Student Report Universität Mannheim
Universität Mannheim
Spring 2013
1. Practical Information
Before leaving Norway
We received the letter of acceptation in October by mail (not e-mail). We were provided
with an account on myUniMa, an online portal for incoming exchange students. This
portal included all information you needed (about both the school and the city as well as
the culture and how it is to live in Germany). This was a good way to get prepared for
your semester in Mannheim. In myUniMa it also was a bullet list with all your
recommended, as well as mandatory, to-do’s prior to your arrival.
Applying for a visa
As a Norwegian or EU citizen visa is not needed.
Travel
The easiest way to get to Mannheim is to fly into Frankfurt am Main (biggest airport in
Europe- lots of flights from all over Norway) and take a train from the airport to
Mannheim. Mannheim is the next stop after Frankfurt Flughafen and the train ride takes
approximately 30 minutes.
SAS have youth fares from Oslo-Frankfurt which are quite fairly priced, especially if you
are bringing some luggage. Norwegian and Lufthansa are also flying direct routes from
Norway to Frankfurt. It is also possible to fly with Ryanair to Frankfurt Hahn (a different
city than Frankfurt am Main). From Frankfurt Hahn you need to take a bus to Mannheim,
which takes approximately 2,5 hours. Also the bus leaves only two times a day, so you
might end up staying some hours in the airport waiting for the bus.
Housing
You are responsible for housing yourself. There is some “Student
Wohnheims”(dormitory), which are possible to apply for. Most wohnheims are located a
bit outside the city, and you are reliant on bus to get to the city and the university.
Private accommodation is also a possibility, and can be found through searching the
internet (recommend wg-gesucht.de, but many links are provided in the myUniMaportal). It’s a bit more expensive, but then you can chose to live by yourself and in the
city centre, which is close to everything (Uni is located in the city centre).
Costs
Everything is cheaper compared to Norway. Depending on whether you stay in a
wohnheim or in private accommodation, housing costs might vary between 1500-3500
NOK/month. Not many books are needed, mostly lecture slides is required readings and
books can be found in the uni library, so books costs should be low. Food is cheaper both
groceries and eating out. Alcohol is also way cheaper than in Norway. In Mensa on
campus, they serve lunch every weekday, and it’s possible to have a meal for
approximately 20-30 NOK. Regarding transportation costs the semester ticket for all
public transportation costs around 1100 NOK for 6 months.
Culture and language
We attended the International Winter Academy from 7th of January to 2nd of February.
This is a language course, where you are divided into classes depending on your German
skills. The Winter Academy is a good way to meet other exchange students and learn
some German, as well as getting to know the Uni and the city. Various tours, trips and
parties are also offered during the IWA. IWA costs approximately 4000 NOK. IWA will
also provide you with 4 ECTS credits.
We didn’t have any major language or culture problems with neither the faculty nor
other students. Most people speak understandable English and are very accommodating.
Deutsche Bahn (the railway company) also provides you with a good possibility to travel
around in Germany and other European countries (3 hour train ride from Mannheim to
Paris). Being located in the middle of Europe makes it a good base for experiencing other
European cities.
Cultural and social effects from the exchange experience
After living and studying abroad for a semester we’ve learned a lot about other cultures,
both German as well as various other cultures. We’ve met and made friends with people
from all continents and developed a broader understanding of other cultures and social
codes. This is a unique experience, which can only come through living side by side with
people from other nations. This experience will prove valuable either for both travelling
as a tourist, studying abroad later, meeting people form different cultures or working
abroad or in a multi-national company. Cultural knowledge is valuable either way.
Germany is an important trade partner for Norway and Norwegian companies. Being the
biggest European economy we believe it’s a valuable experience to have been studying
business in Germany. There is not so many Norwegian students in Germany compared
to in many other countries, which makes an exchange semester in Germany a good
possibility to stand out in the application stack, when applying for a job later. The
University of Mannheim is highly recognized as a good institution to retrieve a business
education.
