Phase I Study Regulations and Master’s degree

Please read the BMS Study Regulations for details on the BMS Phase I requirements.

All Phase I students are matched with a Phase I advisor (a member of the BMS Faculty) after their admission on the basis of their academic interests. All Phase I students are enrolled as master students in mathematics at FU, HU or TU. The university affiliation is determined by their advisor choice. This is done in the hope that the student will find the right research group for their PhD at this university. However, a change of advisor or university affiliation during or after Phase I is not uncommon and should not be an issue. This should, however, always be discussed with the BMS office as early as possible. All Phase I students are recommended to complete the master’s degree in mathematics at FU, HU or TU parallel to completing their BMS Phase I studies. In most cases, all Phase I courses count towards your master’s degree so you simply need to add one or two more courses to your study plan and write a master’s thesis at the end to complete the degree as well as Phase I.

Timeline
1st semester:
• Attend three to four different core courses and find your (mathematical) passion.
2nd semester:
• Attend one or two core courses.
• Attend an advanced course in your chosen field of passion to get more info.
3rd semester:
• Talk to potential master thesis advisors.
• Attend more advanced courses to prepare for your master's thesis.
4th semester:
• Meet with your BMS Liaison Officer to discuss your plans for the future.
• Write your master's thesis.
• Plan your BMS Qualifying Exam (QE).
• Meet with your master thesis advisor and/or other potential PhD supervisors to discuss your options for a PhD.
• Apply for Phase II Funding (or possibly Gap Funding).

It is your responsibility to find a master's thesis advisor and a PhD supervisor but you can ask for recommendations from the BMS staff or BMS faculty.
It should be the PhD supervisor’s responsibility to organize Phase II funding in the form of a PhD position or scholarship. If they do not have funding available, they should advise you on applying for BMS PhD funding, another project (e.g. a MATH+ project) or other available scholarships. Please be aware that the number of PhD positions offered by the BMS is very limited.

Master Study Regulations

The BMS gives an overview of the master study regulations for Mathematics at FU, HU and TU during the orientation week. After this, it is your responsibility to clarify any questions you might have about the study regulations and reading through the provided links in the presentation. You may contact the student counsel office of your respective university (each major has their own counsel office) so you can get answers to any specific questions. You can also contact your BMS Liaison Officer to help you sort your Phase I courses into the university modules. You will need to keep in mind the regulations when choosing your courses every semester. If you are uncertain you should check with your Phase I advisor or BMS Liaison Officer at the start/end of each semester to make sure that your course plan works for the BMS Phase I study regulations and your master’s degree.

Qualifying Exam

To complete Phase I and move on to Phase II, all BMS students must pass the BMS Qualifying Exam with a total grade better than 2.5. The BMS Qualifying Exam is a 90-minute oral exam with three examiners from the BMS Faculty. One examiner may be from the BMS postdoctoral faculty. 60 minutes (two thirds) of your exam should be spent on your field of concentration. This may be your master’s thesis defense (30 minute presentation plus 30 minute discussion) or you may choose two courses that align with your research interests. The third part (the final 30 minutes) should be spent on an unrelated topic, e.g. a BMS Core Course from a different Research Training Area. Your final QE grade will be the unweighted average of all three parts.

1. If you are ready to take your QE (ideally in the 4th semester), you must email your Liaison Officer and send them a list of your final five core courses and two advanced courses that fulfill the BMS Phase I study regulations. If not already done, please also send your Liaison Officer your university transcript of records as proof of your grades.
2. The Liaison Officer will then send you the QE application form which will list your Phase I courses, QE examiners and details of the three parts of the QE. After you have submitted the completed QE application form to your Liaison Officer, they will approve your application or, if necessary, clarify any issues with the BMS Chair.
3. After your QE application is approved, you need to organize the date, time and location of your QE with your examiners. You can ask the BMS staff to use one of their seminar rooms or the examiners can organize a room (usually each professor has a seminar room close to their office).
4. At last, you must inform your Liaison Officer of the date, time and place and they will send an official invitation email to all the examiners and you at the latest one week before the QE.

