Berlin School of Business and Innovation

Berlin School of Business and Innovation was founded in 2018 by Global University Systems (GUS), a for-profit education company.[3] According to Berlin Senate, "The Berlin School of Business and Innovation (BSBI) is a franchise institution operated by Global University Systems (GUS), which was reported in 2017 in accordance with §124a BerlHG in the state of Berlin."[4][5] BSBI does not hold degree-awarding powers in Germany and its programmes are validated by private Italian distance learning institution UniNettuno International Telematic University.[3] In November 2019, BSBI announced that it had partnered with Concordia University Chicago to deliver programmes at its Berlin campus.[6] BSBI also offers courses from the University for the Creative Arts in the United Kingdom.[7] The institution is headed by Sagi Hartov, Israeli cellist and BSBI Executive Chairman, and Aaron Etingen, British-Russian businessman and Global University Systems CEO.[8][9]

In June 2020, BSBI became an official signatory of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (UN-PRME) initiative.[10][11] It is also a member of the "Business Graduates Association".[12]

As of 2023, BSBI has multiple additional campuses in Paris, Athens, Hamburg, and Barcelona, besides its main campus in Berlin.[13]

In BSBI's inception period, Telangana newspaper which also investigates developmental entities globally, in an article mentioned that BSBI admissions are "based on strict eligibility requirements with a holistic approach".[14][15] While it is called to have a "moderate acceptance rate" compared to other universities, on the other hand, there are other instances that argue its improportionate admission requirements.[14] In 2018, an MBA Journal article report claimed that BSBI’s admission requirements were "extremely low" and that the institution was cooperating with a university of "very low standards", but in turn BSBI's parent company Global University Systems’ chief academic officer Maurits van Rooijen defended BSBI, saying, "We want to offer different access options (academic and financial) and different learning formats for different target groups."[16]

In November 2018, BSBI appointed Prince Paul of Romania and Princess Lia of Romania as the school’s Patrons, and Princess Madeleine of Bentheim and Steinfurt as Honorary Patron.[17][3] In December 2020, BSBI’s patron Prince Paul was sentenced to 3 years and 4 months in prison by the Supreme Court of Romania.[18][19][20][21] He is no longer listed as one of its patrons.[22]

Poets & Quants revealed that the BSBI campus in Berlin was a shared floor having most of their inventory on the campus, while the respective institution moved out a year after BSBI's launch and took all its inventory with it.[23] On 22 May 2019, MBA Journal reported that students had told the publication that they had written to BSBI management accusing the institution of impaired "quality of teachers and teaching, learning materials and assignments."[24] In July 2019, BSBI students wrote to Poets & Quants, sharing with the education publication that they had written to the institution's management in March 2019 calling their attention to "substandard classes and coursework".[23]

As a private university, BSBI awards scholarships to those candidates which are relevant based on merits they possess or as a basis for better financial support, or a combination of both.[25][26] While having English as the medium of study, but to assist integration into the German culture and society, BSBI provides choice of German language study support for all students, even though English is spoken widely in Berlin.[25][27]

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  Enterance Hall
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  Business Development Office
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  Open Area Passage
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  Reading Hall
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  Auditorium
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  Scientific Journals
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  Cafeteria
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  Classrooms facilitated for virtual interaction
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  Outside Panoramic View

• Official website