The program does not offer an internship, but it includes a compulsory 10-month consulting project with a company.
Learn more about the consulting projects.

GMAT score is not required for your application for the program.

Applicants must have at least 5 years of pre- or post-master’s relevant work experience.

Upon successful completion of the program, you will obtain a Diploma of Advanced Studies (DAS) in Sustainable Business – a fully recognized degree by BSL.

Please check our Admissions criteria and checklist section.

The only specialization available at the MBA level is Sustainable Business.

The official answer is “no” for all non-Swiss foreign students. However, while internships and jobs are considered officially as employment, it is possible for students with a student “B” permit to obtain work experience in other ways. Most of it may not be remunerated, but the time spent working as a project supporter for an organization or a business will be very impressive on your CV once you complete your studies.

BSL will help and advise you on all the legal procedures to obtain your ‘Study B Permit’ which allows you to live and study in Switzerland during your stay at BSL.

With the launch of the Bologna reform in Europe, universities rely increasingly on the ENIC-NARIC system to verify degrees of other universities. Currently, BSL is listed in the U.S. NARIC system through CHEA (Council of Higher Education Accreditation), thus providing recognition of its degrees to European universities where our students may want to continue their education. CHEA is among the three official bodies in the United States that are entitled to list accredited institutions of higher education. See more information at Rankings and Accreditation.

BSL does not have online courses for the simple reason that learning and practicing management must be learned with other people together in groups and in classes. It can best be learned with the guidance of teachers who themselves work in business. Such “live” practice is not possible online.

Graduates with a Master’s degree are expected to have the maturity to think in critical ways, to know how to write reports, and show acumen in making decisions. Students will try to accumulate work experience through internships and collect recommendation letters from their superiors before they apply for jobs that earn a salary. A good Master’s program prepares students for professional performance, and graduates can aim for jobs with responsibility in the management of projects. The salary range can be wide, but with a Master’s degree, the graduate can apply for positions with a salary that is high enough to enable then to live on it comfortably and grow in their career.

Internships at BSL are optional. If students are interested in doing an internship, we have a dedicated Student Counselor at BSL who will help you, the student, meet with industries or companies that interest you; however, we do not promise or guarantee an internship, but we help you in your in making your contacts.

These two exams are often required to enter graduate studies in the USA. Graduate studies is studies for the Master’s degree or higher. American universities have agreed on these standard exams in order to screen out applicants who do not respond to these standards, and this is exactly where BSL diverges. You can apply to BSL without the GRE or the GMAT. Besides standards on which many schools insist for their admission, there are two other reasons why BSL does not require these exams, namely because high exam results does not predict who will become excellent business managers, and because at an international school such as BSL, an international standardized exam will not offer a fair chance to all applicants from around the world.

GMAT score is not required for your application for a BSL Master’s program.

No work experience is required to enter the BSL Master’s programs.

Our Master’s programs do not offer any specializations.

The Master in International Business (MIB) however suggests three different program options: (1) MIB Classic with Project Management, (2) MIB Global Business including a study exchange in Beijing, China, and (3) MIB Hybrid Digital including the completion of an online nanodegree “Data Analyst” or “Tech Entrepreneur” (Udacity.com) with the facilitation of a BSL professor.

Please refer to housing and accommodation

BSL advises students to budget a minimum of CHF 2500 per month for expenses related to food, accommodation, local travel/commuting, school textbooks, social/entertainment, and medical insurance.

Estimated costs – please note these are estimations of monthly costs which vary depending on the student’s budget and lifestyle:

• Monthly accommodation estimate: CHF 1000 – CHF 2,500
• Monthly food expenses estimate: CHF 600 – CHF 800
• Monthly travel expenses estimate:  CHF 100 – CHF 250
• Monthly medical insurance estimate: CHF 300 – CHF 500

Please note that every student in Switzerland must be insured by a medical and accident insurance company in Switzerland, even if you already have an international travel insurance.  (BSL can help you find an insurance company if you do not already have insurance in Switzerland).

The Swiss ENIC system currently lists only Swiss state‐owned universities and cannot list private institutions such as IMD or BSL.

Please note that both IMD and BSL are listed in the U.S. NARIC system. BSL is listed in the U.S. NARIC system through CHEA (Council of Higher Education Accreditation) providing the recognition of its degrees to any admission officer of universities across Europe where our students may want to study. In the United States, three bodies are officially entitled to list accredited institutions of higher learning, among them CHEA.

The Bologna reform regulates university collaborations across Europe with a unified ECTS credit transfer system.  It has placed new demands on the ENIC‐NARIC system as university Admission Officers can face difficulty in correctly evaluating the pertinence of various degrees in student application files. An example: current limitations of the system include that private institutions in Switzerland are not considered by ENIC Switzerland (part of the Swiss Rectors’ Conference of Swiss Universities (CRUS), a state‐managed institution.

Top tier private institutions such as IMD and BSL are as a result not included in the European / Swiss ENIC table of recognized universities with the result that some Swiss state universities do not recognize BSL degrees.  However, BSL’s diplomas are included in the U.S. NARIC list, and this ensures recognition of BSL degrees within the larger ENIC-NARIC network by all universities and governments that also recognize degrees from American universities (all universities in English-speaking countries, all universities that recognize American degrees from international universities anywhere in the world).

The ACBSP accreditation ensures that BSL degrees are recognized and valued world‐wide.

With the launch of the Bologna reform in Europe, universities rely increasingly on the ENIC-NARIC system to verify degrees of other universities. Currently, BSL is listed in the U.S. NARIC system through CHEA (Council of Higher Education Accreditation), thus providing recognition of its degrees to European universities where our students may want to continue their education. CHEA is among the three official bodies in the United States that are entitled to list accredited institutions of higher education. See more information at Rankings and Accreditation.

