Partner university exchange

The Student Mobility Office of the University of St.Gallen offers you the opportunity to spend an exchange semester at one of our more than 200 partner universities.

Dear students interested in participating in an exchange, on this website you will find information regarding partner university exchange. Please consider this to be a general summary of the information available. The information here is provided for students interested in studying at the University of St.Gallen (HSG) as degree students and also interested in the exchange opportunities at HSG. Detailed information is available on StudentWeb and you have access to StudentWeb as soon as you are immatriculated at HSG.

General

The exchange programme is a voluntary option offered by the University of St.Gallen (HSG). Applicants are not guaranteed an exchange place.
The application process takes place once a year.
The exchange at a partner university is limited to one HSG semester at Bachelor level.
An exchange at a partner university is possible from the 5th semester of the Bachelor‘s level.
A minimum of 104 ECTS of 180 ECTS must be acquired at the HSG.

Requirements for the application and for beginning the exchange semester

General application prerequisits
• Enrolled in a HSG Bachelor at the time of application.
• For an exchange in the 5th or 6th semester: minimum of 4.50 grade average of Assessment Year studies. Applicants with an external Bachelors degree who are exempted from the assessment year must have an overall grade average of at least 4.50.

Requirements for beginning the exchange semester
• Enrolled in a HSG Bachelor programme.

Selecting universities for an exchange

Selecting universities for an exchange

In the application you may enter up to seven partner universities of your choice and in
the order of your preference. You can find an overview of our partner universities here.
Please note that this is a general list - detailed information with semester dates, fact sheets and fields of study is available on our StudentWeb. Please do not contact Student Mobility before you have not checked the detailed information on the StudentWeb. You will be granted access to the StudentWeb after having been immatriculated to a HSG Bachelor programme.
When making your exchange university selections, consider the language of instruction, the local language, available fields of study, semester dates, travel advisories, etc.

Exchange period

Exchange period
• Autumn semester: Begin of exchange between 1 July and 31 December is considered as absence in autumn semester
• Spring semester: Begin of exchange between 1 January and 30 June is considered as absence in spring semester

Application period for an exchange in Autumn 2023 or Spring 2024: 22 December 2022 to 12 January 2023, 16.00 (St.Gallen - CH)

Application deadline

Application deadline for an exchange in Autumn semester 2023 or Spring semester 2024: 12 January 2023, 16.00 (St.Gallen - CH)

English language requirement

Language requirements

For the SMO exchange application, one of the following English language certifications (not older than 2 years) must be submitted:

• TOEFL internet-based min. 100 points
IBT Toefl Special Home Edition and TOEFL Best Score will be accepted by Student Mobility of the University of St.Gallen for exchange applications for an exchange at a partner university in the academic year of 2023/2024.

• IELTS (Academic Test) min. grade 7

• Cambridge C1 Advanced (CAE) min. grade B

• Cambridge C2 Proficiency (CPE) min. grade C

• Recognised tertiary degree certificate fully completed in English. English as the language of
instruction must be declared on the diploma or confirmed in writing by the degree granting
university.

• Proof of English as school language* according to HSG implementation provisions Academic Programmes regarding languages (Art. 69)
*School language = the language in which the majority of the school education and, if applicable, tertiary education took place.

BE CAREFUL: The language of instruction of the HSG degree programme is not considered as proof of English proficiency.

All of the above listed English language tests and degree certifications may not be older than two years by the date of the SMO exchange application deadline, i.e. they must have been taken on or after 12 January 2021.

Results from test dates on or prior to 11 January 2021 will not be accepted.

Transfer of credit towards HSG degree
A minimum of 16 transferable ECTS course credits must be completed with a positive grade at the host university, otherwise no credits from the exchange term will be transferred towards the HSG degree.
A maximum of 32 ECTS course credits (Bachelor thesis excluded) can be credited to the HSG degree per exchange semester at Bachelor’s level.

Costs
Tuition fees must be paid at the HSG during the semester abroad. HSG students are not required to pay basic tuition fees at the host university but will be responsible for all other costs related to their semester abroad.

Scholarships Swiss-European Mobility Programme (SEMP)
Students spending an exchange semester at one of our European partner universities through the partner university exchange programme are eligible to apply for a SEMP scholarship. The application procedures will be available in the Mobility-Online portal after allocation of the exchange university.
SEMP programme regulations may be subject to change by the Swiss Federal Council.