Master’s Degree in Industrial Management

The Mittweida University of Applied Sciences offers this course of study as full- or part-time. Full-time study includes a total of four semesters (three semesters of theory, including the student’s research and development project, and the Master’s semester when the student has to write and defend his/her Master’s thesis). Part-time study distributes the theoretical training over four semesters, followed by a 5th semester where the student prepares his/her research and development project, then the 6th semester is used for writing the Master’s thesis. The first semester of the course serves to broaden knowledge in one of two basic profiles:

Based on an aptitude assessment, a decision will be made which set of requirements the student will assume, and this will take into account the subject of the student’s first academic degree and/or whether the student has acquired professional expertise.

Each of the two sets of basic requirements is divided into subcomplex I (which provides a mandatory theoretical foundation) and subcomplex II (for an orienting set of sub-requirements). Each has a workload of 10 credits. In addition, regardless of his or her specific set of requirements, the student has to take two mandatory modules from “Module Pool A” for developing key competencies and supplementing specific areas of economics.

The further course of studies has four contextual concentrations:

Private industry and the commercial and service companies work hand in hand, which is the driving force behind a country’s economy. They are the ones who define the specifications made of an industrial manager. It is sadly true that the well-worn avenues of training no longer meet the demands of today's complex world of labour. This is why the private economy is searching for personalities who can join in the process of forging the market of industry and the service economy of tomorrow.

An interdisciplinary master's curriculum in industrial management at the Mittweida University of Applied Sciences can help train these personalities to meet the needs of tomorrow’s market. Highly qualified workers with interdisciplinary skills have outstanding career perspectives in the private economy - not only in Germany but all over the world. High-growth industries such as the automobile, logistics, and media sectors, and particularly the hidden powerhouses in mechanical engineering, plant construction, electrical engineering, and information technology are clamouring for qualified up-and-coming workers for demanding national and international challenges.

This environment of constantly-increasing international competition, along with the shifting of production locations to growth regions all over the world, is where takeovers and mergers greatly boost the demands made of management personnel. You can't just be good at the business fundamentals. A sound knowledge of management is indispensibly linked to expertise in the candidate’s particular field. The target group for these job specifications is recruited from three main areas:

• Engineers (and those from vocational fields in the realm of engineering) with expertise closely associated to business and management,
• Economists (and those with college degrees in the realm of economics) who have deficits in the technical background knowledge regarding the corporate processes to be managed,
• Media and social scientists with a high level of expertise in the communicative and social environment, although comparably minor experience in applying their skills to scenarios in the corporate environment.

The "Industrial Manager" of the special Mittweida master's program is intended to meet the profile of the interdisciplinary active player in middle management levels expected by the economy through a broadly diversified, highly modularized and individually designable qualification program, which consists of the structural elements:

The industrial manager produced by the Mittweida master’s programme is intended to meet the profile of the interdisciplinary player in the middle-management levels demanded by the private economy. The programme does this through a broadly diversified, highly modularised and individually designable qualification program, which consists of these structural elements:

• broadening the student's knowledge in a fundamental complex (one of two outlines can be selected: oriented towards engineering or economics)
• broadening the student's knowledge in one of 11 disciplines relevant to research
• broadening the student's individual knowledge with an interdisciplinary approach

Graduates of the industrial management curriculum will be given the skills they need to take on technical and management assignments in the private economy. Industrial heavyweights offer career opportunities in specific functional areas while work is generally interdisciplinary in small and medium-sized businesses. The interdisciplinary nature of this programme of training gives graduates access to the areas of work below on the national and global labour market:

The Master’s curriculum in industrial management at the Mittweida University of Applied Sciences prepares students to take on responsibility in middle management in private industry, the service sector, or public administrations. The Master’s study programme has an individually selectable course of training in selected areas of business management, engineering and science, and the media sciences to offer students a flexible training strategy with a whole range of opportunities for meeting the demands of globalisation in the labour world and the international interlinking of companies.

We have been offering the industrial management study programme since 2001 and it was accredited in 2004 and reaccredited in 2009. It is set up as an interdisciplinary programme to link all of the teaching/research expertise available at Mittweida University. This study programme has a modular content and structured strategy that is aimed at graduates of engineering, media, or economic studies who would like to broaden and enlarge upon their technical knowledge in a basic complex (either oriented towards engineering or economics) and in a discipline in proximity to the focus of their undergraduate work. This study programme is research-oriented.

The objectives of this programme are (1) to train engineering and business management experts and (2) to provide theoretical instruction with an extensively hands-on approach to make these experts sufficiently capable of applying engineering knowledge and management techniques both in small and medium-sized businesses, as well as industrial heavyweights, while working creatively in a team and being active on an intercultural scale with a knowledge of foreign languages.

The target group for training as a Master of Science in industrial management are graduates in engineering, media science, and economics. This Master’s programme is aimed at persons already possessing a degree who would like to follow it up directly with a second degree, as well as persons from the private economy with some years of professional experience who would like to refresh their technical knowledge and broaden and enlarge upon their business knowledge base for management.

Studies are set up modularly, and the normal period of time for completion is four semesters in full-time study, including the research module and Master’s thesis. (This scheme includes taking 6 modules for 5 ECTS credits per semester in the first year of study)

Two times the study period is available for semesters 1 and 2 in part-time study (modules 1-3 in the first winter or summer semester and modules 4-6 in the subsequent winter or summer semester).

Whoever has at least a Bachelor’s degree with 180 ECTS credits and a sufficient level of comprehension of German can commence college work at the Mittweida University of Applied Sciences. Knowledge of English is also required at the B1+ level in accordance with the Common European Reference Framework for Languages. The Mittweida University of Applied Sciences gives applicants an aptitude test to examine whether they meet the requirements. This test also checks whether foreign applicants meet the linguistic requirements. If they do not have a sufficient level of German language skills, they can attend a language course with a final DSH examination.

Please attach the following paperwork to your application:

• your application for registration,
• an authenticated copy of your college admission authorisation,
• your Bachelor’s or Master’s degree including your final certificate for your undergraduate work,
• a curriculum vitae,
• a passport photo with your name,
• a self-addressed stamped envelope.

You can download the application form for registration. Studies begin every winter semester, although in special cases it might be possible to commence studies in the summer semester. The winter semester courses start in the middle of September and the summer semester courses start at the beginning of March.

You should have submitted your application for studies for the Master’s degree by 15 July.