E-mail: r.vanringelenstein@tilburguniversity.edu /remonvanringelenstein@hotmail.com
Study Program: Organisation studies
Exchange semester: Spring 2014
Academic year: 2013-2014
Host University: Freie Universität Berlin
Country: Germany
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Berlin is a really fantastic city to live in. The city itself is very dynamic and there are many
different and interesting people. It’s a big city, so travel times of 30-60 minutes are pretty normal.
Since Berlin is so big, there is always something new to discover.
The university is located in West-Berlin, which is the richer part of Berlin. It’s surrounded by
trees, parks and villas - a very peaceful environment. The different faculties and buildings are
pretty scattered, but it is possible to, for example, eat in the mensa with people from other
faculties. The university has a lot of different faculties. Currently they offer 150 study programs
and have 15 faculties. There are around 30000 students studying at the FUB. Although the
university is this large, it did not feel like this for me. I was at the economic faculty
(Wirtschaftswissenschaft), where the professors were really approachable and you had the
feeling that it was a small university in itself. In the courses I took there were not many
international students, but at the political science faculty and the language faculty, for example,
there were a lot of international students. In most of the courses I took, there were not many
students participating in the course (max. around 50 students). Most of the courses consist of
lectures (Vorlesungen) and practicals (Übungen), but some of them are seminars. In these
seminars you learn something about a specific topic and have to give a presentation and/or
write an essay about the topic.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Information before you left
I received the pre-arrival information at the end of November (2013). So there was enough time
to arrange the things needed. You open an account of the FUB, in which step by step is
explained what they need from you. I had to deliver all the things needed on 15th January 2014.
The only difficulty I faced is that it was hard to find which courses you can apply for. The website
of the FUB is not very clear about which courses are offered and it’s hard to find the courses.
You have to check the “Vorlesungsverzeichnis”, go to “Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaft”,
subsequently click on “Bachelorstudiengänge”, click on (in my case) ‘Betriebswirtschaftslehre”
and then go to the last possible semester “Bachelor Betriebswirtschaftslehre (ab WiSe 12/13).
That’s where you can find the courses offered. The only problem in my case was that the
courses offered were lately placed. That’s why I had to arrange all the administration for Tilburg
University about the courses when I had already moved to Berlin. The first weeks of the
semester I went to a lot of courses and after that I made the decision which courses I wanted
to follow. This opportunity given by the FUB is very nice, because you can really experience
which courses you like and which courses you don’t like.
Visa procedure and arrival
My administration was pretty well prepared by the FUB. Via the administration account, which
you receive in November, I arranged all the documents needed. The only thing I needed to do
was having the Exchange Coordinator sign some documents.
Orientation/Introduction activities
There was no introduction activity like there is at Tilburg University, but with the Vorkurs
(intensive language course) we did a lot of activities. An introduction activity was organized
during this intensive language course, but later on also for all the international students. At
these orientation meetings the students were guided around the campus and information about
studying at the FUB was given. I didn’t have a mentor at the university, but some tandem
partnerships were offered. I didn’t participate, but by doing this you could for example teach
Dutch to German students and the German students would teach you German. The Vorkurs
was an ideal introduction period for me (6 weeks, costs around 600 euro), because a lot of
activities were arranged and by participating I got to get to know a lot of people.
Housing
There are some accommodations offered by the university. I lived in Schlachtensee, which is
in West-Berlin. I was satisfied with my location, but if I went to Berlin again, I would pick a
location between the university and the centre of the city. The houses offered at the student
dorm differ a lot. The prices differ. The house I lived in was a bit outdated, but the more
expensive houses at Schlachtensee were very modern. I had to book the accommodation in
advance, so it was not possible to really see your accommodation. At the FUB website you
can find different locations http://www.fu-berlin.de/sites/unterbringung/optionenprogrammstudenten/studentenwerk/index.html. I could recommend http://www.mediciliving.de for privately renting rooms all over the city.
