Student report
European Business School (EBS) – Fall
Semester 2015
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
The process before leaving Norway was very easy. I got all information from EBS by mail two months
before departure to Germany. As a Norwegian citizen, you do not need to apply for a visa card.
Travel
Frankfurt International airport is the closest airport to the school. The flight from Oslo Airport
Gardermoen takes around two hours. From Frankfurt Airport the train is the easiest way to travel to
the school. EBS is located in a small village called Oestrich Winkel. You first need to take the train to
Wiesbaden. This take around 30 minutes from the airport, and another 20 minutes from Wiesbaden
to Oestrich Winkel. When arriving Germany, you need to register your address in the city office.
Housing
There is no direct housing offers from the school. But they offer very good help. I got information
about housing when I god the first emails from the school two months before arrival. I tried to find
something through the school, but didn’t manage to rent something. I found my apartment through
a website for “flat rental”. My apartment was located in the city Wiesbaden. You can also live in the
small village Oestrich Winkel, but I strongly recommend you to find an apartment in Wiesbaden.
Contact information to the housing coordinator, Julia Bayer, at EBS is Julia.Bayer@ebs.edu.
Costs
Rent
5.500 NOK
Books
500 NOK
Food
2.000 NOK
Transport
400 NOK
Other
NOK
When you arrive you must buy a student card at school, this is
mandatory. This card working as entry card at the library. But also as
your ticket on both buses and trains. This card is valid for the whole
semester.
Because the school only have articles on the curriculum, there is no
need for books. If you want, you can buy some article collections.
Before my arrival I was told that food is generally cheap in Germany. However, my experience is that
Wiesbaden/ Frankfurt is an expensive area compared to other cities in Germany. Of course, the
prices are lower than in Norway, but not so cheap that I firs thought. On the other side, alcohol,
especially wine is much cheaper. That’s because the area is one of the greatest wine districts in
Germany.
Culture and Language
The German culture is a little different from the culture we are used to here in Norway. But, for me
there was no problem to adapt to the local customs. The language was a little bit tricky, because the
level of English on a normal German person is not so high, but after some weeks I learned some basic
German.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
The school
EBS is located near a small village called Oestrich Winkel outside Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany. The
area is beautiful, and the school is very close to the Rhein. When you are at the library, you get a
great view over the Rhein. The area is called Reingau, and is a wine district. There are wine yards
everywhere, and EBS have a private wine yard where you can buy EBS-wine. Around the school there
are many small villages with very special architecture, especially castles.
EBS is a small private school, compared to other schools in Germany the school is really expensive.
EBS offer Bachelor, MBA and master courses, but they are known for theirs Automotive Management
courses.
The language at school was not a problem at all. EBS is a very international business school, every
lesions are on English, and all the German student want to practice theirs English.
Course registration
As a bachelor student you can only choose between the bachelor courses. I got information about
the courses and the selection procedure in good time before the deadline (end of august). Every
course consists of some group work with group assignments and also some exams. Compared to the
exams her on BI, the exams are smaller. You can choose between courses of 3 ECT`s or modules of 6
ECT`s. The course selection process was very easy; you only need to register the courses you want on
a website.
Academic calendar
Courses start in September, but some courses also start in October. Before the official semester start,
EBS offer an intensive German language course. You get divided in to classes based on your German
skills. I recommend everybody to participate on this. Because you get a very good introduction to the
local language, and you get known many other exchange students already before the semester start.
I had my last exam on 14th December, but also had some assignments with later deadline.
Arrival
After the intensive German language course, there are some introduction days. I didn’t participate on
these introduction days because I had some things going on back in Norway. In this process EBS was
very easy, they sent me everything I needed of information because I couldn’t participate.
The International Office
Through my whole period as exchange student I got all the information and help I wanted. EBS has a
wide range of exchange student so the International Office have good experiences to deal with.
Promoting BI and Norway
Because of some communication errors between me and BI I didn’t participate on the exchange fair
on EBS. But, I talked with a lot of other students, bots Germans and other exchange students which
assessed to apply BI Oslo.
Social activates
The relationship between regular German students and exchange students was generally very good,
but of course is there always some exceptions, both from the German students and from the
exchange students.
EBS offers some different social events during the semester. Including, Semester Opening Party,
Oktoberfest, Halloween Party and Semester Ending Party. The school also have carrier and
entrepreneurship fairs.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The teaching style was the biggest difference between BI and EBS. At EBS they have smaller classes
where they expect you to participate in discussions during the class. I liked this form of classes very
good. There was also not so much focus on the exams, more focus on learning the relevant
curriculum and how to use it later. The education was based on a lot of group work with group
assignments and presentations, but also individual assignments. The result of this is that the
workload is distributed in a good way, both for me as a student, and for the professors.
Course Materials
Almost all of the courses is based on a combination of articles and PowerPoints from classes. All the
articles could easily be downloaded from the school’s homepage.
Exams
The exams were both bases on course materials and lectures. Courses was evaluated in different
ways. But many courses included small and medium assignments, presentations, group work, class
attendance and class participation and a small final exam.
Library and technology
The library at EBS campus with the Rhein had a great selection of articles and books, but the library
was very small, no fresh air and a very bad system for your stuff you could not bring inside. On the
other side, there are also a library at Law Campus in Wiesbaden City. This library is much better and
can be compared with the one we have at BI. As a business student you are allowed to use both
libraries.
Description of Courses
Course code & name
Master/
Bachelor
Exam form
Prerequisites
Approved
as
L-LAN2-031 BSC Study
Skills in German
(Intensive German
Language Course)
L-LAN0-088 BSC
Business German A1.2
Comments
-
Class Room
Participation,
Listening
Comprehension,
Written Exam
None
Elective
-
-
Oral Exam,
Written Exam,
None
Elective
-
M-ACT3-002 BSC
Elective Controlling
Bachelor
Class room
participation,
Group Essay,
Individual
Learning Journal
None
Elective
A module existing
of two courses:
Performance
Measurement:
Practice and
Performance
Measurement:
Concepts
M-FIN2-030 BSC
Finance III
Bachelor
Written Exam
None
Elective
Existing of
Corporate Finance
and Real Estate
Finance
M-MKT3-027 BSC
Elective Brand
Management
Operations and
Market
Communication
Bachelor
Presentations,
Written Exam,
Case Study
None
Elective
A module existing
of two courses:
Brand Management
Operations and
Market
Communication
M-STR3-006 BSC
Elective Strategy
Consulting
Bachelor
Class room
participation,
Group Essay,
Presentations
None
Elective
A module existing
of two courses:
Advanced Strategy
and Consulting
Workshop
M-STR3-024 BSC
Managing People
Bachelor
Class room
participation,
Written Exam,
Case Study,
Individually
Essay
None
Elective
A module existing
of two courses:
Leadership and
People
Management and
Human Resource
Management
Final Note
I will sum up my exchange period at EBS, Wiesbaden, Germany as a very good experience, mostly
academic, but also from a social, culture and language perspective. I know that all the challenges I
got I Germany has prepared me in a good way for what I going to meet while working, not only
international, but also here in Norway.
EBS Business School is a forgotten diamond of business schools in Germany and Europe, I strongly
recommend you to apply for this school because of the high academic level and the new way you get
challenges.