Fernstudium zum Master of Arts in Wirtschaftspädagogik

Business education by distance learning

The Master's degree course in Business Education is an interdisciplinary course that combines business studies (business administration and economics) with pedagogical content. Historically, business education developed from commercial teacher training. Currently, only Allensbach University offers distance learning in business education.

With the "M.A. Business Education" distance learning course, you can give your career a boost or steer it in new directions - depending on your individual goals. Our distance learning program in Business Education offers you high-quality learning materials, supporting Online lectures for all modules, without compulsory attendance and after work as well as intensive supervision. Flexible examination options give you the chance to study at your own pace without having to sacrifice your career and salary. A graduate of the course explains how this can work in her Field report!

A Master's degree in Business Education opens up many career opportunities: You can work as a vocational school teacher or as a teacher at business high schools. However, you can also pursue a career in the private sector, e.g. in personnel development or adult education.

Not to forget: Many private schools are also looking for business educators as teachers, which could be an option if a civil service appointment is no longer possible (e.g. due to age) or if admission to the preparatory service is not granted.

Do you only need further pedagogical training, but not a Master's degree? Then the Certificate program in business education might be interesting for you!

Lateral entry into the teaching profession for vocational schools

If you would like to become a vocational school teacher, you will first complete the preparatory service, the traineeship. This lasts approx. 18 months in Baden-Württemberg and is remunerated according to the requirements of the respective federal state. Graduates of the Master's degree program in Business Education at Allensbach University are admitted to the preparatory service in Baden-Württemberg if they have a first degree in business administration and can prove that they have a minimum number of ECTS in the subjects of business administration (BWL) and economics (VWL) after completing their Master's degree. These two subjects are the first and second subjects respectively. Allensbach University offers additional modules in economics if the required number of ECTS is not achieved, e.g. because few ECTS were acquired in the first degree course. As a rule, the specialization "Economics as a teaching subject" must be taken in the Master's degree course in order to obtain a sufficient number of ECTS credits in Economics. One year of relevant professional experience is also required for admission to the traineeship.

As the preparatory service begins on the first day of school after the Christmas vacations, you should plan your Master's studies accordingly in order to receive your certificate and diploma in good time. The Student Advisory Service will be happy to help you with this.

For questions regarding access to the legal clerkship (preparatory service) in Baden-Württemberg Following your distance learning course in Business Education at Allensbach University, please contact us directly. In all other federal states, please contact the relevant authorities directly, as the requirements for admission to the preparatory service vary from state to state. However, admission to the preparatory service in Bavaria is definitely not possible.

Further career opportunities with the distance learning program "Business Education"

Career in personnel development

The Master's degree in Business Education qualifies you for a managerial position in the field of personnel development or company training and further education. You will be able to plan and organize training and education measures from a technical, pedagogical, personnel and financial perspective as well as carry out educational marketing measures. This also includes, for example, the development of programs to train junior managers. If you are looking for a career in the field of human resources, the "Human Resources Development" specialization is just right for you.

Job profiles for business educators

For academically particularly ambitious graduates of business education, the Master's degree program can serve as a starting point for a career in higher education and represents an additional qualification for lecturers.

Master of Arts in Business Education: The combination of economic and pedagogical knowledge makes you a sought-after expert in the education sector.

You will acquire the necessary skills while working at a university with many years of experience in distance learning and a first-class teaching and service concept. You design your business education studies at Allensbach University individually, flexibly and goal-oriented - according to your needs.

Guaranteed quality: The "Business Education" course is accredited by the accreditation agency ZEvA and the State Central Agency for Distance Learning (ZFU). The course is internationally recognized and also entitles students to a doctorate.

Job profiles for business educators

Professional fields of activity for graduates of the M.A. Business Education program

Like many areas of non-school education in Germany, the field of vocational education and training is characterized by the part-time or freelance nature of teaching staff. Entry into education, personnel development, training or educational planning is often based on professional or general business, personnel and organizational qualifications. For this reason, the majority of students on the "Business Education - Master of Arts" course already have professional experience in the field of vocational education and training, and in some cases also in the field of academic education. These students want to professionalize their pedagogical work and consolidate their position, or aspire to a managerial position.