Living Costs
For financing my exchange period, I saved some money and received a grant
(studiefinanciering: uitwonende beurs) from the Dutch state. The living expenses in Berlin are
about the same as in Tilburg. The room prices vary from around 250 euro to max. 400 euro,
which is relatively cheap for a capital in Europe. During my exchange, I spent a lot more on
leisure activities like going out, cultural activities etc. I would also advise to do that, because
you live there (maybe) once in your live, so you have a great opportunity to experience what
the city or country offers. The transport in this city is really cheap. I paid 179.40 € for the
semester ticket, by which you can travel in Berlin. An approximate monthly budget is given
below.
Housing: 290 €
Food: 200 €
Transport: 29.90 €
Books: Only printing costs. Around 50-70 € for the whole semester.
Miscellaneous: around 200 euro (Cultural activities, going out etc.)
Academic Calendar
I arrived on 1st March 2014 and started on 3rd March 2014 with the intensive language course.
The official semester started on 14th April 2014. The exams took place at the end of July. My
last exam was on 30th July 2014. It depends on the courses you take whether you still have to
write an essay after the exam period; only for a few courses this possibility exists. I wrote an
essay after my exam period, because it didn’t fit within my program to write it before the exam
(FS Marketing).
The International Office
At the FU Berlin there is one international office and each faculty has its own departmental
coordinator. As soon as you are (pre)-enrolled you receive emails from the international office.
You receive an administration account, so that you can do your administration before you come
to Berlin. In Berlin you get your definitive FU account. The only difficulty I faced was that it was
unclear to me which courses I could follow. At the FU you also get a brochure of the things that
you have to arrange in Berlin.
Exchange promotion
There was no specific chance to promote your own university, but in contact with German
students and internationals I mentioned and promoted Tilburg University. I mentioned that there
is a high quality of teaching at the TiU.
Social Activities
In Berlin there is an international student organization, which arranges some activities. You
could think of city trips and cultural activities. I participated twice in an activity, namely the visit
of the Bundestag and a trip to Lübeck. It’s not as big as the ESN in Tilburg, but if you want to
do some city trips or special activities, it’s definitely worth to take a look at the website:
http://www.fu-berlin.de/studium/international/internationaler_club/index.html.
At the beginning of the semester I participated in the Vorkurs program. This is an intensive
course of six weeks (before the semester begins), in which you have around 20 hours of class
per week and besides that you also participate in different cultural activities. At the Vorkurs I
met a lot of international students. It’s a great opportunity to get into contact with a lot of
people all around the world, and improve your German. I would definitively recommend doing
the Vorkurs:
http://www.sprachenzentrum.fuberlin.de/sprachangebot/sprachen/deutsch/vorkurs_deutsch/in
dex.html
During the semester there is an opportunity to learn a language (for example German) with a
tandem partner. You teach your language and the other student teaches the other language. I
didn’t participate in the tandem partner program.
I did and still do have contact with international and local students. If you want to have contact
with locals, it’s really important to take initiative yourself. You really should show that you’re
interested in a friendly relationship. It helps that you have to do a lot of group projects, but
even then you really should take the initiative in the beginning. It may take a bit longer than in
the Netherlands, but if you have such a relationship it will last and you become really part of
the local society. I still have some German friends living in Berlin. I also participated in local
Berlin life, for example I went to a local volleyball initiative.
I also had a lot of contact with exchange students. Most of them I met at the Vorkurs. We did
a lot of things together, especially in the weekends and evenings. Nowadays, I still have
contact with exchange students. There were also a lot of Dutch exchange students in Berlin
(mostly from Amsterdam), but since I wanted to experience different cultures, I only had
contact with few Dutch people.
Since there is a lot to experience in Berlin, I didn’t travel to other countries. I travelled once to
Lübeck with the International club and a few times to Potsdam. It’s pretty easy to travel to
some other countries like Poland or the Czech Republic, but I wanted to see everything in
Berlin, and for that you need a lot of time.
Culture and Language
Although a lot of changes appeared to me, I didn’t experience a culture shock, mainly because
I expected it to be different. I have to say that there is a big difference between the Netherlands
and Germany. Berlin itself is, as I would say, a world apart, since a lot of different people live
in this city. For that reason, you can’t compare Berlin with the rest of Germany.
