Who is eligible?

Studying the Master’s Degree in Sustainable Development requires a preliminary application and the fulfillment of several admission requirements such as:

Eligible Students have obtained an university bachelor's degree in one of the following branches of study (at least 100 Credit Points from one, or at least 150 Credit Points from two subject areas):

Business administration, Economics, Geography, Communication and Media Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Social Work and Politics, Sociology, Applied Biosciences, Biology, Earth Sciences, Forestry, Environmental Sciences, or Environmental and Geomatics Engineering.            

If your bachelor's degree is from abroad, from an university of applied sciences or the branch of study does not correspond exactly to one of the list, we check the equivalence with the above mentioned branches of study. Admission may be possible with additional requirements (extra courses of max. 30 Credit Points according to letter of admission). The courses can be visited at the University of Basel while the student has enrolled for the MSD already.

NOTE: Usually, the language of instruction for these courses is GERMAN. Therefore, students doing these additional classes at the University of Basel must have good German skills (level B2 or higher).

Further admission requirements

  • Bachelor's degree with an average grade of at least 5.0 (Swiss scale system; see formula for the conversion of final grades of degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions).
  • Evidence of basic knowledge in mathematics and in statistics or methods in empirical social research at university level in the form of at least 10 CP:
    • in mathematics: proof of at least 3 CP;
    • in statistics or methods in empirical social research: proof of at least 3 CP;
    • the remaining 4 CP provide evidence of basic knowledge in mathematics and/or in statistics and/or methods in empirical social research in addition to the above-mentioned 3 CP per area.

When applying, the applicants have to submit the documents in order to prove their knowledge in these two areas. The study guidelines provide more details on the content of these requirements (section 3).

Alternative admission requirements

Your final mark is lower than a 5.0 (Swiss scale), or you are not able to provide the required evidence in mathematics and in statistics or methods in empirical social research of at least 10 CP as requested? If so, you can try to get the admission providing the results of a completed Graduate Record Examination® General Test (GRE®-Test) from the following two test sections:

  • quantitative reasoning: your performance must be among the top 30%;
  • analytical writing: your performance must be among the top 20%.

Consider the details on the website of the test. Be aware, only candidates accomplishing the admission requirements are accepted to the MSD!

Admission set and deadlines

Admission set for candidates not yet registered at the University of Basel is available for two deadlines:

  • until 30 April: start of MSD in fall semester of the same year;
  • until 30 November: start of MSD in spring semester of the following year;

Admission set and deadlines for candidates registered at Unibas according to regular semester registration (Rueckmeldung).

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