The "Business Education - Master of Arts" degree program is therefore aimed in particular at professionals who

are active in training and further education in companies and want to take on management positions,
work for educational institutions and in education administration and want to take on management tasks or a lecturer position,
work as managers in HR departments,
work as a freelance lecturer or consultant or
want to teach at vocational schools,
possibly pursue a doctorate later on.

In terms of a job description, the "Business Education - Master of Arts" degree program is based on the job description "Business Education Teacher" from the Federal Employment Agency. This has replaced the former job description "Diplom-Handelslehrer:in".

A degree in business education is usually expected for access to this profession; for management positions, specialized tasks or activities in science and research, a Master's degree is required. The description of the job profile clearly shows that former commercial teachers and now graduates of a master's degree program in business education have successfully opened up many areas of activity beyond vocational school teaching. Tasks and activities are (1):

Teaching commercial and business management content:

Prepare, conduct and follow up subject lessons; assess the individual performance and development level of lesson participants; perform educational tasks within the framework of subject lessons; if necessary, advise lesson participants on support options and measures or individual support measures in the event of learning and performance difficulties

perform management tasks in the area of training and further education:

Plan and organize education and training measures in technical, pedagogical, personnel and financial terms; carry out educational marketing measures;
Plan and organize training measures in terms of content and business; assess training measures according to cost-benefit ratios; participate in the development and implementation of management trainee programs, if necessary, participate in other training and further education measures

perform tasks in the area of human resources:

Carry out personnel planning and recruitment measures; cooperate with employment agencies, including specialist placement services, if necessary;
Determine personnel deployment; manage personnel administration responsibly; manage payroll accounting

Science and research (usually with a Master's degree):

contribute to the conception of training and further education; assess business didactic models and concepts

The Federal Employment Agency lists vocational schools (e.g. vocational schools and business high schools) as the first field of activity for the job description of business educators. Business educators also work in economic institutes at universities or in adult education. Important employers are business and employers' associations as well as public administration and, last but not least, companies from various sectors of the economy.

As an academic discipline, business education takes this into account by offering an appropriately broad range of business education study programs with the aim of preparing students for a variety of jobs in vocational schools as well as in companies, chambers, associations and private education providers.

In order to enable specialization and thus individual profile development within this broad framework, the "Business Education - Master of Arts" course has various specializations.

In focus "Personnel development" ("continuing education" for short), students concentrate on post-school qualification phases. This concerns, among other things, adaptation and upgrading qualifications, in-company training work and the market of training providers, but also personnel and organizational development and work design that promotes learning.

Although many graduates of the "Business Education - Master of Arts" degree program have already successfully completed the preparatory service for the teaching profession at vocational schools as lateral entrants and career changers and are working as teachers at vocational schools in various federal states, the degree program is not specifically designed for admission to the preparatory service. Admission is always decided on a case-by-case basis in the individual federal states. For the state of Baden-Württemberg, the possibility of admission to the traineeship was confirmed by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport in March 2016.

Examples of activities in the private sector:

Personnel development, e.g. personnel officer

International conception, coordination and evaluation of personnel development measures
Expansion of personnel development concepts for different target groups
Responsibility for the management and quality assurance of external trainers and consultants
Support for personnel development topics (e.g. employee evaluation, employee survey, knowledge management)
International consulting for managers and employees with regard to qualification programs, workshops and training courses
Creation of concepts and measures for personnel and organizational development
Contact person for national and international managers and employees on the topic of personnel development
Evaluation of the annual employee appraisals and derivation of development needs
Organization and support of personnel development measures
Development, planning and implementation/supervision of specialist trainee programs and other qualification and further training programs
Selection, design and implementation of aptitude assessment measures
Development of systematic education controlling
Support for management development

(1) Federal Employment Agency (2012): Business educator. Information on the profession. http://berufenet.arbeitsagentur.de/berufe/start?dest=profession&prof-id=58787 [21.05.2012]

Programme Leader: Prof. Dr. MMag. Martin Bauer

What are the admission requirements?