2. About the school
The school and its surroundings
University of Mannheim is considered the best business school in Germany. They have
also achieved good results in a numerous of rankings of both national and worldwide
newspapers and business magazines. The University consists of five departments;
business, law and economics, social science, humanities, and mathematics and computer
science. It is especially the business, economic and social science programs they are
most known for. The number of students are approximately 10 000 students. And this
spring semester we were about 400 incoming exchange students. The University itself is
located in a baroque castle, which is around 250 years old.
Mannheim as a city has also a lot to offer. Besides museums, pubs, theatres, cinemas,
clubs, bars, restaurant and cafes, there will also be a lot of student parties (like the
famous “Schneckenhof-parties” located on campus, and recreation areas like
Luisienpark and Herzogenried park with animals, birds, gym tools and running fields.
And Mannheim is also a central located place when it comes to visiting other cities. Close
by you will find beautiful German cities like Heidelberg, Kaiserslautern, Schwetzingen
and Neustadt, this would be covered by your semester ticket. And only three hours away
with train you will find Paris, Münich, Zürich and other big cities.
Course registration
Course registration happened after arrival in Mannheim. In some courses you needed to
register in the student portal “Studierendeportal”, often just by joining the e-learning
group or some by register for case-assignment, whereas other courses you did not need
to register at all. But information about this you will find under the course description
online and the lecturer usually explains this in the first lecture. There were two periods
of registration for the exam, one for bachelor students and one for master students.
Academic calendar
The winter academy took place in the beginning of January and lasted until the end of
January. In the first week of February, there was the welcome week, and then the lecture
period began 11.02.2013 and lasted until 31.05.2013. In the beginning of June, we had a
two weeks exam period. But not all courses followed this plan; the marketing courses
had for instance exams in the end of April and the beginning of May. In the middle of the
lecture period there was an Easter/spring break of two weeks.
Arrival
We both arrived to attend the winter academy, a German language course prior to the
start of the semester. In the welcome week before the actual lectures begin, there was an
orientation sessions by the international office with an introduction into the academic
system, and an orientation session made by the deans in the different departments of
study. In addition, there was a guided tour of the campus and a welcome reception
where you could get to know other exchange students.
The International Office
The international office’s express service is located in L1, this is just across the yard of
the University castle. They speak English and are very helpful, and in the first week they
will help you to enrol and get you settled in. They also hold an information/welcome
session, which could be helpful to attend if you have not already been in the winter
academy. During the semester BESS (Business Exchange Student Support) send out
newsletter by e-mail every week letting you know important dates, exam information
and social activities that are happening in Mannheim.
Social activities
Before arriving Mannheim you will have the opportunity to sign up for a buddy
program, in which you will be assigned a fellow German student. The organization that
facilitates this is called VISUM and is a student society that tries to bring exchange
students together with German students. During the semester, they arranged a one day
trip to Cologne, and weekend trips to Hamburg and Vienna. And every week they
arranged Stammtisch at a café next to school. In addition, they arrange different parties,
international dinner and pub crawls.
3. Academics
In the classroom
The study structure is quite similar to BI, but in addition of having lecturers, they have
also a lot of tutorials and exercise classes. The lectures, tutorials and the exercise consist
of blocks of 90 minutes without breaks
In the lectures the communication is one-way. In the tutorials and exercise classes, the
teacher opens up for questions and discussion of task and assignments. The German
language and cultural courses offered to exchange students differ in terms of this, since
the groups are smaller and participation in class is important. The language of
instruction was English in our courses. In the overview of possible courses it will be
stated the language of instruction, and it is a lot of English courses to chose from.
The level of study and the workload is about the same level as at BI. However, the exams
are quite different. They are very short and last usually from 45-90 minutes. The
teaching is primarily theoretical, but the most professors make sure that they have
examples from real life that explains the theory. And, in for instance, MKT351, one of the
exams was a case presentation where you were supposed to apply the theory in
practice. In the OPM301 it was possible to visit the John Deere plant located in
Mannheim to see in real life how they organize and plan their production. Depending on
the course you can experience both cases and group work, but we would say general
lectures are most common.
Also German students have a tendency of speaking with each other during lectures.
Some of the professors were good in letting them know that this interrupted both the
lecturer and the other students, but other would not mention it at all. Both tutorials and
exercise classes are better when it comes to this. In classes and lectures of just exchange
students this would not happen at all.
