Whether subtitling films, designing technical documentation or interacting with people both with and without sensory impairments, the BA in Multilingual Communication opens up a wide range of career profiles at home and abroad at both small and large companies alike and with other providers in the booming language industry. You combine human creativity with technical expertise and mediate wherever communication takes places across language, cultural and specialist frontiers and therefore whenever professional multilingualism is needed. Your future career prospects are as broad as your interests.

In the BA in Multilingual Communication, you learn to use language in a targeted, efficient and professional manner. You acquire outstanding expertise in three languages of study and gain a wide-ranging skill set that allows you to mediate between languages, cultures and contexts and create multilingual communication in an accomplished and creative fashion. The degree programme contents include:

• Formulating texts in your languages of study
• Knowledge of the cultural areas of your languages of study
• Translation and language technologies
• Accessible communication
• Public service and court interpreting
• Social media communication
• Event design
• Subtitling
• Technical documentation
• Single-source publishing
• Localisation and much more

By choosing your specialisation, you decide whether you would like to take a closer look at oral or written communication. Alternatively, you also have the option to specialise in the digitised preparation of complex specialist content.

You focus on oral communication in a variety of different contexts and develop appropriate cross-cultural skills. You also learn key project-coordination and event-management skills and how to communicate on social media in a professional and multilingual manner.

You deepen your skills in written translation and learn to use AI-based language technologies in various areas of language mediation in a professional fashion, be it in the area of online translation, subtitling or accessible communication, among many others.

You specialise in information design in the digitised working world, optimised usability and how to prepare complex subject content for a range of target groups and media.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has long since been part of the language industry. This is a development that also has implications for how we train language experts. AI-based systems can now generate texts, translate and even write creative content. In order to successfully utilise AI in a professional context, however, it is important to know how to use these systems and what the legal framework for doing so looks like. The BA in Multilingual Communication therefore provides you with a springboard to learn how to formulate prompts in a targeted manner when creating multilingual texts and media as well as how to support companies as a consultant during the introduction of AI-based language systems for multilingual communication.

To be admitted for enrolment in this programme, you will need to meet the following requirements:

1. Present either a Swiss higher secondary education certificate (Matura) – which may be either a Swiss general baccalaureate (in German, “gymnasiale Maturität”), a Swiss specialist baccalaureate (in German, “Fachmaturität”), a Swiss vocational baccalaureate (in German, “Berufsmaturität”) – or an equivalent qualification from another country.
2. A successful result in our aptitude test

You are not required to demonstrate practical professional experience (e.g. a year of work experience) in order to be admitted to the BA in Multilingual Communication.

The aptitude test consists of several language tests.

You will be tested in the languages you intend to study, i.e. a main language (mother tongue) and at least two foreign languages. You may take tests in a greater number of languages than can be studied in the foundation course. The level of proficiency required for admission is equivalent to an above-average baccalaureate grade in your main language and approximately C1 under the Common European Reference Framework in your foreign languages.

To pass the aptitude test, you must pass each unit (approx. 60% pass mark). If you pass the aptitude test, you are entitled to enrol in the degree programme in the year you take the test or in either of the two years thereafter. If you do not pass the aptitude test at the first sitting, you may resit the test one more time, the resit being no earlier than one year after the first attempt. You must only resit those units of the test which were failed.

As a rule, you study the combination of languages you entered on your application form. When the grade achieved in a language test is only just sufficient, we reserve the right to determine the language combination on the basis of the admissions assessment results (with the stronger foreign language being the first foreign language and the weaker foreign language the second one).

You must sit a language test in your main language. No dispensation from this requirement can be granted for any candidate.
If you have a recognised language certificate at level C2 in a foreign language, you can be granted a dispensation from the test in that language provided the certificate was awarded no more than two years before the date of your application.

German as a foreign language
Goethe-Zertifikat C2: Grosses Deutsches Sprachdiplom

English as a foreign language
Certificate of Advanced English, Grade A
Certificate of Proficiency in English
TOEFL (Internet-based), score: 115
IELTS, Band 8.0

French as a foreign language
Diplôme Approfondi de Langue Française DALF C2

Italian as a foreign language
CELI 5 Certificato di conoscenza della Lingua Italiana
PLIDA C2

Spanish as a foreign language
Diploma Superior de Español DELE C2

Depending on your language level and learning type, you can prepare in different ways for the language tests. We recommend that you spend time in the countries where the relevant languages are spoken, doing language courses, internships and/or working. We also recommend that you consciously and actively use the language in the run-up to the language tests (e.g. with exercise books) and consume content in your chosen languages via television, newspapers and podcasts.

The following demo versions of the language tests give an idea of the level required:

The final date for applications is 30 April. The aptitude test tasks place in May during calendar week 21 (overview of dates and deadlines). The exact dates will be communicated to you in person once your application has been received. All language tests are usually completed on a single day. If you take tests in more than one main language or more than two foreign languages, you may be asked to attend on a second day.

If you have gained a foreign qualification either abroad or in Switzerland which allows you access to higher education (e.g. Abitur or International Baccalaureate), please submit the documents requested by the academic office responsible for the degree programme you have chosen so that your qualification can be checked for equivalency. This equivalency recognition process follows the Guidelines on Equivalency Recognition for Bachelor’s Degree Programmes and takes place after your application has been submitted. If you have any questions, please contact the academic office. There are no quotas on students from other countries.