ISM International School of Management

Application route

Directly to the university

Source

“Also, at ISM you do not have to go through any third party, you can apply directly at our university via our student advisors who will guide you step-by-step in order to make sure that your application is successfull. … Apply for an admission "test" date online and subsequently fill out the online application form on our university website. We do not accept applications by post or in person, just online.”

en.ism.de/study-in-germany-for-indian-students · checked 14 November 2026

Applications go straight to ISM's own online portal; uni-assist is not used and is mentioned nowhere on ISM's pages.

APS certificate (India)

Not required by the university

Source

“Once accepted, you can apply for a German student visa at the German Embassy in India … Indian students will have to include a certificate from the Academic Evaluation Centre (APS) in their application for a student visa. This is called an APS procedure and was introduced in Germany in November 2022.”

en.ism.de/study-in-germany-for-indian-students · checked 14 November 2026

ISM names the APS only as a document for the student visa, after admission. The APS certificate is not among the application documents required by § 9 of ISM's admission regulations, and no other ISM page asks for it, so the university itself does not require it. ISM does not say this in so many words.

Studienkolleg

None

Source

“People who do not meet the admission requirements set out in §§ 5 and 6 but who are eligible to study at an educational institution abroad after successfully attending such an institution and who have also successfully passed the ISM entrance examination are also eligible for admission to the bachelor's program. … The entrance examination serves to determine whether the person has the subject-specific aptitude and methodological skills required to study a degree program. 2It consists of a written examination.”

en.ism.de/images/downloads/admission-regulation/admission-regulations.pdf · checked 14 November 2026

ISM runs no Studienkolleg and names no partner Studienkolleg. Instead, § 7 of its admission regulations lets applicants who qualified abroad but do not meet the German university-entrance requirement sit ISM's own written entrance examination, governed by the "Richtlinie zum Zugang für im Ausland qualifizierte Bewerber*innen". For master's applicants ISM offers a one-semester Pre-Master (30 ECTS) and the Business Preparation Program with Wit-Rising (China) instead.

International office

ISM's International Office, directed by Carolin Krabs (Vice President International Relations, +49 231 97 51 39-558, based in Dortmund), advises international students, organises the compulsory semester abroad at around 190 partner universities, runs scholarship advice for stays abroad and helps with the student visa application. Admissions questions go to the campus study advisors listed on the application page, who are the first contact for applicants.

Source

“The International Office (IO) is here to help you every step of the way. … The IO team assists students in finding the most appropriate partner university and they are always there to help students who are currently studying abroad. … If you are not a citizen of EU/EEA/EFTA or a citizen of a country for which students can obtain their necessary residence permit for study purposes after their arrival, you need to apply for a student visa before … Director International Office Vice President International Relations Carolin Krabs +49 231.97 51 39-558”

en.ism.de/services/international-office · checked 14 November 2026

Tuition for non-EU students

Tuition does not depend on citizenship: ISM charges one semester fee for EU and non-EU students alike (5,970 EUR per semester for the on-campus bachelor's programmes, 6,480 EUR for the on-campus master's and the Pre-Master, 9,900 EUR for the full-time MBA and 8,300 EUR for the part-time MBA). What is higher for non-EU students is the one-off enrolment fee (1,500 EUR instead of 600 EUR) and the 3,000 EUR admission deposit, which only non-EU citizens pay and which is deducted in full from the first semester's tuition.

Source

“Tuition fees (EU/Non-EU) 6,480 Euro per semester … Enrollment fee EU & EWR students: 600 Euro Non-EU students: 1,500 Euro … The admission deposit only applies to international applicants who have a non-EU citizenship … Upon acceptance of a study place at ISM, the applicant has to pay an admission deposit fee of 3,000 Euro. This deposit will be deducted in full from the tuition fees of the first semester”

en.ism.de/full-degree-students/master-programs/master-international-management/financing · checked 14 November 2026

Refund terms of the deposit, as stated on the same page: "If the contract is not signed by the student, we retain a processing fee of 500 Euro and the rest will be reimbursed to you. The admission deposit fee will be fully refunded in the event that the applicant proves that his/her visa application for an ISM program has been definitely rejected by the embassy." ISM's distance-learning fee tables name neither the deposit nor a higher non-EU enrolment fee: they give one enrolment fee of 600 EUR for every time model. ISM awards partial scholarships of 25-50% of the tuition fee and occasionally a full scholarship for two semesters, and advertises a 1,500 EUR early-bird discount; the list price is recorded here.