Course materials
In most courses they tell you that the lecture slides are the main (and only required)
readings. In addition they have one or more books, and often some articles that they
would recommend you to read. In the courses with English as the language of
instruction, all course material was in English. Most books are to be found in the
Schneckenhof (BWL(Business)) library, and all lecture slides as well as assignments
from exercises and tutorials are uploaded online.
In many courses it was enough to study the lecture slides and to solve the assignments
uploaded to be prepared for the exam. In the beginning of the semester you are able to
buy a booklet of all the lecturers at the different departments. It usually costs around 10
Euros.
Exams
The written exams are very different from what we are used to from BI. They are short,
closed book exams where you are expected to know everything by heart. Also you don’t
have time to think or spent much time wondering about the questions. If the exam is 90
minutes, the maximum score is 90 points. Each assignment will be worth a stated
amount of points, and this is supposed to be an indication on approximately how many
minutes you should spend on this assignments. Also, in many courses such as
Operations Management you will not be provided with a formula sheet, meaning you
must know all the mathematical formulas by heart. The exams are mostly based on the
lectures, and the details found in the lecture slides. In courses where tutorials and
exercises are offered, these often is a good indication of what kind of assignments you
should expect on the final exam.
The German grading system is also different. It goes from 1.0-4.0, where 1.0-1.5 is
recognized as A, 1.6-2.5 as B and so on until 4.0, which is the last grade to pass the
course.
Library and technology
There are several different libraries on campus. The BWL library (for business students)
is easily accessed in the Schneckenhof (part of campus). There are lots of desks to study
at, both in quiet areas and “noisy areas”. There are also computers with access to
printing, and scanning and making copies. Course material as lecture slides etc. are
uploaded on the online platform called ilias, which you will get access to during the first
week. This is no problem and you will get the help you need. Professors and other staff
are also happy to answer your questions regarding course material and where to find it
as well as getting connected to the online platforms and to the computers and printers
on campus.
Description of courses
In the following table you can see the courses we had during our semester in Mannheim.
Course code
& name
Master/
Bachelor
ECTS Mid term
Exam form
Prerequisites
Approved
as
OPM301
Operations
Management
MKT401
Marketing 2:
Strategic
Marketing and
Marketing in
Specific Industry
Contexts
MKT351
Marketing
Management
Decisions
General
language course
Understanding
the German
Bachelor
6
No
90 minutes
written exam
None
Logistics
Bachelor
6
Obligatory
case
assignment
90 minutes
written exam
(100%)
None
Elective
Bachelor
6
Case
presentation
(30%)
60 minutes
written exam
(70%)
None
Elective
Bachelor
3
No
None
Elective
Bachelor
3
No
60 minutes
written exam
Presentation
None
Elective
Economy
The Political
and Sociocultural system
of Germany
Winter
Academy
Understanding
the Euro crisis
FIN363 Stock
Market
Anomalies and
Trading
Strategies
FIN350
Corporate
Governance
Bachelor
3
No
Presentation
None
Elective
Bachelor
4
No
None
Elective
Bachelor
3
No
None
Elective
Bachelor
3
No
60 minutes
written exam
90 minutes
written exam
90 minutes
written exam
Basic finance
theory
Elective
Bachelor
8
No
60 minutes
written exam
None
Elective
Additional comments to the courses:
- MKT351: In this course there were lectures and tutorials. In the tutorials we
were supposed to solve cases and assignments. And one of the exams was a case
presentation where we worked together in groups of 5-6 students handing in a
report of 10 pages and giving a presentation of 30 minutes.
- OPM301: This course consisted of lectures, tutorials and exercise classes. In the
tutorials and exercise classes we solved assignments.
- MKT401: This course consisted of lectures and tutorials. In the tutorials we
solved assignments.
- German language and cultural classes: These courses would consist of a
combination of lectures, assignments, group work and presentations.
- FIN363: This course consisted of lectures.
- FIN350: This course consisted of lectures, and sometimes we did some exercises
in class. OBS; the level of course material you were required to know (by heart)
was enormous. We were supposed to know 900 slides (filled with information)
by heart, and to know the details of over 30 empirical studies presented. This
made this exam very difficult.