Alfred-Weber-Institut für WirtschaftswissenschaftenAcademic Advisory Service
Office Hours between the years
The Student Advisory Service is your first point of contact for all questions regarding your studies at the Alfred Weber Institute of Economics - regardless of whether you are interested in our Bachelor's or Master's programme or are already enrolled. Central topics are:
- Questions about the content and structure of the degree programmes, the examination regulations or the module handbook.
- Career prospects
- Study requirements, application and enrolment
- Recognition and transfer of credits
- Advice on changing subjects or university locations (also: issuing the relevant certificates)
- General difficulties while studying
Even if a topic is not explicitly mentioned: please feel free to contact us at any time by email, telephone or during our office hours on campus!
Academic Advisors
Marcus Padberg, M.A.
- B.Sc. Economics
- M.Sc. Economics
- M.Ed. Wirtschaftswissenschaft
- Transfer of Credits (Master)
- Anrechnung von Studienzeiten/Einstufung (Master)
Office Hours:
Tuesday, 13:00 - 15:00 (online, by appointment only)
Book Appointment
Thursday, 10:30 - 12:30 (only in-person, without appointment)
E-Mail: marcus.padberg@awi.uni-heidelberg.de
Tel.: +49 6221 - 54 2904
Room: 00.018

Fabian Pohl, B.Sc.
- B.Sc. Economics
- Part-time programme
- Transfer of Credits (Bachelor)
- Anrechnung von Studienzeiten/Einstufung (Bachelor)
Office Hours:
Monday, 13:00 - 15:00
Wednesday, 10:00 - 12:00
Online, by phone or in person, please book an appointment.
E-Mail: fabian.pohl@awi.uni-heidelberg.de
Tel.: +49 6221 - 54 2902
Room: 00.018b

Frequent Topics
There are many situations in which you can have an achievement recognised: for example, if you have changed your place of study or subject, if you have been abroad or if you are studying economics in parallel with another subject. In all cases, the right contact is the student advisory service at the AWI.
The following documents are required in order to recognise an achievement/transfer credits:
- Certified proof of the credits achieved, including ECTS and grade (if necessary for the module to be recognised).
- Description of the content or the learning and qualification objectives of your course, e.g. by means of the course description or the entry from the module handbook in the currently valid version.
- If the work was completed abroad or in another grading system: Explanation of the grading system
- Module in which you would like to have the course recognised. You can use the module descriptions in the module handbook as a guide.
The easiest way is to come to one of our office hours with all your documents. However, you can also send us various documents in advance by e-mail.
Transfering to AWI
No matter whether you want to change your field of study within Heidelberg University or transfer to AWI from another university: a discussion with the student advisor is at least recommended, and even necessary if you are in your third semester or higher in your current degree programme. In the course of this, we can talk about the studies at AWI, differences and similarities to your degree programme, your expectations and also recognition possibilities. If required, you will then also receive the certificate of the subject-related study counselling for enrolment.
If you have already completed an equivalent course of study at AWI, you can also be placed in a higher semester, which makes it possible for you to change subjects in the summer semester, for example.b
You can find further information on transferring (only if you are changing within Heidelberg University) on the Student Administration page.
Enrolment is carried out by the Central Student Administration. You can also find more information on their website, divided according to nationality and entry into the first or a higher subject semester.
BACHELOR THESIS
Both the exact timing and the topic of your Bachelor's Thesis are in your hands. According to the examination regulations, you must have passed the modules Introduction to Economics, Microeconomics and Macroeconomics in order to be allowed to write your Bachelor's thesis. The usual procedure is as follows:
- Before you approach potential supervisors, you should think about the direction you would like to follow: perhaps you have touched on an exciting topic in a seminar or lecture in the elective area that you would like to work on in more detail? Or have you read an interesting article?
- Think about which research question you would like to work on and, if necessary, start looking for literature.
- Use the overview of chairs, professors and postdocs to see who might be a suitable supervisor. In some cases, you will also find documents on the websites of the individual chairs under the Teaching section, which can provide you with further information on theses at the respective chair.
- Ask the persons who could supervise you. Make an appointment for a consultation or write an e-mail. Prepare your desired topic.
- Everything else will come out in the discussion: Is the topic easy to work on? Is there literature available? If necessary, you will have to work out a concrete topic proposal and can discuss it again before you “really” get started.
- As soon as you have agreed on a topic/title, your supervisor will report this to the Examinations Office and thus register your Bachelor's thesis.
- The Examinations Office will then inform you again of your exact deadline.
- During the writing process, your supervisor will be available to answer any questions you may have.
- Submit your thesis in the required form (3 printed copies) to the Examinations Office by the deadline.
- Your supervisor will issue a report on the correction, which you can view.
- Further information can be found in the information sheet on the Bachelor's thesis, the exact rules in the examination regulations.
If you need a certificate of completion of your Bachelor's degree quickly, e.g. due to application or matriculation deadlines, please consult your supervisor or the examination office in good time before handing it in.
Certificates and Other Documents
In addition to the certificate of academic advising for changes of subject, the academic advising service can also issue or sign other certificates for you, e.g.
- Certificate of study status for international students
- BAföG certificates
- DAAD certificates.
Certified Transcripts of Records or grade reports can be obtained from the AWI Examination Office. Certificates in connection with internships can be obtained from the AWI Career Service, Christian Menn