Master’s thesis and defense

As mentioned above, you do not have to complete a master’s degree to complete Phase I and your Phase I advisor does not have to be your master’s thesis advisor if you choose to write one. However, the BMS strongly recommends all Phase I students to complete their master’s degree at FU, HU or TU and has ideally matched you with your Phase I advisor so well that they can become your master’s thesis advisor. If you choose a master’s thesis advisor who is appointed at a different university than the one you are enrolled at, you will need to switch enrollments. Ideally, this is already planned in the 2nd semester so you can be enrolled at the university at which you will be completing your master’s degree in the 3rd semester. Therefore, you must inform your Liaison Officer of a planned switch as early as possible so you do not miss any enrollment deadlines. It is your responsibility to make sure that you register for the master’s thesis at the head of the exams office in due time. You must work on your master’s thesis at least three months after the registration date before you may submit it (the exact time may vary between the universities). Before the defense can be scheduled, the written thesis must be examined and graded by your thesis advisor.

If you have already lined up a PhD position for Phase II, you must complete your master’s degree before you can start the position. It is therefore most important that you plan ahead and are aware of all deadlines and regulations.

How to register for exams at Freie Universität Berlin (FU), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) and Technische Universität Berlin (TU):

Please check out our info page on the different university websites which provides links to guides on how to use them.

Freie Universität Berlin (FU)

FU Exams office: https://www.imp.fu-berlin.de/fbv/pruefungsbuero/index.html

As an FU student, you are automatically registered for the exam through being registered for the FU course via Campus Management. If you forgot to register for the course at the beginning of term, make sure to let the examiner/lecturer know that you wish to take part in the exam and remember to book all FU courses online in the next semester. Also, visit the exams office and ask them to register you for the course retrospectively.

As a TU or an HU student, you do NOT need to register with the FU exams office but simply let the lecturer know you wish to participate in the exam. When the exam has been graded, ask the lecturer to issue an exam certificate for you.

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU)

HU Exams office: https://fakultaeten.hu-berlin.de/de/mnf/lehre_studium/pruefungsbuero/pruefungsbuero-masterstudiengaenge-mathematik-und-informatik

As an HU student you must register online via AGNES for any exams that you are taking at the HU.
Please note that there are two rounds of exams each semester. The deadlines for each exam round and the exam schedule (Prüfungsplan) are announced here.

Even if you were unable to register for the actual course online at the beginning of the semester, you must register for the exam online. It is recommended that you check for your name on the exam list at the latest 12 days before the exam. The list for each specific exam can be found under "Prüfungstermine" on this page: www.mathematik.hu-berlin.de/de/studium/pruefungen/pruefungsangelegenheiten

As an FU or a TU student, you must register in person at the HU exams office (Prüfungsbüro) in Adlershof, Rudower Chaussee 25, Haus 2, Room 2.009.  The exam registration form "Anmeldung zur Modulabschlussprufung/Registration for Module Examination" is available both in German and in English. This form must be filled in online, printed double-sided and then handed in personally by you. You must indicate on the form that you are a BMS student by writing "FU & BMS" or "TU & BMS" next to "Universität". ("Nebenhörer" remains as "nein"). If you don’t add "BMS" to the form, then your exam result will remain in the exams office since the staff will not know where to send it. You must show your FU or TU student ID as proof of your student status. Please note that BMS students do not need to provide a "Nebenhörerschein".

Technische Universität Berlin (TU)

TU Exams office: https://www.tu.berlin/en/pruefungen/examinations/contact-teams/team-4

As a TU student you can register for exams online via Moses. You can find all necessary information here. Moreover, this is a guide provided by Innocampus which shows you how to register for exams on Moses. It is, unfortunately, only available in German.
The registration deadline is set by the examiners/professors but is generally one week before the exam.

If registration via Moses is not possible, please use this form: https://www.static.tu.berlin/fileadmin/www/10002461/Pruefungsamt/Formulare_Bescheide/Formulare_Bescheide_engl/Exam_registration.pdf
The contact form for the TU exams office is available here and you can find an overview of all things concerning registering for exams and theses here.

If you have failed a course at TU and are going to take an exam in another course (at TU/HU/FU) to replace the failed one, you must declare your intention at the TU's exams office before you take the exam. If you only submit the grade certificate afterwards, they will not accept it as a replacement.

As an FU or HU student, you do NOT need to register with the TU exams office but simply let the examiner know you wish to participate in the exam. When the exam has been graded, ask the examiner to issue an exam certificate for you.