You already have a first degree in economics with at least 180 ECTS. If you have a first non-economics degree, you can start the Master's degree program after completing the eight-month certificate program "Economic fundamentals" have completed. This provides you with the basic knowledge of economics required for the Master's degree course.

Please note that the certificate course in "Fundamentals of Economics" does not allow admission to a traineeship in Baden-Württemberg. This requires a first degree in business administration, e.g. at the DHBW, whose business administration degrees generally meet the admission criteria. If necessary, an additional module in business informatics must be completed.

You must also have at least 12 months of relevant work experience and English language skills at Cambridge Certificate B2 level. If you have not taken a test, you can also prove your English language skills in a telephone interview with the head of studies. The professional experience can also have been gained as part of a commercial apprenticeship or as part of a dual study program.

Special admission requirements for access to the preparatory service for the teaching profession at vocational schools:

For admission to the Master's degree program, a joint admission statute was adopted with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport Baden-Württemberg. This regulates the requirements for admission to the Master's degree program for those applicants who are aiming for lateral entry into the preparatory service for the higher education career at vocational schools in Baden-Württemberg.

What credits are possible?

If you have already completed comparable coursework in a Master's program or comparable program at another university, recognition is generally possible. Please contact our student advisory service.

How is your course structured?

The interdisciplinary Master's degree program in Business Education combines in-depth business knowledge, skills and abilities with advanced pedagogical skills.

In the first semester you will first receive an introduction to academic work and the specifics of research in business education. In the comprehensive module Learning and Teaching I, you will then be taught the most important skills for designing lessons in different learning situations. Two business administration and one economics module complete the first semester, which thus comprises 50 % each of business education and economics content.

In the second semester you will deal with the fundamental contexts of the vocational education and training system and learn about quality management approaches in educational institutions. An important component of the course is the teaching internship, which is also planned for this semester, but can also be completed later. During your internship, you will spend a week observing lessons, but also teach at least one lesson yourself. The second semester also includes increasingly important issues in business and corporate ethics and the first module of your compulsory elective subject, which gives your degree course a specific profile.

In the third semester the module Learning and Teaching II focuses on the highly topical subject of digitalization in the classroom, which will continue to gain in importance. Another compulsory business education module deals with current challenges in business education, including digitalization, but also heterogeneity/diversity. International accounting is added as a business module. The focus of the third semester is your compulsory elective subject, which is represented by a content module and a seminar paper.

In the fourth semester you will deal with the research-oriented design of learning environments based on a real task from the field of vocational schools, but also acquire the leadership skills that are indispensable for many professional fields in the Leadership module. The Master's thesis, in which you work independently on a complex topic from the field of economics or business education using scientific methods, concludes your studies. You will present your Master's thesis in a colloquium (online).

Choose your specialization!

1. elective area: personnel development

Lifelong learning in the context of vocational training
Further training planning
Seminar paper in the compulsory elective area

2. compulsory elective area: Marketing Management

Industry-specific marketing management
Business relationship management
Seminar paper in the compulsory elective area

3. compulsory elective area: Accounting and taxes

Accounting under commercial law
National corporate taxation
Seminar paper in the compulsory elective area

4. compulsory elective area: Economics as a subject

Economy and state
Monetary policy and international financial markets
Seminar paper in the compulsory elective area

The specialization "Economics as a teaching subject" must generally be taken if admission to a traineeship in Baden-Württemberg is sought.

5. compulsory elective area: Business Psychology

Fundamentals of business psychology
Work and organizational psychology
Seminar paper in the compulsory elective area

6. compulsory elective area: Integration and Diversity Management

Diversity management
Intercultural integration management
Seminar paper in the compulsory elective area

How long will your studies take and what degree will you receive?

The standard period of study is 24 months. This refers to full-time study and can be extended accordingly if you are working at the same time. A free extension of 12 months is included in the tuition fees, so that the course can be completed in up to 36 months, depending on individual scheduling.

Our Student Advisory Service will be happy to provide you with the current tuition fees on request. Please fill in the contact form below - thank you!

After you have successfully completed all examinations, the university will award you the academic degree "Master of Arts - Business Education", which also entitles you to a doctorate. Alternatively, we also award the degree "Magister Artium".

Master's degree in Business Education (M.A.)