Student report
European Business School (EBS) – Fall
Semester 2013
1. Practical information
After I got the message of my acceptance for EBS I got an email with all I needed to know
about the school and about housing. Since I`m from Norway I did not have to apply for a
Visa. So the only thing I had to was to fill out the form`s that EBS needed and I was good
to go. To get there I took an SAS flight from Gardermoen to Frankfurt airport, which
costed around 2000 NOK. You can get it cheaper than that if you reserve your ticket
early. At the airport the school provided a pick-up service for 30 euros and they drove
me to my flat.
The university has a thing called “flat-hunt” in June. These are flats or dorm-rooms that
the school has access to. It is run by the first come, first serve principle. You get noticed
several times in advance, so that if you pay attention you won’t miss it. All the rooms
come up on a website at the same time and you have to send an email as quickly as you
can. There are not many rooms so they go away really fast. I just sent an email as quickly
as I could and was lucky to get my third choice for a single flat. If you don’t get a room
trough the “flat-hunt” the school can help you or you can rent private or from a
company.
The costs of living in Germany are generally lower than in Norway. This is an estimate of
my monthly expenses:
Rent: 380 € or (approximately 3300-3400 NOK at the time)
Books: For most of the subjects the material was provided, but some books must be
bought.
Food: The food is cheaper than in Norway and especially in the supermarkets. The
school offers lunch for 5-6€ each weekday. In general everything is cheaper than in
Norway.
Transport: Everyone at the school has to pay a fee of 100€ for the student card and with
this you can take the trains and busses all over the region of Hessen for the whole
semester.
Culture and language
I did not have any problems with the faculty or students. Everyone is fluent in English,
the administration, staff and students. The general culture in Germany is not that
different from Norway.
About the school
The school is located in a small town called Oestrich-Winkel. This is about 20 min with
the train from Wiesbaden and 50 min from Frankfurt. The school itself is quite small and
there are just business students at this faculty.
Course registration
I had to register for the courses in July, but it was no problem to switch, add or drop
courses once I was there. Once a course has started you have 3 weeks to enter the
course. One thing to lookout for is that some of the course has attendance requirements,
so be sure to check this first.
Academic calendar:
I arrived at the 19th of August. I attended a German language course that lasted for 8
days and started on the 20th of August. The opening ceremony for the regular semester
was at the 29th of August. I would recommend everyone to take the German course. I
made most of my friends at that course. The semester lasted until the 20th of December
with the exam period from the 9th-20th. EBS has an event called the symposium where
they invite a lot of companies to school. This is like “Karireredagene” at BI. Everything
else is pretty much like it is in Norway.
The introduction week started with a ceremony for the exchange students where we had
to register and get our student cards. After that there was a more relaxed get-together at
a local “keller”. The day after was the start of the language course. I would recommend
everyone to take the German course. I made most of my friends at that course. You have
class from 8.30-14.00 everyday and it is easy to make new friends there. There was also
organized several events for the Students, such as pub nights and barbeques. The
semester opening for everyone else was a ceremony at the day and a barbeque at the
school later that day. They have an international team organized at the school, so there
are a lot of activities to attend, like trips, several parties and sporting activities.
I was very happy with the information I got from the International Office at BI the entire
stay. We didn’t not get to promote BI too much, apart from speaking about it to other
students. It seemed like several people wanted to go.
Academics
All around the school system in Germany is like it is in Norway. The teaching style was
different from teacher to teacher. Some of the teachers came from other countries like
USA, Portugal or France and they had their own style. This also effected how the courses
were organized. Some course only has 4 lessons of 09.00-18.30 because of these
limitations. This can be quite intense, but you learn a lot in a short space of time. I found
the workload to be a bit bigger at EBS than it is at BI.
The course material was primarily Powerpoint. Very few courses had books as required
readings. There were more articles and what we did in class that were basis for the
exams. Note that there was much recommended readings in all classes. The courses
were mainly evaluated by one exam. Some courses had a presentation, an essay or even
participation that counted for a portion of the grade.
The school has a library, which was quite good. You get help if you need it and they have
all the books for required and recommended readings in all courses.
At EBS exams every student point is worth one minute at an exam. So if the exam is 90
point, the exam is 90 minutes.
Course code &
name
Accounting
Master/
Bachelor
Bachelor
Economics 3
Bachelor
Operations &
Information systems
Bachelor
Managing People
Bachelor
Study Skills in
German
Business German
Exam form
1-hour written
exam + two
presentations
One 1,5-hour
written exam +
one 1-hour
exam + one
presentation
One 2,5-hour
written exam +
one assignment
One 2-hour
written exam +
one essay +
participation
1-hour written
exam + one
presentations
1-hour written
exam + one
presentations
Prerequisite
s
None
Approved
as
Elective
Comment
s
Hard
None
Elective
Not too
hard
None
Elective
Not too
hard
None
Elective
Not too
hard
Depends on
your German
skills
Depends on
your German
skills
Elective
Easy
Elective
Easy
To sum up I am very pleased with my stay at EBS in Germany. Socially and cultural I had
a great time and learned a lot about German culture. Academically EBS is one of the best
economic universities in Germany and this reflects in the workload. I think this exchange
might help me in career, especially when it comes to being able to speak to people from
different cultures. I have also improved my English and skills, so that can definitely help
me in the future.
Have a great stay!