Starting your studies

Under certain conditions, you can apply for a so-called «semester leave» or «semester with reduced tuition fees». The reasons for a semester leave can vary depending on your respective study level; therefore, you should inform yourself in advance about the corresponding legal basis (Art. 7 IP Academic Programmes).

During an approved semester of leave, you pay a reduced semester fee of CHF 71.50. You cannot take any courses, but you can retake exams. You also have unrestricted access to our infrastructure, in particular the cafeteria, the IT tools, the library and the sports facilities.

We use the "European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)" for weighting and evaluating academic performance. You receive a certain number of credit points (credits) for each course you complete. The credits are an indicator of the amount of work you need to do to achieve the learning objectives of a course. On average, students need about 30 hours of work per credit to achieve a satisfactory grade. Therefore, 120 hours are required for a four-credit course.

Each piece of work completed is assessed with a grade. The grading scale ranges from 1.00 (unsatisfactory) to 6.00 (outstanding), whereby a grade of 4.00 or higher constitutes sufficient examination performance. If a grade is multiplied by the credits of the respective course, this amounts to credit grade points or minus credit grade points. We use these for the relative weighting of your academic performance. You can find more information about the calculation of grade point average and minus credit grade points on StudentWeb (HSG Login required).

Course and examination allocation is carried out at all study levels via the so-called bidding system in Compass (HSG Login required). Through bidding, students who bid the most for a course are allocated a place. The basis for course attendance and thus also for exam admission and credit transfer is the allocation through bidding. Precisely because bidding is a central element of teaching at the HSG, we offer detailed explanations. Pay particular attention to the bidding fact sheet and the bidding instructions on StudentWeb (HSG Login required).

A detailed explanation of the bidding process can be found in the following video:  

• Link to the bidding explanation video (HSG Login required).

Once you have been allocated a course by the bidding system, you are automatically registered for the corresponding exam; separate registration in Compass is not necessary. After the end of bidding, you will find an overview of the allocated courses in Compass, which corresponds to your exam registrations.

If you want to find out about the content and the intended form of examination (written, oral, presentation in groups, etc.) of a course, the so-called course and examination fact sheet is the first place to go. You can find the fact sheet either directly in the bidding system for the corresponding course by clicking the button [i] or in Courses, the university's course catalogue.

Detailed information on withdrawing from an examination or not taking it can be found on StudentWeb (HSG Login required).

You can obtain your lecture materials either electronically via our learning platform StudyNet (Canvas) or in printed form via the «Skriptekommission» (SKK). The course materials (lecture slides, literature) are primarily available on StudyNet (Canvas). The SKK prints, manages and sells the scripts, books, study cards and other teaching materials compiled by the teaching staff for the students. In addition, the SKK and its Print on Demand service allow students to print their own documents at low cost. You can find the opening hours and the scripts and books on sale here.

The University of St.Gallen is committed to multilingualism. German and English are considered the languages of study. Any language that was not designated as the school language when registering for the degree programme is considered a foreign language. No foreign-language study achievements can be taken or credited in the school language. Only one school language is recorded. Bilingual students may take foreign-language coursework in their second school language.

The first year of study (Assessment Year) is monolingual; students choose the German-language track or the English-language track.

All Bachelor students complete coursework in at least two different foreign languages as part of the contextual studies. In the Business Administration, Economics and International Affairs majors, a minimum share of courses in both languages is compulsory.

At the Master's level, depending on the Master's programme, studies are completed in monolingual German, monolingual English completely or partially (hybrid) bilingual German/English. 

The University of St.Gallen refers to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in its regulations on study and foreign languages.

The Contextual Studies begin in the Assessment Year with a disciplinary introduction to history, philosophy, psychology and sociology. Building on this, it offers multidisciplinary in-depth study in relevant subject areas at the Bachelor's and Master's level: Media, Cultures, History, Society, Responsibility, Creativity, Law, Technologies. Students are offered the opportunity to acquire in-depth qualifications with these eight focus areas.

The Workshop format offered each semester allows students to work on an individual question within the focus areas, linking topics from the core studies with perspectives from the Contextual Studies in an integrative sense.

The range of courses offered in the Contextual Studies is completed by Skills & Languages, which include introductions to scientific work, rhetoric seminars, programming courses and, at the Bachelor's level, a variety of language courses.

We offer students at Bachelor's and Master's level the opportunity to spend one semester per study level at a partner university. The application procedure takes place once a year.

In cooperation with several partner universities, we offer you the opportunity to obtain both a HSG Master's degree and a corresponding degree from a partner university. Within more than a dozen double-degree partnerships, students in all Master's programmes have the opportunity to obtain a double degree.

Our flagship programmes include the HSG Asia Term in Singapore (Bachelor's level only), the HSG Latam Term in São Paolo (Bachelor's level only) and the CEMS Master's in International Management.

At the HSG, you can complete various additional qualifications at both Bachelor's and Master's level parallel to your studies. These are recognised with a corresponding certificate after graduation.

Bachelor’s level:

• Data Science Fundamentals
• Business Education (start at Bachelor's level possible, completion at Master's level)

Master’s level:

• Business Journalism
• Managing Climate Solutions
• Business Education (start at Bachelor's level possible, completion at Master's level)