Business informatics is an interdisciplinary subject at the interface of business administration and computer science. Business informatics is concerned with the development and deployment of IT and communications technology-based solutions to resolve business problems, and with the analysis and assessment of the suitability of new information technologies for application in practical business environments. Business informatics places less emphasis on the acquisition of pure hardware and programming expertise and allows students to focus more on developing their abilities to create IT-based solutions and to work collaboratively to implement solutions in company and corporate environments. In addition to introducing students to the fundamentals of information processing, the B.Sc. programme in business informatics aims to teach students the analytical skills required to solve problems in business economics.

The interdisciplinary character of business informatics provides students with numerous options to pursue specialist interests during their degree studies and in their subsequent careers.

The six-semester programme has a definite practical focus. Students who successfully complete the programme will be awarded a Bachelor of Science degree (B.Sc.). Over the course of the three-year programme, students will be taught the fundamental facts, concepts and methods of business informatics, computer science and business administration. Graduates will be able to apply the knowledge and skills acquired to solving practical problems in business informatics in their subsequent careers.

The Bachelor’s programme is a first-degree programme after which qualified graduates can enrol for the consecutive Master’s degree.

The B.Sc. programme is organized as a credit point system in which students gain credits from assessments carried out throughout the six-semester programme. To support attempts to reduce overall times to graduation and to simplify the recognition of academic credits gained at universities in other countries, the number of credits assigned to a particular course module is based on the recommendations of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS).

Students take a combination of compulsory and elective modules. A module is typically a self-contained taught course of fixed duration covering a specific subject or subjects. Other modules offered promote a student-centred, team-oriented approach to learning involving, for example, case study analyses, an introductory and an advanced seminar, the final-year thesis, and project work – the latter being an IT project that is carried out under the guidance of a student team

The curriculum of the three-year B.Sc. degree programme comprises a total of 180 credits (CP) and is divided into the following sections:

• Quantitative methods  (30 CP)
• Business informatics (30 CP)
• Economic science (36 CP)
• Computer science / Informatics (39 CP)
• General and non-subject-specific qualifications  (12 CP)
• Specialist area (33 CP)

The modules and associated number of credits that make up each of the above sections is set out in the tables below:

Section 1: Quantitative methods (30 CP) 

Section 2: Business informatics (30 CP) 

Section 3: Economic science (36 CP) 

Section 4: Computer science / Informatics (39 CP)

Section 5: General and non-subject-specific qualifications  (12 CP)

Section 6: Specialist area  (33 CP)

* Students must have a certain level of proficiency in one of the languages English, French, Spanish or Italian. Students are therefore required to take a diagnostic placement test. For more information, please go to: http://www.szsb.uni-saarland.de/frameset.html

Latest documents:

Course timetable WS

Presentation: What is Business Informatics?

Other relevant documents (provisional format)

Regulations:

Study regulations

Examination regulations

Module catalogue

Study plan:

Recommended study plan for students starting in the winter semester

Recommended study plan for students starting in the summer semester

At present, students can begin the B.Sc. programme either at the beginning of the winter or the summer semester, though we recommend that students start in the winter semester.

Entry to the Bachelor’s degree programme ‘Business Informatics’ is restricted to no more than 60 students per academic year in the first two semesters, with places awarded according to applicants’ academic grades.
Applications for admission to the first semester of the programme must be submitted to the Admissions Office of Saarland University no later thans

• 15 July (for admission in the winter semester) or
• 15. January (for admission in the summer semester)

Students can register for the third or higher semester without entrance restrictions applying. In this case, registration should be received by the end of September for entry at the start of a winter semester, or by the end of March for summer semester entry.

List of current degree programmes with explanatory notes on enrolment procedures

Please note: Slightly different admission rules apply to German and foreign nationals with a non-German higher-education entrance qualification. (More information is available, here siehe auch University Entrance Requirements – At a Glance).

Please note: If you are applying to the programme having already started to study another subject, or if you are applying for higher level entry (i.e. you wish to join the programme in a later semester), your application form must be accompanied by a notification of academic placement from the  Examinations Office at the Department of Economics.

Selected key research areas:

Business informatics

• Data management
• Planning and realization of business application systems
• e-Business/e-Commerce

Business Economics

• Finance and financial planning and control
• Marketing and sales
• Production and logistics management

Computer Science / Informatics

• System platforms
• Software development
• Intelligent systems

Existing collaborative programmes:

• Faculty of Law and Economics, Department 1.3, Business Administration
• Faculty of Natural Science and Technology I, Department 6.2, Computer Science / Informatics
• German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) GmbH, Saarbrücken
• Institute for Business Informatics at DFKI, Saarbrücken
• Max Planck Institute for Computer Science (MPI), Saarbrücken

Business informatics can also be chosen as a subject in the field of "general business administration" or as a specialist subject for students on the degree programmes "Business Administration" and "Commercial and Business Education".

Saarland University also offers graduates of the B.Sc. programme the opportunity to study for a consecutive M.Sc. in business informatics. The Master’s degree is a higher university qualification that also entitles holders to study for a doctorate.

Students may join the four-semester Master’s programme immediately after completing their B.Sc. or after a period of employment.

Wirtschaftswissenschaftliches Prüfungssekretariat

Department of Economics – Examinations Office
Campus Saarbrücken, Level 0 Bldg. B4 1, Room 109
Tel.: +49 681 302-2138
sekretariat(at)wiwipa.uni-sb.de
homepage

Institut für Wirtschaftsinformatik

Institute for Business Informatics
Bldg. D3 2, Level 2
Tel.: +49 681) 302-3106
iwi(at)iwi.uni-sb.de
homepage

Fachschaft Wiwi

Departmental Student Organization – Department of Economics
Bldg. C3 1, Level 4, Room 4.02
Tel.: +49 6 81 302-2935
info(at)fachschaft-wiwi.de

Dekanat der Rechts- und Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät

Faculty of Law and Economics – Dean’s Office
Bldg. B4 1, Level 0, Room 110
Campus Saarbrücken
66123 Saarbrücken
Tel.: +49 681 302-2203/-2100/-2691/-2700/-3100
Fax: +49 681 302-4213
dekanat(at)rewi.uni-saarland.de
homepage

Studienzentrum
(Study Counselling Centre)

Campus Saarbrücken
Building A 4 4
Postfach 15 11 50
D-66041 Saarbrücken
Tel.: + 49 (0) 681 / 302-3513
Fax: + 49 (0) 681 / 302-4526
E-Mail: Kontakt
www.uni-saarland.de/
studienberatung