You would like to become a part of our Siegen HCI community? Excellent! Here is what you need to know. Please read the information on this page carefully.

Please do not not send anything via post, an application on Unisono is enough.

We do not provide final decisions on individual applications before the application period ends. This means that applicants for the Winter Semester 2024/25 will not hear about their application status before mid June 2024. Please refrain from asking for updates regards your application status.

Application Deadlines

We accept students for winter and summer semester!

Application in winter semester: May 1st to June 1st
Application in summer semester: November 1st to December 1st

Admission Requirements

The HCI programme is aimed at graduates with a relevant Bachelor degree in Business Information Systems, Computer Science, Business Administration, Design, Psychology or Sociology or a comparable programme, with a relevant share of at least 60 credit points from the above-mentioned subject areas.

In addition, the Bachelor’s degree must have a grade of 2.5 or better (German GPA system).

The following certificates are recognized for applicants who have not acquired their study qualification at an exclusively English-speaking institution or who have learnt English as their mother tongue:

  • TOEFL (Test of English as a foreign language) iBT (internet based test) Test with a score of at least 94 points;
  • IELTS test with a score of at least 6.5;
  • Cambridge B2 First, Grade B (173+ points);
  • PTE Academic with a minimum score of 58 points;
  • A certificate attesting that English language skills are at level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

Your proof of language proficiency should not be older than 3 years!

Note: If your previous degree was taught entirely in English and this is clearly indicated on your official academic documents, no additional proof of English proficiency is required.

Application Procedure

Please note that no hard copies are needed until you arrive in Siegen if admission will be granted.

Obligatory documents: 

  • A letter of motivation in which you should outline your motivation for applying to our master’s program (maximum two A4 pages or 3000 characters).
  • A German or English certification of your degree and current summary of achievements (Transcript of Records) regarding the course of study (Diploma/Bachelor) qualifying you to study this course (qualifications see above). An overall grade of at least 2,5 (German GPA) must be achieved. Please use the Bavarian formula to translate your grade: https://www.tum.de/en/studies/application/grade-conversion-formula-for-grades-earned-outside-germany/
    and notice that we have a different scaling in Germany (1=highest grade; 4= lowest grade to pass). If the course of study qualifying you for the Master’s course has not yet been completed, you will need to provide a provisional final grade (if this is not shown in the summary of achievements, corresponding certification will need to be provided by the relevant examination office). Documents not originally issued in German or English should be officially translated into one of these languages. Apostille certification is not required.
  • A documentation of the required knowledge of the English language (see above).
  • For applicants from China, Vietnam and India: a Certificate of the Academic Evaluation Centre (APS).

Optional documents (recommended): 

  • Curriculum vitae in tabular form.
  • Portfolio (representation of one’s own personality and competencies).

Please also note that it is obligatory for international students to make sure that studying and living in Germany is financially safe for the two years of your stay. Therefore it is secured by law that you have to create rather a blocked account during your stay with an amount of 934 Euro per month, or a declaration of commitment by somebody who can secure the financial necessities. Both possibilities are individually linked to the specific home country. 

A national student is a student who:

1. has the German citizenship or

2. has attained Bachelor or similar degree studies in Germany.

An international student is a student who:

1. does not have the German citizenship and

2. has attained Bachelor or similar degree studies outside of Germany.

How the process works:

Please notice that the first step in your application process will be a validation by content by the scientific staff of our chairs.
The second step will be an online interview with us to get to know each other.
The third step will be a decision about the general equivalence of your foreign university degree with a regular comparable degree at a German university (formal validation). This decision will be made by our department STARTING.

You can enter our online application platform Unisono here.

How to: Step-by-step instructions for applying in Unisono

Please make sure you successfully submit your application until the deadline. We cannot review applications that are still in preparation!

Questions?

In case of technical problems, please contact Unisono support.

In case of other problems or questions, please read the FAQ below first and if you do not find your question answered, please contact your Academic Advisor.

