Student Report
Name of the University: Munich University of Applied Sciences
Exchange semester: Spring, 2013
About the city:
Munich is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and is the safest city in Germany.
International rankings rate the Bavarian capital among the cities with the highest quality of
living in the world. Within the city limits, Munich has a population of more than 1.4 million,
making it the third most populous city in Germany. Greater Munich including its suburbs has
a population of almost 4 million. Munich is called Europe’s largest village and is known for its
good beer. In the city you find a large park called English Garden, and this became my
favorite place in Munich. It is a large park, which is used for everything from surfing, picnic,
beer drinking and football. If you like skiing, mountains and hiking the opportunities are
good because you are close to the Alps (1 hour). The city is also close to, Czech Republic,
Austria, Switzerland and Italy, so the traveling opportunities are good.
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
I received all the information in the mail in January/February. Here you get all the
information you need for your semester abroad. The international office at Munich
University of Applied Sciences is really helpful so if there are any questions they help you
right away.
Visa
You don’t need a visa in Germany, but if you are staying there longer than 2 months you
need short-term citizen permit. On arrival, you must immediately register your place of
residence in Germany with the relevant registration office. You will receive more detailed
information on this during the orientation days. Before returning home, you must deregister with the registration office in person or writing. If you don’t do this it might cause
you some problems if you want to live in Germany later in you life.
Housing
Munich University of Applied Sciences does not own any student residences. However, the
Studentenwerk München (Munich Student Union) provides Munich University of Applied
Sciences with a limited number of rooms for exchange students. You apply for this through
Internet, and you will get an email from the school when the application is open. The
exchange students in my semester lived all over the city and you cannot choose where you
want to live. If you get a place say yes, because it is a lot cheaper then finding a place on
your own. The majority of students in Munich rely on private accommodation. I paid 257
euro per month, while the students who found a room private paid around 500-1300 per
month. If you don’t get a room through the Studentenwerk start looking early, and maybe
consider arriving in Munich a couple of weeks before the semester starts. This enables you
to introduce yourself in person to a possible landlord. Beware of fake advertisements
Unfortunately there are a lot of fake advertisements (rip-offs) for rooms in the Internet.
Costs
Generally Germany is cheaper than Norway, but Munich is considered to be one of the most
expensive cites in Germany. But things like food and alcohol is a lot cheaper then back home.
What the school says about costs:
Rent (depending on accommodation:
student residence hall or private flat)
Food
Leisure time activities
Public transport (depending on place of
residence and place of studies)
Internet/ telephone
Cup of Coffee
Beer (0,5 liter)
Visit of open air pool
Visit to the cinema
Entry to a club/ disco
PER MONTH
approx. 300 - 550 €
approx. 200 €
approx. 150 - 200 €
approx. 30 - 60 €
approx. 25 €
approx. 2,50 €
approx. 3,50 €
approx. 4 €
approx. 8 - 10 €
approx. 5 - 10 €
Culture and language
Almost everybody in Germany speak very good English so if you don’t speak German its not
a problem. I took all my courses in English and the teachers spoke good English. Not many of
the exchange students knew any German before they came so all the communication was in
English. I wanted to learn more German so therefore I tried to speak with other German
students in my class and not only the exchange students.
The school offers a language tandem. Which means that you meet for a coffee, beer or
something with another student who wants to learn your language. The only problem is that
it’s not so popular to learn Norwegian so you will most likely have to learn another person
for example English.
If you don’t apply trough the school there is a webpage called sprachduo.de. I actually found
a German who wanted to learn Norwegian so we met a couple of times a month and
practised German and Norwegian. This is a great way to make new friends and learn a new
language. You also get to see the city trough a natives eyes, and you get to see all the hidden
places, not only the most crowded tourist places.
Cultural and social effects from the exchange experience
This has been the most exciting and educational semester so far. I got friends from all over
the world and have learnt so much about different cultures. One of the things I am most
happy about is that I was the only Scandinavian person there. We have a tendency to stick
together so this gave me no choice but to speak German and English. I now have friends all
over the world, which. I think the semester abroad will help me with my future career
because now I really understand and know a lot about the different cultures. It also gives
you connections around which can be very helpful one day.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Munich University of Applied Sciences is the second-largest University of Applied Sciences in
Germany. HM has over 17,500 students, around 500 professors, 750 lectures and 660 staff.
