UNIcert® IV/1 
English for Business Studies, Economics,
and Social Sciences

UNIcert® IV English for Business Studies, Economics, and Social Sciences is a year-long program consisting of two consecutive semester-long courses: 

•      the noncertificate course (UNIcert® IV/1), and 
•      the certificate course (UNIcert® IV/2).  

The number of credit points awarded for successful completion of each course is determined by the Course and Examination Regulations (StPO) of each student’s degree program.

To enroll in this subject-specific course, a student must either attain a score of 90-100% on the placement test OR have successfully completed a UNIcert III certificate course at the University of Potsdam.

Please be aware that a score of 90 – 100% on the placement test qualifies a student to take either UNIcert® III/2 English for Business Studies and Economics or UNIcert® IV/1 English for Business Studies, Economics and Social Sciences.

Completion of this course prepares a student for the written UNIcert® IV/1 English for Business Studies, Economics, and Social Sciences non-certificate exam at the end of the course. 

The aim of this course is to strengthen a student’s English language skills to the level of an extremely competent academic level, using business case studies developed by leading business schools as a platform to exercise reading comprehension and text analysis, as well as develop analytical and critical thinking abilities, reasoning skills, and rhetorical constructions in written and oral expression in positing solutions to business problems based on evidence presented in the written case study.

Working in self-selected pairs and in a strict timeframe, each pair will choose a case study to analyze based on their expressed area of interest and then present possible solutions in an in-class presentation, giving evidence based on text analysis and independent research and discovery why their proposed solution is the optimal of possible alternatives.  

Final Exam: The final written exam will test the student’s reading comprehension and written business case study analysis capabilities under supervised testing conditions and a very strict and limited timeframe.