EXPERIENCE REPORT EXCHANGE KÖLN
COLOGNE BUSINESS SCHOOL
Study Program: Organization Studies
Exchange semester: Fall 2015
Academic year: 2015-2016
Host University: Cologne Business School
Country: Germany
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Cologne itself is a wonderful city, with the Rhine River flowing through it and the Dom overlooking the city
center. The Cologne Business School (CBS) is located in the southern part of the city close to the park
“Volksgarten”. It has a great connection to the public transport and is quite easily accessible from different
parts of the city. The CBS is a rather small university, with only two buildings and about 1200 students, of
which around 100-150 are exchange students. The lectures are taught in small groups in which participation
is essential. In comparison to Tilburg University this was more relatable to the working groups that we have
as opposed to the general lectures. Even though the CBS was rather small, there are tons of things to do
in Cologne for international students. The university of Cologne has loads of facilities that students can use,
there are several Mensa’s for a healthy and cheap lunch, the sports academy organizes the sports facilities
throughout the city that are open to all students, and of course Cologne is loaded with cafes, restaurants,
bars, clubs and the likes.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
The necessary pre-departure information will be given to you in time. The arrival at Cologne and to the CBS
is your own responsibility, during the introduction week there was some information but it was not always
organized well, i.e., there were gaps of a couple of hours in between activities and the information session
about housing was at the end of the introduction week and not really helpful, so make sure that you will
handle housing beforehand. There were no representatives from I*ESN but there was a study buddy
program but this did not really work and lots of study buddies did not even show up. In comparison to the
introduction weeks in the Netherlands it was more informational and mostly during day-time. However, it is
a great opportunity to meet your fellow international students and it is up to yourselves to make the most
out of it. After the introduction week, the semester started in the first week of September, there was no
break nor any holidays during the fall/winter semester, the last week of November was the deadline week
for the course works and presentations, followed by a two-week examination period in the first weeks of
December.
HOUSING
The CBS offers international students a place in their dormitory, however places are limited. The prices to
rent a room or small apartment in Cologne are relatively high (usually between 400-600 euro) and quite
hard to come by since the demand is so high. There is an organization responsible for student housing, but
from my own experience and from what I’ve heard from others it takes forever to actually be assigned to a
place. Preferably start looking for housing as soon as possible.
LIVING COSTS
In addition to the Erasmus+ grant, I had to use my student loan and I also had a job in Cologne to help with
the expenses. The part-time job might not be necessary for everyone, but for me it was and personally I
liked it a lot to have some experience working in Germany in addition to my studies. Expenses are
comparable to the living expenses in Tilburg, apart from the higher housing prices and extra activities. So
housing would take up about 400-600 euro, food 100-200 euro, transportation 170 euro per semester,
books 0, miscellaneous 100-200 euro. My personal expenses were luckily on the low end of these
averages, mainly because of some fortune in the housing area and mostly cooking dinner at home instead
of going out for dinner.
THE INTERNATIONAL OFFICE
There was an international office at CBS with people motivated to help you out in case of questions.
However, some people had difficulties with finding housing even after a couple of weeks and the
international office could have been more committed to helping them with such a pressing situation. One
of the students working for the international office was in charge of organizing the social activities for the
international students. These included two museum visits, a visit to the neighboring city Bonn, a trip to
Berlin, and a food fair. Often, we would take matters into our own hands and organize stuff ourselves.
CONTACT WITH OTHER STUDENTS
All internationals spoke English, of course, but also the German students spoke English well. Therefore,
there was a lot of contact between international students as well as with the local students. Personally I did
not encounter a lot of cultural differences with the German culture, but it was in fact a ton of fun to experience
cultural differences between the international students. It makes you aware of differences and at the same
time pretty clearly shows that people are also very similar regardless of culture. Sure little clusters will
develop within the whole group of internationals, but in the end you are one group of all kinds of
backgrounds having fun together, joining in activities, traveling together and contribute to having such an
amazing experience.
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
In addition to the courses you take during an exchange you learn so many other things. First of all, a new
language and being able to “survive” especially in the beginning with very basic language skills. Secondly,
meeting people from all over the world will provide you with new insights on lots of subjects. Not only
differences between cultures become apparent, similarities will present themselves as well. I personally
indulged in getting to know the ways of doing things in other countries, what was going on politically and
how it affected their individual opinions. Being able to discuss things and work on projects together but still
trying to take into consideration the cultural differences was a fun challenge.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
ACADEMIC LEVEL AT A HOST UNIVERSITY
For the international students, choices of English taught courses were plenty. There is also the opportunity
to take a German language course, or another language course if you prefer that. The workload as I
experienced it, was quite a bit lower than at Tilburg University. However, the classes were interesting,
practically oriented, challenging and I did learn a lot. CBS is a business school, so business relevant, with
a focus on recent events or developments, case studies and practical examples. Of course, the papers that
we had to write ourselves had to be academic. In addition to the course work, I had to sit 4 exams.
EXAMS
Course
Exam
ECTS
International Marketing
Multiple presentations, Paper
3
International HRM
Presentation, Assessment, Exam
3
International Trade and Finance
Exam
3
Transnational Management
Presentation, Paper
3
Comparative International Management
Mandatory company visits, Presentation, Paper
6
Corporate Social Responsibility and Socially
Presentation, Paper
3
Emerging Market Investments
Exam
3
German Language Course B2
Assessments, Presentation, Exam
6
Inclusive Business
IV TIPS FOR THE FUTURE STUDENTS:
I would encourage all students to at least think about going on an exchange. It is such a valuable experience
and definitely a big step in your personal development. Go wherever you want to go, it does not matter.
Germany is a good choice, with a lot of cultural backgrounds, interesting history and lots of places to
discover. It really is an experience like no other, and I am so glad that I had the fortune to experience it.