I learned about my culture that, although I’m not the most straight talking person, our culture is
much more straight forward than the German culture. German people speak more indirectly,
which makes you have to listen carefully and interpret more. They showed in the beginning
more hesitance to start a relationship, but I don’t really know whether that is because of the
culture or because people already have their own lives, but if you act proactively and become
part of it, you get really integrated. I suppose it’s a cultural phenomenon. Dutch people will also
ask intimate questions much sooner than German people. These questions were only asked
when you were already integrated. In the Netherlands it can sometimes be that people already
ask these questions when you just met each other. Another difference is that German people
are more focused on their work, in case of the students they are more focused on their studies.
I experienced this quite a lot during my exchange, since I studied a lot with German people. In
their studies, people cooperated more than in the Netherlands because they put their studies
really central. In the Netherlands students have a lot of activities besides their studies, so
people don’t cooperate a lot (only if necessary).
One thing that was very different for me, which I wouldn’t expect from Berlin, is that there is a
lot of poverty on the streets. There are a lot of people that are begging for some money. Later
on, I learned that Berlin is a very poor city, which makes the city quite cheap. For that reason,
the city attracts poor people, many young people and many artists. The city itself is alive all the
time (especially in the summer) and you also have the feeling that progress is made. Many new
buildings are built, a lot of young people come to the city and many different festivals take
place.The differences between the West and East are still recognizable.
I travelled to Potsdam and Lübeck as well, which are very different cities. The main difference
is that these cities are pretty old and rich cities. In Potsdam, for example, all the palaces are of
the emperors of Prussia and Germany. Lübeck is located near the East-Sea and is a typical
hanseatic city, with a lot of merchant houses. These cities are the opposite of Berlin, because
the city was fully bombed, which is why a lot of buildings were built after 1945.
Since I followed the intensive language course, I didn’t have any language problems at the
faculty or with other students. It may be that I forgot some words in the beginning, but this didn’t
hinder me at all. I only followed one course in English. The rest of the courses were in German.
The only moment that I was a bit nervous was when my exam period started, since it was very
important that I would pass my exams and I didn’t know how it would be to take exams in
German. I think that if it’s very hard for you to write in German, it’s also possible to write it in
English. I just wanted to try to write it in German, which worked out pretty well.
Personal Development
From a cultural and social point of view, I think my exchange experience made me even more
open to other cultures. Another consequence of my exchange period is that you evaluate your
own situation and culture more critically. This means that you more often pose the question:
“Why do I do things and why do I undertake actions in a certain manner”. It also makes you
more flexible, because you have to adapt to a lot of new situations, people and systems. Due
to my exchange it’s easier to evaluate new situations and to adapt to the situation.
Although I already had a bit of an international mindset, it makes you think more about “what
does this person really mean”, because you sometimes face situations that are hard to
interpret. The varied mix of exchange students in Berlin (from Japan to Brazil) challenges you
to be aware of your own culture and to adapt quickly to different situations. It makes you more
aware of that you shouldn’t act out of expectations, but be pro active. I think such an
exchange period makes you more a world citizen and in my case causes me to look for
international opportunities in the future.
I think my future career possibilities are improved for several reasons. Firstly, my German has
improved and since Germany is one of the biggest trading partners of the Netherlands, this
could be a major advantage. I fluently speak German right now. Secondly, employers can
see that you’re able to cope with new situations and that you’re flexible enough to cope with
those situations. It shows that you can work in an international environment, which is very
important nowadays. It shows that you’re proactive and willingly to try and discover new
things. Further, you may profit from your international network by knowing more people.
The best experience I had, was that I met great international friends and that you were
practically never alone. I was always busy with visiting interesting places, going out with each
other, studying, organizing activities etc. I really enjoyed the relationships with people. In the
summer, for example, we arranged barbeques in parks and had spent the whole night
barbequing. So living in Berlin was my best experience. For me it was a great achievement,
that I was able to really integrate in the German society and that I have some good friends in
Berlin.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
Academic level at a host university
The courses on the bachelor level are mostly taught in German. Some of the courses are taught
in English. I followed one English taught course. As I knew that there would be many courses
taught in German, I followed a b1/b2 course on Tilburg University and in Berlin I followed a
intensive language course of six weeks on a b2.2 level. It’s advisable to follow such a course.