Institutional and program accreditations ensure that a school and its programs offer a high quality level of education. Only 10% of business schools are accredited (have undergone the rigorous accreditation process). BSL was the first business school in Europe to achieve full ACBSP accreditation for all of its programs in 1996. Institutional accreditations such as AACSP and EQUIS validate the viability of a school, whereas, program accreditations, such as AMBA (only for MBA programs) and ACBSP (for all business programs including the doctorate level) validate the continuous high quality of the programs delivered. For more information on BSL’s accreditation, see Rankings and Accreditation.

Graduates with a Bachelor’s degree can expect job-entry positions in large companies or organisations, or positions with some responsibility in small businesses. Many students will try to accumulate work experience (internships, volunteering) and collect recommendation letters from their superiors before they apply for jobs that earn a salary. The reason is that an employer wants to know that s/he can trust the graduating student, you, on the basis of previous work experience and recommendation letters

Yes, at BSL, a staff member is at the school especially to support students in their career orientation. BSL cannot “give” a job to students or graduates from BSL, but the school’s staff members do help all students in developing their career interests and contacts (professional networking).
Also, it is important to note that BSL is in Western Switzerland, and that this region of the country is unique in the world because it is home to an extremely high density of multi-national companies, international businesses, international financial services, international organizations, NGOs, professional associations, as well as humanitarian and charity organisations. All of these attract numerous small and large suppliers, consultants and commercial agents who all have interests in these larger organizations and multinational corporations as stakeholders or as partners. Studying in Western Switzerland is therefore a smart decision if you also want to develop your professional network. BSL staff work hard with industry leaders and professors to continuously develop all these contacts so students can benefit from them.

Internships at BSL are optional. If students are interested in doing an internship, we have a dedicated Student Counselor at BSL who will help you, the student, meet with industries or companies that interest you. However, we do not promise or guarantee an internship, but we help you in your in making your contacts.

BSL offers partial scholarships to worthy candidates on a need and merit base. Our BBA program offers a partial scholarship program up to 50% off the tuition fee and our graduate and executive programs offer a scholarship program up to 25% off the tuition fee.

Applicants are reviewed on an individual basis and are judged according to their academic achievements, personal motivation, and the general positivity that they can add to the school. Merit-based scholarships are then available to high-preforming students for the second part of the program.

As part of the selection process, successful applicants are interviewed to assess their level of English and their chances of success in the particular program. As a guide, you will need a level of English as follows:
IELTS 6; TOEFL 80; TOEIC 750 (one test only required)

The BSL TOEFL code is 0018.

Yes, students who have not completed the Swiss Maturity diploma, but who have either started or completed an apprenticeship (Swiss Professional Maturity in commerce also called “Berufsmatura” or “Maturité professionnelle”) can apply for the Bachelor at BSL. At least three years of work experience will compensate for the lack of a Maturity diploma, but the more years of work experience you have, the lower the performance conditions for your studies at BSL will be.

The recommended minimum at BSL is 32 however, if an applicant has not achieved the required minimum, and can show that she/he has other qualities, such as hard-working, strong interests in entrepreneurship and sustainable business and management, then admission may be granted with performance conditions. This means that the candidate will have to make extra efforts in the first school terms at BSL in order to demonstrate a commitment to working hard.

Please check the admissions criteria for the BBA program.

Besides the administrative papers and letters, you need to show that you are not only interested in management and industry, but that you have an interest in the long-term development and sustainability of the businesses or the organizations you are hoping one day to work in. You need to do at least two things to show that you have these interests: write a motivation letter and attend the interview (by Skype or in person).

First, you must describe in your motivation letter what kind of industry or career you are interested in and why (it can be anything you wish, such as business, fine arts, charities, government, nature, sports, etc.). Also in the motivation letter, you need to explain what you think the skills are that you want to learn in order to become qualified for the industry that interests you.

Second, at the interview, you will be asked to evaluate to what extent you really want to study at BSL. This may surprise you ! It is not simply the school that decides if it will accept you, but you must also decide if you accept the school. This means that you must first explore what BSL does. BSL is not just a school to get a degree. BSL is a place where you can enrich your learning experience. So, prepare for the interview by checking on-line about everything you can find about the school. In order to study at BSL, you will be expected to make a commitment to working hard, and studying and behaving like a professional.

To study towards any degree at BSL is not easy, but it is a worth-while experience that will offer enriching learning experiences. Such experiences only exist where every student gives his or her very best effort, and is willing to work hard to achieve good results.

All courses at BSL are given in English.

Our BBA program offers the possibility to complete your final, third year at Dublin Business School where you can orient your studies towards preferred subjects by choosing from streams of Management, HRM, Law, Psychology or Project Management.

The BSL BBA 2-year program is equivalent to a three-year 200 ECTS bachelor program, accredited by ACBSP. In Europe, university programs are measured in terms of workload hours, which is a combination of class hours and study hours. The BSL program accelerates a typical three-year bachelor program into an intense two-year program by increasing the number of classes provided over the two-year period and by adding two 10 week summer terms.

The credit hours given by BSL differ slightly to both the traditional US systems of semester hours and quarter hours. During a calendar year, BSL gives four, ten-week terms, allowing students to earn 15 hours of credit per term. A student with a full load takes five, three credit-hour courses, with four contact hours per week per course, and thus spends a total of 20 hours per week in the classroom. By maintaining this rigorous schedule students can complete the 120 US credits required for the BBA in a minimum of eight terms or two calendar years.

For our BBA programs, it is possible to transfer up to 100 ECTS credits or 60 US credits (from recognized institutions of undergraduate education). Credits are not transferable for any other program.