Semester contribution

Not stated by the university

4 pages checked, 14 Nov 2026

• en.ism.de/full-degree-students/master-programs/master-international-management/financing
• en.ism.de/prospective-students/study-financing
• en.ism.de/faq-admission
• en.ism.de/full-degree-students/bachelor-programs/bachelor-international-management/financing

ISM publishes no semester contribution, student-union fee or semester-ticket charge. Its fee pages list only the semester tuition fee, the one-off enrolment fee, the non-EU admission deposit and (for the full-time MBA) a thesis fee, and state for the other programmes that the thesis fee is "already included in the semester fee". ISM is a private university and not a member of a Studentenwerk. The general checklist on its page for international students does contain the line "Pay the semester contribution after receiving the invoice", but that checklist describes studying in Germany in general and names no ISM amount.

Other compulsory fees

€3,000 one-off · Admission deposit, paid after acceptance of the study place by non-EU citizens only; deducted in full from the first semester's tuition. Fully refunded if the applicant proves the embassy definitively refused the student visa; if the study contract is not signed, ISM keeps a 500 EUR processing fee and refunds the rest. Paid through Flywire.

Source

“The admission deposit only applies to international applicants who have a non-EU citizenship … Upon acceptance of a study place at ISM, the applicant has to pay an admission deposit fee of 3,000 Euro. This deposit will be deducted in full from the tuition fees of the first semester , so the applicant will only pay the remaining fee of 3480 Euro for the first study semester for full-time programs. … If the contract is not signed by the student, we retain a processing fee of 500 Euro and the rest will be reimbursed to you. The admission deposit fee will be fully refunded in the event that the applicant proves that his/her visa application for an ISM program has been definitely rejected by the embassy.”

en.ism.de/full-degree-students/master-programs/master-international-management/financing · checked 14 November 2026

Besides this deposit and the one-off enrolment fee (600 EUR for EU/EEA, 1,500 EUR for other students, recorded on each programme as registrationFee), ISM publishes no institution-wide fee. § 15 of the admission regulations says only that "ISM may charge a fee for conducting the admission procedure" and that the amount is to be communicated before the procedure starts; no ISM page names an application fee. The full-time MBA charges a 2,200 EUR thesis fee on top of its semester fee, which is a programme fee, not an institution-wide one.

Tuition per programme is listed with each programme below.

State recognition

Recognised by North Rhine-Westphalia as a university of applied sciences (Fachhochschule) for an unlimited period; ISM states the recognition came in 1994 and is not time-limited. The Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia lists ISM, with its seat at Otto-Hahn-Straße 19 in Dortmund and its Cologne location, among the state's recognised private and church-run universities and names the Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart locations outside NRW. Operator: ISM International School of Management GmbH – Nonprofit Organization, Dortmund (HRB 10624, Local Court Dortmund).

Source

“The ISM is state-recognised as a University of Applied Sciences for an unlimited period by the Ministry of Science and Culture of North Rhine-Westphalia (since ISM has its main headquarters in Dortmund, NRW). … Founded in 1990, ISM was officially recognised as a private, state-accredited university in 1994.”

“25 anerkannte private und kirchliche Hochschulen mit Hauptsitz in Nordrhein-Westfalen … International School of Management Otto-Hahn-Straße 19 44227 Dortmund” page

en.ism.de/state-recognised-university · checked 14 November 2026

ISM calls the ministry the "Ministry of Science and Culture of North Rhine-Westphalia"; its official name is Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (MKW). The ministry page does not give the date of the recognition or say whether it is time-limited, so the "unlimited period" and the year 1994 rest on ISM's own statement. The ministry page is German, so its quote is German.

Institutional accreditation

Institutionally accredited by the Wissenschaftsrat in 2004, positively for 10 years, and reaccredited in 2015, again positively for 10 years; that period ran out in 2025. The Wissenschaftsrat's list of completed procedures (status October 2026) records no later decision for ISM, and its list of ongoing accreditation procedures (status 12 November 2026) does not name ISM either.

Source

“Liste der abgeschlossenen Akkreditierungsverfahren Stand: Oktober 2026 … International School of Management Dortmund (ISM) 2004, positiv auf 10 Jahre International School of Management Dortmund (ISM) 2015, positiv auf 10 Jahre”

“Laufende Akkreditierungsverfahren … Köln 12 11 2026” page

www.wissenschaftsrat.de/download/2026/Akkreditierungen_abgeschlossen.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2 · checked 14 November 2026

ISM itself does not mention Wissenschaftsrat accreditation anywhere; what it publishes is programme accreditation by FIBAA and the German Accreditation Council (Akkreditierungsrat), the international AACSB business-school accreditation and, for the distance-learning programmes, approval by the state central office for distance learning (ZFU). ISM is not named in the Wissenschaftsrat's own list of ongoing accreditation procedures either (status 12 November 2026), which lists the procedures still running. Institutional accreditation by the Wissenschaftsrat is a separate matter from the state recognition granted by North Rhine-Westphalia, which is not time-limited. This needs a dated re-check: watch both Wissenschaftsrat lists for a post-2025 ISM decision.