European Credit Transfer System 2007 / 2008

General Information
32
had been submitted as early as the academic year of 1998/99, well even before the Bologna declaration.
The most recent 10th edition, which we present to you now, relates to academic 2007/2008. Because of
the yearly publication we were able to permanently and sustainably improve the reliability of international
exchanges for students and international partner schools. As a matter of fact, the ECTS reaches
out beyond a simple transfer and accumulation mechanism alone: At the same time it can structure
established academic pathways, facilitate comparisons between academic institutions and improve the
conditions of studies because it directs the attention to the work loads which students might bear.
This particular ECTS handbook turned out to be quite a big volume because our school is able to offer
a large number of innovations as a result of the transformation to the Bachelor and Master format and
the commencement of new study pathways, which have received budgetary support from the Berlin
Structural Fund of Innovations. These more than compensate for the discontinuing diploma studies
which they will gradually replace.
I kindly encourage you to make use of these opportunities! Please, do look beyond the boundaries of
the specific study programme which you have chosen some time ago, and discover new topics which
are presented in the “Studium Generale”, structured seminar sequences (“Ringvorlesungen”), colloquia
and the career contact exercises.
Please try to open up to your fellow students and get into contact. Our school can only be as good as
our students are. I trust on your personal interest and involvement!
I want to acknowledge the supporting services of all my colleagues for this new edition. Very many
module descriptions had to be adapted and occasionally to be newly developed. My special thanks are
directed to Mr. Andreas Hirsch-Landau, for all his co-ordinating and editorial efforts.
Good success with your studies at the Berlin School of Economics!
Sincerely yours,
Michael Tolksdorf
Vice President of the Berlin School of Economics