General info for all three universities:

If you are not enrolled at the university at which you are taking an exam, you will need to receive an exam certificate from the examiner/ professor. You will need to get this approved by the head of the exams office at the university at which you are enrolled, so the exams office can add this course to your student record.

FU: Submit the certificate to the exams office. If you want the course to count as an FU Basic Course ("Basismodul"), you need to tell the exams office which FU course the course is equivalent to.

HU: Submit the certificate to Prof. Schüth (head of the Exam's Board).

TU: Submit this form (filled and signed) together with your exam certificate to Prof. Suris (head of the Exam's Board).

You will typically have exams at the end of the lecture period (February in the winter semester, July in the summer semester) and at the end of the lecture free period or start of the next semester (April in the winter semester, September/October in the summer semester). The German universities call these the first and second exam period ("Prüfungszeitraum"). You can usually choose if you would like to take the exam in the first or second exam period. If your exam is in the first exam period and you fail, you can take the exam again in the second period. However, if you choose to take the exam in the second exam period and you fail, you will have to wait until the exam/course is offered again which is usually one year later.

You are only allowed to fail an exam twice. If you cannot pass on your third try, you cannot complete your master's degree in Mathematics in Germany.

The BMS publishes a list of courses on their website every semester (https://www.math-berlin.de/academics/courses). These courses are all in English, sorted by the BMS research areas and are picked from the course catalogues from all three Berlin universities (FU, HU and TU).

Please check out our info page on the different university websites which provides links to guides on how to use them.

Freie Universität Berlin (FU):

All FU students must register for FU courses online via Campus Management:
https://www.ecampus.fu-berlin.de/
Please note that the online registration deadline for courses with a limited number of participants is shortly before the lectures start.
The registration deadline for all other courses is usually a month after the start of the semester (https://www.fu-berlin.de/sites/campusmanagement/N3InfoStudenten/Anmeldezeitraum).
Phase I students will also need to register for the "What is...?" seminar and the seminar "BMS Fridays" using Campus Management for two semesters if you wish to obtain 15 credits from them. These two seminars will then count as 15 ungraded credits in the "Ergänzungsmodul" once you have passed your QE.

All non-FU students, please contact the lecturer of the FU course you wish to take as soon as possible and ask them to register. You can use the FU-system "Whiteboard" (similar to Moodle at HU and ISIS at TU) by logging in with your HU or TU login:
https://mycampus.imp.fu-berlin.de/sakai-login-tool/container/tu
https://mycampus.imp.fu-berlin.de/sakai-login-tool/container/hu

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU):

All HU students must register for HU courses online via AGNES for courses taking place at the HU (unless stated otherwise on the course page). Please note that the online registration deadline is shortly before the lectures start.

All non-HU students, please contact the lecturer of the HU course you wish to take as soon as possible and ask them to register. You can also login to Moodle using your FU or TU account („Registrierung für externe Accounts“).

Technische Universität Berlin (TU):

Usually, TU students need not register for TU courses, they may simply attend the first lecture. Some courses require you to register via the TU online learning tool ISIS: https://isis.tu-berlin.de. However, registration for all tutorials is required via MOSES before the lectures start. Access to the online courses and documents will mostly be provided via the TU online learning tool ISIS or on the lecturer's own website.

All non-TU students, please contact the lecturer of the TU course you wish to take as soon as possible and ask them to register. Most will however tell you that a registration is not necessary and simply to subscribe to their ISIS course page. You can also login to ISIS using your FU and HU login.

Enrollment at Freie Universität Berlin (FU), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) and Technische Universität Berlin (TU)

Phase I

All BMS Phase I students enroll as master's students in Mathematics at FU, HU or TU for the winter semester. The winter semester starts on 1 October every year.
The enrollment deadlines vary between the universities. Usually, the FU and HU have earlier deadlines (e.g. 30 September) than the TU (e.g. 31 October).
Which university you enroll at is determined by the choice of your Phase I advisor in May/June.
All Phase I students receive information on how to enroll in July/August. BMS students do not need to separately apply to one of the universities. The BMS is in contact with the Admissions offices at FU, HU and TU and sends them a list of the new Phase I students in August. The BMS will also make sure that you receive all up-to-date information in time. The BMS Liaison Officers may help you with filling out the online registration or paper forms for the enrollment.

