.
Visa and residence permit
Especially if you need a visa, we strongly recommend that you apply to us in advance of approximately six months. You can apply for a visa in your home country at the German embassy or consulate. EU citizens do not need a visa to enter Germany. Nevertheless, they need a residence permit in order to study here. You must apply for the permit within three months of your arrival at the responsible foreigners authority! If this does not happen, it can lead to bureaucratic problems.
Application procedure for non-EU students
If you took your university admission certificate in the EU, are an EU citizen or a resident of Germany, you can follow our general application process. Otherwise, the following application procedure will apply to you.
1. Admission prerequisite
If you have uni-assist's preliminary examination documentation (VPD) and your GPA is lower than 3.0, you can apply at FH Wedel.
2. Financing the studies
Studying at the FH Wedel is subject to fees. The amount of the fees can be found on the course pages. Students who have completed a six semester Bachelor programme with 180 ECTS credits need an additional semester with 30 ECTS credits and must therefore study one semester longer than the standard period of study. You may have to include this additional semester in your cost calculation.
The culture and the educational system in Germany are in need of getting used to, especially at the beginning of your studies. As a student of the FH Wedel you have to act very independently and the demands on you are very high. This has an effect on the speed at which you can complete your studies at FH Wedel. You should also take this into account in your cost calculation.
The Wedel University of Applied Sciences does not award scholarships. However, you can apply for scholarships at the DAAD or institutions in your home country. The FH Wedel is a fully recognised university and thus corresponds to a public university. If you would like to take out a student loan from a bank, please consider your personal financial risk. The FH Wedel does not take any measures to prevent or promote the taking out of a loan. We recommend that you secure the financing of at least five semesters.
3. Applying for a study programme
Please fill out our registration form and accept our terms and conditions. In order to process your registration, we charge a registration fee. We will only check your documents once the registration fee has been credited to our account. Please transfer the fee to the following account:
Receipient | Fachhochschule Wedel |
Amount | 150,- Euro |
IBAN | DE46 2215 1730 0000 0247 32 |
BIC | NOLADE21WED |
Name fo the credit institute | Stadtsparkasse Wedel |
Reason for transfer | Anmeldung, <surname, first name> |
Please note that your bank may charge additional fees for the transfer. In addition, please send us for your application the following documents by postal mail :
- The registration form and the fully signed contract conditions
- The VPD for your course of studies at the FH Wedel
- Proof of payment of the registration fee
4. We check your application
After we have received and reviewed your application, you will receive an e-mail response from us. If this reply is negative, your application was not successful. You cannot study at the FH Wedel. If this answer is positive, we will offer you a place at our university. You will receive a written confirmation from us. You will need this confirmation to apply for your visa.
5. You accept the offered study place
You accept the offered study place by paying a deposit on your semester fee of 500 EUR. Please transfer the deposit to the following account:
Receipient | Fachhochschule Wedel |
| Amount | 500,- EUR |
| IBAN | DE46 2215 1730 0000 0247 32 |
| BIC | NOLADE21WED |
| Name of credit insitute | Stadtsparkasse Wedel |
Reason for bank transfer | Anzahlung, <surname, first name> |
Please note that your bank may charge additional fees for the transfer. After we have received the payment, you will receive a confirmation from us. The study contract will then be considered closed after a revocation period has expired and the place is reserved for you. This means that you are legally obliged to pay the rest of the tuition fees for the first semester. Within the cancellation period, you can cancel the contract without legal consequences using our cancellation form.
6. You apply for a visa
You can obtain a student visa at a German embassy or consulate. Please note that it normally takes several months to process your application. Therefore, you have to start your application process very early - usually half a year before you start your studies.
If you make the down payment quickly, you will generally receive our offer of a place to study faster than an appointment at the embassy or consulate. Therefore, you should already make an effort to make an appointment with the embassy or consulate by offering you a study place. If your visa is being denied, we will refund the deposit of 500 euros. To do this, you must provide proof that your visa has been refused. If your visa is late, this is not a reason for a refund. It is your responsibility to complete all steps of the application process on time.
7. Arrival and enrolment
You need to find accommodation before you arrive in Germany. The FH Wedel cannot offer you accommodation, but we can help you with your search. For more information, please contact our International Office. We welcome you to Wedel one week before the lecture begins. It is imperative that you have settled in by this time.
In order to complete your registration, you must pay the remaining tuition fees and follow some administrative steps. Only then can you participate in the courses at FH Wedel. We will help you with the administrative steps as soon as you arrive at the FH Wedel. The first day of lectures is usually at the beginning of October or April.
8. Delayed arrival
If you have to postpone the start of your studies by one semester, please inform us by e-mail. In this case you will have to pay a further processing fee and will receive a new confirmation of your place for the later start date. Please transfer the processing fee to the following account:
Receipient | Fachhochschule Wedel |
Amount | 150,- EUR |
IBAN | DE46 2215 1730 0000 0247 32 |
BIC | NOLADE21WED |
Name of credit insitute | Stadtsparkasse Wedel |
Reason for bank transfer | Semesterverschiebung, <Surname, first name>, |
Please note that your bank may charge additional costs for the transfer. A postponement is only possible once!
Contact
If you are interested in our master's programme IT Engineering, Mrs Stephanie Einbrodt will support you with the application process. She is the first contact person before arrival and the registration process at our University.
Arriving in Wedel
After you have arrived in Wedel, the International Office will help you to make your stay with us as pleasant as possible. Nicole Haß runs the International Office and will support you during your time here in Wedel. She organizes the Buddy programme where a German student will help you fill out forms or will introduce you to the German lifestyle and culture. Furthermore, Mrs Haß will help you with public authorities. When it comes to leisure acivities, rent and public transport we provide you here with all necessary information.
Nicole Haß
International Office
04103 - 80 48 - 47
nha@fh-wedel.de