Application | Registration

In the first place, note that we make a difference between registration (with the University; the Admissions Office calls this ‘application’) and the actual application (for acceptance to the Graduate School Climate Sciences). Concretely, you need to

• register (online) with the University of Bern, see www.unibe.ch/studies/programs/masters/application/index_eng.html . All candidates for the MSc Climate Sciences program must be registered.
• apply by providing the required documents, see the full information at https://www.climatestudies.unibe.ch/admission/msc/index_eng.html

Note that the documents to be provided (see Factsheet of the Faculty of Sciences) may contain both information for your registration and the application, depending on where you have gained your bachelors degree. As soon as we receive your application documents, we will contact you for an interview. An evaluation of your application (documents and interview) will be sent to the Admissions Office of the Univ. Bern; they will inform you officially regarding the admission.

Yes. Applications are received and evaluated if 150 ECTS are completed and certified (typically in the 6th semester) at the date of application. The certificate of your bachelor's degree can follow later.

In case the Bachelor's degree is not available at the beginning of the semester (which may be the case for several Swiss universities), the MSc program may be started anyway. This transient status is restricted to one semester only.

Typically, candidates hold a bachelor's degree in one of the disciplines that are relevant for the MSc Climate Sciences program. Equivalence of the qualification will be assessed during the admission process. Admission to the MSc Climate Sciences may require additional knowledge and expertise that was not acquired as part of the candidate's bachelor degree. Hence, additional coursework may be imposed, which may only be completed on an extra-curricular basis, and which must not exceed 60 ECTS credits. As a rule, the grade point average (average weighted according to ECTS credits) must be at least equivalent to “good”. The bachelor's degree must not be older than 10 years.

The specialization is not a module. It is just a label that will be added to your degree "MSc in Climate Sciences, University of Bern". For administrative reasons, you are asked to indicate a specialization when applying for the program. Please indicate a preliminary, most suitable specialization at this stage, including the option of no specialization. It helps assessing your intentions for the master studies. The final specialization will be determined by the choice of the master thesis, and your personal curriculum will be considered in case of doubt, in agreement with your supervisor and the studies directorate.
The final specialization must be indicated on the Master thesis tracking form (PDF, 292KB), and declared in selfservice.studis.unibe.ch when registering for the last study semester at the latest.

No. The courses at the Graduate School of Climate Sciences are held in English, with a couple of exceptions. However, basic knowledge of German is very helpful for the everyday life in Bern, and learning some German during the studies is a truely unique opportunity.

The courses at the Graduate School of Climate Sciences are given in English. Proficient skills in English (oral, written and reading) corresponding to CEF level C1 are required. Students with CEF level of intermediate-high B2 are also admitted to the program, but with the obligation to reach CEF level C1 within the first year, e.g. by attending extra-curricular courses at the Language Center. The master thesis is written in English. Training in scientific writing and scientific presentations in English are part of the compulsory courses.

According to Art. 19.4 of the Studies Program 2018 (amendment 2023), a minimum of 2 years (full time equivalent) of professional experience in a relevant field (with reference to the MSc Climate Sciences) can be regarded as equivalent to the 30 ECTS Internship (Art 19). In this case, the Internship can be waived at the absolute discretion of the Study Commission, and the MSc ClimSci program is completed with 90 ECTS.
“Professional experience” is understood as full time employment (typically minimum 80% employment) after the completion of the Bachelor degree; the period of employment is typically longer than 9 months. Internships or student assistantships (e.g. teaching, summer student etc) are not eligible.
“Relevant field” is, for example, employment as a weather forecaster, climate risk manager or similar.
Requests for an internship waiver must be filed not later than at the end of the 1^st Semester and must include employment certificates with a detailed job description (duties) and level of employment (position) issued by the employer.