Free elective area in the Bachelor's program

• take modules from all Bachelor's programs of the faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences. 
• integrate a stay abroad and have credits earned abroad recognized.
• have language courses and further education courses recognized through a portfolio module.
• complete an internship.
• gain research experience. 

In the free elective area, you can take modules from all Bachelor's degree programs in the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, provided there is free capacity and you meet the requirements. You can find the modules and information in the module catalogue of the individual degree programs.

For example, you can expand your profile area by taking additional modules from this or related areas or you can create a second (unofficial) profile area by taking additional modules from another profile area.

The free elective area gives you the opportunity to have foreign achievements recognized in Hohenheim in a simple way. This "mobility window" gives you the opportunity to go abroad without having to extend your period of study.

More about the recognition of foreign study and examination achievements

In the free elective area, you can take one graded or ungraded portfolio module. 

What is a portfolio module?

A portfolio module can consist of a single achievement or several partial achievements. In order to be recognized, the partial achievements must add up to at least 6 credits. However, if the partial achievements add up to more than 6 credits, the excess credits are not taken into account. The portfolio module can be graded or ungraded.

Graded portfolio module

Only graded courses can be recognized in the graded portfolio module.  

These include:

• all Humboldt reloaded project seminars of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences  
• Language courses of the Language Centre of the University of Hohenheim.Special case: You can have the business language modules credited with the language course combinations for business languages.
• Special feature: The language courses at C1 level, which make up the business language modules that are compulsory in the IBE profile area, can be taken as business language modules in the free elective area.
• Courses completed abroad that cannot be recognized as modules abroad.
  
  

Ungraded portfolio module

As soon as one of the selected courses is ungraded, this automatically results in an ungraded portfolio module. A portfolio module consisting exclusively of graded work cannot be recognized as an ungraded portfolio module.

This includes:

• all ungraded Humboldt reloaded project seminars of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences  
• F.I.T- seminars (continuing education program)
• Learning Paths (LinkedIn) that have been certified by the CareerCentre by 11.03.22. After this date, LinkedIn courses can still be taken but can no longer be credited.
• ungraded achievements from other German universities, provided they are relevant to the Business, Economics and Social Sciences study program. 
• Ungraded achievements completed abroad
• AIDAHO modules cannot be recognized as ungraded work.

Registration for portfolio module

Once you have completed all the required work as part of the portfolio module, you register for the graded portfolio module (5000-320) or ungraded portfolio module (5000-280) in your free elective area via HohCampus. Make sure that you register for the correct portfolio module: The Digital Business Management, Sustainability & Change, Business Administration and Economics and Information Systems degree programs register for the Economics portfolio module, the Communication Science degree program registers for the Communication Science portfolio module. If you have difficulties with registration, please contact the Examinations Office.

The date of registration is the date on which the documents are submitted in full or the date of registration in HohCampus.

Crediting the portfolio module

To receive credit for the portfolio module, please complete the form below in the download section and submit it by email together with the transcripts of records for all courses to be credited (see below for contact details).

Evaluation of the courses

If you have several graded achievements, the module grade is calculated as a weighted arithmetic mean. The result is commercially rounded to one decimal place. The module grade is then derived from the examination regulations.

There is no expiry date for certificates. Achievements can be recognized until the end of the degree program.

In the free elective area, you can take the internship module once to gain practical work experience. The module is not graded.A full-time work placement of at least 5 consecutive weeks must be completed in the module. Working student activities that meet the requirements of the internship and are carried out full-time (e.g. during the semester break) can be recognized as an internship module. Working student activities that are documented for at least five months with at least 10 hours of work per week can also be recognised as an internship module.Proof is provided in the form of a written internship report of 5-10 pages consisting of three parts (presentation of the company, description of the activity (largest part), conclusion/resumé) and an internship confirmation/certificate. The internship is processed by the Internship Office.

It is recommended to complete the internship between the 3rd and 5th semester. Registration via Hohcampus for the internship module (5000-350) is required to book the module. Crediting takes place via the Internship Office, where you will also find further details.

Note: For students of Communication Science, the internship module can only be selected from WiSe 2023/24.