A communications bachelor alongside your job
In a field with no professional body and no protected titles, you have to be precise about what a bachelor is good for. Here is which systems it works in, how you reach it through your vocational training, and when one level below is enough.
When the bachelor is the right level
The answer depends on which system you want to work in.
Communications has two selection systems, and they work in opposite ways. In the first, screening is formal: the public sector, large companies, associations, chambers and foundations advertise posts that require a degree, and the pay grade hangs on it. In the second, decisions are made on work samples: agencies, newsrooms and small organisations ask first what you have written, run and delivered.
The bachelor is the right level if you want into the first system, if you come from an adjacent occupation and need the subject foundation, or if the master is your target, because that stays closed without a first degree. It is the wrong level if you already operate in the second system and are only after a label. Someone who has done press work for years gains more in an agency with three strong campaigns than with a certificate.
And it is too large a step if you are missing one single competence: for crisis communication, media law or content strategy a university certificate is enough. The subject itself, and how it differs from marketing, journalism and media studies, is set out on the communications subject page, the general rules on the overview bachelor degree while working.
Getting into exactly this level
The sticking point is rarely the training, it is evidencing the work.
Completed vocational training plus a few years of work experience opens university access for a subject-related degree, and an advanced vocational qualification often adds general university entrance. The three routes are set out under studying without Abitur.
What is specific to this subject is the phrase subject-related. A great many people do communications work without it appearing in their job title: the channels of a law firm, an association's members' newsletter, press enquiries from the management office. For admission the title is not what counts, the evidence is. Three documents to collect before you apply:
- A reference with a concrete description of duties. Not the words public relations, but which formats, which audiences, which responsibility. Ask for it while you are still in the organisation.
- Evidence of project responsibility. Campaign plans, editorial calendars, event documentation, all of it with your name on it.
- Certificates from continuing education with hours and content. Without a stated volume they are hard to credit later.
These documents decide twice: first on admission, then on credit. More under your degree on your CV and applying for a distance degree.
How long this level takes
With an arithmetic that shows what an advanced qualification really saves.
A bachelor comes to 180 ECTS, some programmes to 210. Without any credit and at 12 ECTS per semester that would be 15 semesters, so seven and a half years. If 60 ECTS from commercial training and a Fachwirt qualification together are credited, 120 remain, which is ten semesters and therefore five years instead of seven and a half. You changed nothing about your working week and saved two and a half years.
What matters is how those 60 points come together, because the three sources are treated differently. Vocational training is often recognised as a block, because its learning outcomes are documented. The advanced qualification usually brings the larger block because it sits higher, see crediting a master craftsman qualification. Years on the job are assessed individually and are the least certain part. For learning acquired outside higher education, a ceiling of 50 percent of a programme's ECTS usually applies.
Settle the credit question before you choose a provider. With identical certificates, two universities can easily be two semesters apart. The procedure is under credit transfer, the arithmetic under ECTS per semester.
The four levels in communications
So you can see where the bachelor sits and what lies next to it.
| Level | ECTS | Alongside work | Admission | What for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate | usually 5 to 30 | 1 to 2 semesters | often on work experience alone | adding one competence, for example crisis communication |
| Bachelor | 180, sometimes 210 | 4 to 8 years depending on pace | entrance qualification or the vocational route | first academic degree, access to formal recruitment |
| Master | 60 to 120 | 2 to 4 years | a first degree, often plus work experience | strategy, leadership, crisis communication, doctoral access |
| MBA | 60 to 120 | 2 to 4 years | a degree plus several years of work experience | general company leadership, no communications depth |
In this subject the MBA is the exception and not an obvious continuation: it qualifies you to run a company, not to run communications. Anyone moving from communications towards general management will find the distinction under MBA or master. How the levels relate overall is set out under academic degrees explained.
What the bachelor opens, and what it does not
In an unregulated field this has to be said precisely.
The bachelor opens every process in which a degree is a screening criterion. In the public sector and in organisations bound by collective agreements it is frequently the condition for a pay grade, regardless of how well you do the work. In corporations it often decides whether your application is looked at at all. At associations and foundations it regularly appears in the advertisement. And it opens the master, and with it the level where leadership and strategy sit.
It does not open a job title. There is no chamber, no licence and no protected title in communications. Nobody becomes a press officer through a certificate, you are appointed to it. It does not replace work samples either: agencies decide on references, and there the degree buys you a conversation at best. And it does not move your salary on its own, that takes a changed role, see salary after your degree.
In short: the bachelor makes you formally eligible, your work makes you credible. If leadership is where you are heading, know early that many organisations expect a master there, see the part-time communications master.
A communications bachelor alongside work
The questions that come up in almost every initial consultation.
Do I need the bachelor if the job titles are unprotected anyway?
Not for the work itself. The bachelor takes effect where formal screening happens: in the public sector, in large organisations, at associations and anywhere a pay grade is tied to a degree. In agencies, work samples often count for more. So it is a door opener into certain systems, not a licence to practise.
Does my work experience count if communications is not in my job title?
Yes, if you can evidence the work. What matters is not the title but what you demonstrably did. Have your duties described concretely in your reference, collect project documentation and examples. Universities examine exactly those documents for admission and credit, and a general reference without a description of duties will not help you there.
How much time does an advanced vocational qualification save?
That depends on the university. A bachelor comes to 180 ECTS. If 60 from training and a Fachwirt qualification together are credited, 120 remain, which at 12 ECTS per semester is ten semesters instead of fifteen. For learning acquired outside higher education, a ceiling of 50 percent of a programme's ECTS usually applies.
Is a certificate enough instead of a bachelor?
If you are missing one single competence, yes. A university certificate usually comes to 5 to 30 ECTS and is done in one or two semesters. It does not replace the bachelor where an academic degree is a formal requirement, and it does not normally open a master. Clarify in writing beforehand whether the points can be credited later.
Should I study business administration or marketing instead?
That depends on where you are heading. A broader business degree keeps more industries open and is more flexible if you switch. A communications degree makes you effective faster in press, corporate and crisis communication. If you do not want to commit at this level yet, the broader choice is the safer one.
Which level holds up in your case
Admission, credit and target role settled in one conversation.
The information on this page is general in nature and based on my advisory practice (last updated 31.07.2026). It does not replace an official credit transfer or recognition decision by the respective university and is not legal advice. Specific decisions are made by universities, the ZAB (Germany), the BMBWF (Austria), or the SBFI (Switzerland). I clarify binding next steps with you in the initial consultation.