Digital Leadership in Information Management (MSc)

Track 1 - Research Projects: From day one, you’ll tackle a real, complex challenge from an industry partner – not a case study, but genuine impact. The process follows the design-oriented Business Information Systems model: from problem analysis (Understand), through solution design (Design), to evaluation in your Master’s thesis (Transform). Tailored domain modules provide the challenge-specific expertise exactly when you need it.

Track 2 - IT Management: You’ll build the strategic foundation to lead IT organisations – from structural analysis and evidence-based decision-making to shaping digital transformation.

Track 3 - Leadership: You’ll develop into a true leader: mastering self-management, stakeholder communication, and steering complex change processes.

Digital Leadership in Information Management (MSc) combines structured knowledge delivery in management modules with student-centred, needs-based teaching in research projects – knowledge you don’t just understand, but apply immediately.

• Winter semester (210 ECTS Bachelor’s degree)
• Summer semester (international students with 180 ECTS Bachelor’s degree)*

*Students with a 180 ECTS Bachelor’s degree must complete an additional semester. This semester comprises 6 modules: German for Academic Studies, Integrated Skills Academic English, Intercultural Skills, Research Skills and two subject-specific modules.
Students with a 180 ECTS Bachelor’s degree from a higher education institution within the Lisbon Convention may alternatively have at least 6 months of relevant professional experience after obtaining their Bachelor’s degree recognised.

Digital Leadership in Information Management is purposefully designed as a Future Skills Accelerator – academic depth and immediate practical impact aren’t opposites, but the core principle. It’s the combination of five distinctive features that sets it apart:

Think in Systems: You won’t learn recipes, but thinking tools. Fundamental mental models and theories help you structure any complex challenge – not just those with ready-made answers.

Learn by Doing Research: Your studies are an applied research project. Across three semesters, you work on a real challenge from an industry partner, developing your skills directly through application.

Decide with Evidence: You learn to base decisions on a solid foundation of theory and empirical evidence – and make their impact measurable. No gut feeling, but reasoned judgement.

Lead from Day One: Leadership at DLI isn’t an add-on programme. Alongside your specialist training, you develop leadership and communication skills – from self-management to steering complex transformations.

Impact by Design: Your results are designed to land in practice. As a bridge-builder between academia and industry, you actively contribute to knowledge transfer in the region.

Together with industry partners, you’ll tackle a current issue from business and society in an 18-month research challenge. It follows the proven Design Science Research approach: you identify real IT challenges (Problem Understanding), develop practical solutions (Solution Design), and validate them empirically under scientific supervision.

Theme for Winter Semester 2026/27: Cyber Resilience in the Age of Agentic AI
You’ll analyse how organisations can strengthen their digital resilience in the era of self-acting AI and develop solutions with measurable impact.

The DLI Master’s is your launchpad into responsible positions at the interface of technology and business – all the way up to Chief Information Officer or comparable top management roles. As an IT Strategy Consultant, you’ll advise companies on complex technological shifts – grounded in scientific evidence, not just experience. As a Digital Transformation Manager or AI Transformation Manager, you’ll become the architect of socio-technical change in organisations. As a Research & Innovation Manager, you’ll lead R&D and innovation departments, securing your company’s technological edge.

If you want to pursue an academic career: the programme’s strong research focus prepares you excellently for a PhD.

The language of instruction in this degree programme is English.

• A completed university degree with at least 210 ECTS credits in the fields of business informatics, computer science, business administration, or information management (university degree does not total 210 ECTS credits)
• Applicants holding a bachelor’s degree with 180 ECTS credits must complete the four-semester programme (120 ECTS credits). The first semester comprises 6 modules: German for Academic Studies,, Integrated Skills Academic English, Intercultural Skills, Research Skills and two subject-specific modules.
• Applicants holding a Bachelor’s degree with 180 ECTS credits from a higher education institution within the Lisbon Convention must, as an alternative, make up the existing qualification gap of 30 ECTS credits by providing evidence of, or successfully completing, one of the following prerequisites:
  - Co-authorship of a research publication in English (research paper)
  - At least 6 months’ verifiable full-time professional experience following the award of the Bachelor’s degree in a role relevant to the programme’s subject matter (evidenced by an employment contract and/or employment references)
  - Evidence of additional modules totalling 30 ECTS credits from a previous degree programme.
• Minimum grade: 2.5 or better
• Language level: English B2 minimum
• For international applicants: German A2 (Proof of language proficiency must be submitted by the time of enrollment.)
• Applicants with a Bachelor’s degree from an institution outside the Lisbon Convention must provide a Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test. Applicants must achieve a minimum score of 153 in both Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning, and a score of 4.0 in Analytical Writing.

Winter semester: 02.05. – 31.08. with a 210 ECTS Bachelor's degree
For non-EU applicants:
Winter semester: 02.05. - 15.07.

Summer semester: 15.11. - 15.01. for non-EU applicants with a 180 ECTS Bachelor's degree

SIM and the new DLI address the same target group but differ substantially in didactic approach and structure:

SIM followed a classic module-based design, often with only indirect links between modules, an implicit progression, and a number of compromises resulting from the shared core with other Master's programmes of the faculty.

DLI, by contrast, is built around an 18-month Research Challenge at its core. Three tracks run through all three semesters, follow a progressive structure, and are tightly interwoven: Research Projects, IT Management, and Leadership. The research modules follow the design-oriented model in information systems: moving from Understand through Design to Transform, with the Master's thesis completing the Transform phase. The Challenge is accompanied by industry partners and operates at the frontier of current knowledge; it is therefore neither a consulting project nor a case study aimed at applying existing knowledge, but is instead designed to generate new, design-relevant knowledge.

SIM targeted the relatively broad field of "managing digital technologies, processes, and business models," with a focus on conveying and applying existing knowledge. DLI, in contrast, explicitly focuses on future-oriented competencies in IT management and positions itself as a launchpad toward roles such as CIO, IT Strategy Consultant, Digital Transformation Manager, AI Transformation Manager, or Research & Innovation Manager. Its emphasis on applied research not only prepares graduates to address unstructured real-world problems in an evidence- and theory-based manner, but also opens the path to pursuing a PhD.

Bachelor’s degree (180 or 210 ECTS) in

• Business Administration (BWL),
• (Business) Information Systems, Information Management or
• Applied Computer Science

Students with a 180 ECTS Bachelor’s degree must complete an additional semester. This semester comprises 6 modules: German B1, English C1, Intercultural Skills, Research Skills and two subject-specific modules.
Students with a 180 ECTS Bachelor’s degree from a higher education institution within the Lisbon Convention may alternatively have at least 6 months of relevant professional experience gained after obtaining their Bachelor’s degree recognised.

If you acquired your university entrance qualification outside of the German school system, you will need to have your transcript evaluated via uni-assist (opens in a new window).

To ensure a swift and smooth procedure, we recommend registering with uni-assist at least 6 weeks prior to the end of the application period.

Please apply via uni-assist e.V. (opens in a new window) and at the same time apply for your degree programme via the regular application procedure. The uni-assist evaluation does not replace the HNU application process!

Click here for further information.

For the programmes offered in English, you will need to submit evidence of B2 level English language skills with your application. This can be done in the following ways:

• corresponding results from a recognised language test (e.g. a 90-point minimum TOEFL-IBT, a 6.5-point minimum Cambridge IELTS, a 3-point minimum Cambridge BEC Vantage)
• evidence of adequate language skills from school or university transcripts
• completion of a degree programme that was verifiably taught entirely in English
• evidence that English is your native language

Non-native speakers of German are also required to provide evidence of German language skills at level A2 when enrolling.