I took Marketing Planung, FS Marketing Theorie und Empirie, Informationsmanagement,
Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility and Controlling. As a language
course I took the Vorkurs Deutsch. I took these courses because I wanted to broaden myself,
especially in economic courses. I followed these courses, because for me the economic
courses were missing in Organisation studies. I would actually recommend all the courses I
followed, except the Controlling course. This is not because the quality of the course was bad,
but because the topic didn’t really interest me that much.
The academic level of the courses is about the same. The main difference between the FU and
TiU lays in the teaching methods. The courses I took combine practical and theoretical teaching
styles. There is a mixed teaching method at the FU, which makes courses at the FU very
interesting. For example, the courses contain case studies, group work, seminars and lectures.
In this way you learn how to develop different skills and you get much deeper into the different
topics.
There is a very friendly relationship between the students and the teaching staff. In a way, it
seems that the students have more respect for the teaching staff. It would, for example, never
happen that students are talking at the end of a lecture or during the lecture. The students
themselves play a more active role than in the Netherlands, which motivates very much. The
teaching staff appreciates it when you play this active role. A student assistant (PhD) of
Marketingplanung even asked me if I wanted to take part in a case study day at Allianz.
Unfortunately, this didn’t fit into my program because I had to present for my research seminar.
This really means that if you actively participate, they will value your work.
In general I was very happy with my achievements, because despite the German language, I
could keep up with the German students. I only could have scored higher on Marketingplanung,
but because I had to get used to the way of examining I scored a 6.0 (Dutch grade).
Exams
Most of the exams were open question exams. For “Corporate Governance and Corporate
Social Responsibility” you also had a multiple choice part. At the “Forschungsseminar
Marketing Theorie und Empirie” there was no exam, but we had to write an essay and had
to present our case.
Other
As soon as you are enrolled you get your own account, which makes it very easy to access
the library and its resources. There were some public computers, but it is advisable to bring
your own laptop with you, because there are not many computers.
Description of Courses
Course
Corporate Governance
and Corporate Social
Responsibility
(170bB1.4P)
Marketingplanung
Prerequisite
s
-
Exam
-
Open questions
MC+Open
Questions
ECT
S
6
6
Comments
+case
presentation.
Exam takes place
on a pc.
Interesting
course.
+bonus for case
presentation.(gro
up work Includes
seminars and
(170aB3.1P
-
Forschungsseminar
Marketing;Theorie und
Empirie im Marketing
(170bB14.2P)
Informationsmanageme
nt
(170cB6.3P)
Controlling
(170cB7.1P)
-
Presentation+Ess
ay
6
Presentation and
Essay obligatory,
difficult and very
interesting course
in which you
should value and
find out important
features of
research. The
essay and
presentation are
based on a
certain research.
Includes
seminars
Open questions+
case
presentation+
Constructing
exam questions
6
6
Open questions
6
Vorkurs Deutsch
presentations,
exams, listening
tests, essay
Very interesting
and fun course,
with a lot of group
work. You
present a case
and construct
exam questions
with your group.
Includes
seminars.
Difficult course. If
you want to pass
the exam you
really need to
attend the
seminars and
keep up.
Very fun and
interesting
course. You learn
a lot about
Germany. The
social aspect is
very important.
Includes different
trips.
I would definitely recommend an exchange period because of several reasons. Firstly, you
definitely grow as a person. Secondly, you gain more experience which improves your career
possibilities. Last but not least, it’s a lot of fun.
I would recommend the Freie Universität Berlin because the atmosphere and the quality of
the courses are very good. I would make sure that you follow all the steps that are given via
Campus management. In this way you’re well prepared. The courses offered, are lately
presented, but you can take a look at the former year. It will probably mean that you have to
fill in and deliver your courses again at the Exchange Office of TSB, but this is not a problem.
Via the procedure I should have arranged all my courses, but in consultation with the
exchange office I delivered it as soon as possible during my stay in Germany. It’s very
important that the TSB exchange office knows about this.