Even though the enrollment processes at FU, HU and TU differ quite a bit, all of them require the same information at the core:

• personal details incl. your new address in Berlin
• proof of payment of the semester fees
• bachelor’s degree certificate and transcript* (if the degree certificate is not issued in time, the student may be allowed to enroll on the condition that they submit the certificate by a certain deadline)
• other university transcripts (if applicable)
• study visa/ residence permit for non-EU students

Phase II

The enrollment process for Phase II students is usually the same for all PhD students regardless of their affiliation with the BMS.
There is no deadline for enrollment as a PhD student at FU, HU or TU.
All PhD students must first declare their intent to do a PhD/ be admitted to the doctoral procedure at the relevant faculty:
https://www.mi.fu-berlin.de/en/math/stud/prom-habil.html
https://fakultaeten.hu-berlin.de/en/mnf/wisskar/promotionen/zula/index_html?set_language=en
https://www.tu.berlin/en/naturwissenschaften/research/doctorate

After they have received the acceptance letter of the dean of the faculty, they may enroll.
https://www.fu-berlin.de/en/studium/bewerbung/immatrikulation/promotion/index.html
https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/promovierende-en/promotion-en/wn_proan_ablauf_html
https://www.tu.berlin/en/studierendensekretariat/applying-enrolling-for-doctoral-studies

Re-registering for the next semester

In the middle of each semester you will receive an email from the university asking you to re-register (Rückmeldung) for the next semester. This only means that you need to pay the semester fees by the given deadline which is usually the end of the lecture period (Vorlesungszeit).
Sometimes you also have to provide the Admissions Office with certain documents such as a new scholarship contract or a new degree certificate. This will be mentioned in the email informing of the re-registration or in your personal university portal/ account.
The BMS sends out an email to all students reminding them about the re-registration in February and June.

50€ reduction for scholarship recipients

Students who receive a scholarship paid from German Government funds (such as BMS, DFG, DAAD, Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes) and who do not have the German nationality are exempt from paying the 50€ administration fee which is included in the university semester fees. They will need to submit a copy of their scholarship contract as proof to the Admissions Office.

§2, paragraph 7 Berliner Hochschulgesetz:
http://gesetze.berlin.de/jportal/portal/t/nf6/page/bsbeprod.psml/action/portlets.jw.MainAction?p1=4&eventSubmit_doNavigate=searchInSubtreeTOC&showdoccase=1&doc.hl=0&doc.id=jlr-HSchulGBE2011pP2&doc.part=S&toc.poskey=#focuspoint

Gesetz über die Hochschulen im Land Berlin (Berliner Hochschulgesetz - BerlHG) in der Fassung vom 26. Juli 2011
§ 2 Rechtsstellung
(7) Die Hochschulen können Gebühren für die Benutzung ihrer Einrichtungen und für Verwaltungsleistungen erheben. Anlässlich der Immatrikulation und jeder Rückmeldung erheben die Hochschulen Verwaltungsgebühren in Höhe von 50 Euro je Semester für Verwaltungsleistungen, die sie für die Studierenden im Rahmen der Durchführung des Studiums außerhalb der fachlichen Betreuung erbringen. Hierzu zählen Verwaltungsleistungen für die Immatrikulation, Rückmeldung, Beurlaubung und Exmatrikulation. Außerdem zählen hierzu Verwaltungsleistungen, die im Rahmen der allgemeinen Studienberatung sowie durch die Akademischen Auslandsämter und die Prüfungsämter erbracht werden. Gebühren nach Satz 2 werden nicht erhoben in Fällen der Beurlaubung vom Studium zur Ableistung des Wehr- oder Zivildienstes, für Studenten und Studentinnen, die im Rahmen eines Austauschprogramms an der anderen Hochschule zur Gebührenleistung verpflichtet sind, soweit Gegenseitigkeit besteht, für ausländische Studierende, die auf Grund eines zwischenstaatlichen oder übernationalen Abkommens oder einer Hochschulpartnerschaft immatrikuliert sind oder werden, soweit Gegenseitigkeit besteht, sowie für ausländische Studierende im Rahmen von Förderungsprogrammen, die ausschließlich oder überwiegend aus öffentlichen Mitteln des Bundes oder der Länder finanziert werden.