Application FAQs

This is your high school (or equivalent) degree which allowed you to start your Bachelor degree. Please do not submit your Bachelor certificate here!
Please use the Bavarian formula to convert your CGPA into the German grading system. In the screenshot below, you indicate the German CGPA in the upper box. Below goes your original CGPA, then the best possible CGPA and eventually the worst possible CGPA.

For example, if your grading system goes from 1 (worst) to 4 (best) and your CGPA is 3,561, then your German CGPA is 1,44. You enter:

  • 1,44
  • 3,561
  • 4
  • 1

The three boxes below serve the purpose to verify the calculation.

If you are still studying your Bachelor’s but expect to finish by the time you enroll in our HCI program, please upload your current transcript instead of your diploma. In case of admission, you can submit your diploma when you enroll.
Unfortunately, we can only accept academic credits which Coursera, Udemy and similar platforms usually do not provide. Even though we definitely encourage online courses as preparation for the MSc in HCI, it is not a valid substitute for academic achievements.
We accept a degree certificate if your degree was earned in a country whose official language is English, or otherwise a letter of proficiency by your university. However, please note that in the latter case, your chances are higher if you can additionally prove your excellent language skills with a certificate.
The motivation letter should reflect your reasons for studying HCI in Siegen and your skills as well as experiences you believe will help you excel in this program. Information already included in your CV and/or transcript does not need to be repeated. We appreciate it if you have familiarised yourself with the curriculum and this is reflected in your motivation letter.
Please write in English and try not to exceed the page limit.
We do read motivation letters, and place value on originality, relevance and writing style. While online examples can be helpful for orientation, please do not copy paragraphs or entire letters from the internet, as this leads to disqualification.
You can show us anything related to your skills or experiences in your portfolio, either university or work-related or even private projects. For example, it can be

  • Something you designed
  • Something you developed (please only show the end result, no source code)
  • Something you researched
  • A certificate you earned
  • A competition you won
  • A reference letter by your professor/employer
  • …

If you have a website or another external source where you store your portfolio, you are welcome to upload a document with a link.

What does not go in the portfolio section:

  • Source code
  • GitHub links
  • Complete project or research papers, Bachelor or Master theses. Abstracts are okay.
We make an admission decision based on all aspects of your application. Therefore, your documents will only be reviewed after you successfully submit a formal application. All you need to know about the requirements can be found on this page. Please note we cannot give you information on your chances to be admitted beforehand.
When you are invited for an online interview, this means your documents are okay and we would like to get to know you better. You will meet one of our professors or research assistants who will speak with you about yourself, your interest in and experience with HCI and related fields and answer questions that may come up. Similarly, you may find out whether HCI is the right program for you to choose. Don’t worry: this is not a test for which you need to prepare, but rather an informal conversation.
We do not provide final decisions on individual applications before the application period ends. This means that applicants for the Summer Semester will not hear about their application status before January. Please refrain from asking for updates regards your application status. Please note that due to technical reasons, you will not receive an email if your application is declined, only if your status has changed; so make sure to check your application status in Unisono regularly. In any case, you can expect to see a status change by July (for winter semester) or January (for summer semester).
If your application status is ‚excluded‘ before you receive an invitation for an interview, this means that unfortunately, you either do not fulfil our admission requirements or we do not think you are a good fit for the program / do not see your motivation for studying HCI at the given moment, based on the documents you provided. Please understand that we cannot send individual rejection letters.
If you have been excluded after the interview, unfortunately, our admission team has come to the conclusion that the HCI program is not entirely suitable for you at the moment.
If you have questions regarding your rejection, please contact the Academic Advisor. In any case, you are welcome to reapply in the following application round(s).
Yes, you can defer your admission up to three consecutive semesters. You do not need to formally respond to your admission at this point, but follow the steps below:
Please let us know as soon as you have made your decision. Due to technical reasons, you will need to reapply on Unisono. You will not have to upload your documents again and go through the interview process, but simply upload your admission letter and we will provide you a new one. Please do so within the application period!
However, you will be automatically accepted without having to conduct another interview then.

Got more questions? Find more answers here!