Degree Requirements

All applicants are expected to hold at least a final grade comparable to a magna cum laude (Swiss grade: 5.0). Excemptions are possible if candidates belong to the best 15% in class. Foreign grades are converted on an individual base considering course specific work loads, subject relevance and known school or country grade distributions.

For admission to track B you need to hold a master degree at the time you begin your doctoral studies. A degree in business or economics is required. Applicants without a business or economics degree, but with proven research abilities and outstanding application documents may may be admitted with additional requirements. However, in any case these applicants should tell us exactly what they intend to gain with their business PhD admission.

An outstanding bachelor degree (with distinction, Swiss grade: 5.5) in business, economics or finance is required in order to be considered for track C, as well as superior test results and recommendations.

The highest degree relevant for admission (i.e. track B: master, track C: bachelor) must be completed at a recognised university. Master's degrees from universities of applied sciences are not eligible for direct admission to the doctoral programs of the GSB. In principle, this also applies to EMBA degrees and that part of the MBA degrees, that are primarily oriented towards continuing professional development. The research relevance of MBA degrees is assessed during the application process. In particular, this assessment is country- and institution-specific.

Your secondary education certificate is not used to assess your application. However, it will be required by the student admission office once accepted to the program and therefore it is a good idea to have it handy already. However, if they are unable to submit it by the closing date for applications, it will be requested at a later date in case of a successful admission to the program.