The school has 14 departments in the areas of technology, economy, social studies and
design, and provide teaching in over 70 study courses. The faculties are spread over three
large sites. As well as each having their individual flair, each of the campuses has its own
cafeteria and library.
Course registration
As a general rule, final course selection and registration do not take place until you have
arrived in Munich. If you have to put together a Learning Agreement beforehand, use the
lecture timetables from the previous semester as a guide or ask your departmental coordinator at Munich University of Applied Sciences for advice.
Incoming students register for Courses in English on the second Orientation Day and go to
the first lesson of their registered courses. If more students registered than places are
available in a course, after the first lesson the lecturer will make a decision together with the
students that showed up for the first lesson. The decision will be made via lottery or
according to the department the students are enrolled in.
I had some problems finding enough courses to take during my semester abroad. Before I
left I had chosen 12 subjects to be on the safe side, but when I arrived Munich almost all the
business courses where taken away. This meant that I had to look in the other departments,
and it was difficult to make it fit in my time schedule. I only took one course in the business
and administration department and all my other courses in the engineering and
management department. This was mostly ok because there were some management
courses and a lot of business students in the classes, but in some classes I was the only
business student and the all the others studied engineering.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Beginning of March
15th March
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
(orientations days
before)
July
Beginning to end of
July
Arrival
In the week before the start of the semester, the International Affairs Office holds two
Orientation Days. It is very important that you attend these events, so I would recommend
travelling to Munich in good time before the first event.
On these two days you will receive information about Munich University of Applied Sciences,
your course selection, about sporting activities at the university and public transport in
Munich. You will also be informed the municipal administration and matters relating to
residence permits. Representatives from German statutory health insurance companies will
check your health insurance and you will be enrolled at the university. You will also receive
your student ID card, have the opportunity to register for the Language Tandem, various
cultural events and trips and get to know the International Club.
The International Office
The International Office is really helpful and you will receive your own contact person. On
the orientation days you will meet everyone the works here.
Social activities
It is difficult to not fill your time schedule in a city like Munich. There are museums, theatres,
and great concert venues were many world known artists drop by here when they are on
tour. You can find many concerts with student prices and pay only 5 euro. Olympiahalle and
stadium are slightly larger concert venues for pop and rock artists. There are also plenty of
club facilities, which offer a bit more intimate concerts. You also have a lot of cinemas (even
those showing films in the original language), but it's the German pubs that hijack most of
the leisure time for many. There are many cosy cafes and pubs in the city.
Munich hosted the Summer Olympics in 1972, and as a result, the offers are incredibly good
for students who like to do sports and outdoor activities. In Olympiazentrum , the ancient
Olympic city, there is a large sports complex ( ZHS ; Zentrale Hochschulsportanlage ) which
now students' use. For 7.50 euros, - per semester you have free access to sports halls,
football fields, weight room, aerobics, basketball, badminton or any sport you can imagine.
There are also 30 tennis courts, but here you have to pay some additional ( 2 Euro, - for an
hour per. person ). ZHS also organizes ski trips and courses in all kinds of sport. Otherwise,
there are many bus companies in town that sells day trips (including ski pass) to the Alps for
about 30 euros.
The international Club at school is the international meeting place for students from Munich
and of the entire world. It is organized by a group of students from different departments of
Munich University of Applied Sciences and offers an ideal platform for intercultural exchange
through a range of events and activities. Two times a month they have Stammtisch were
everyone meets. The International Club also organizes different day/weekend trips during
the semester to for example, Berlin, Nurnberg, Salzburg, Regensburg and the Alps. I would
recommend taking part in all of the trips you have time for, it was so much fun!
The travelling opportunities in Munich are very good. You are close to a lot of countries and I
would recommend travelling around in Bavaria. You can buy a Bayern ticket and this allows
you to travel all over Bavaria for approx. 22-38 euros depending on if you are 2-5 persons.
We used this ticket to get to Prague and paid only 10 euro per person (you need another
ticket when you reach the Czech Republic). I would recommend to travel as much as you
can.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The teaching style is very different compared to BI. Usually we were between 10-30 students
in every class. I really liked this style because this means you have to participate in every
class and you really get to know the teacher. I took all my courses in English, but you can also
chose to take them in German. Many of the German students said that the workload in the
German courses were a lot more then in the English.
The teachers used a lot of casework, and it is a lot more practical than at BI. But you also
have lectures like at BI. In some classes your participation in class sets your grade.
Presentations are very normal, and in some classes you have presentations every week. The
workload is similar to BI, but the difference is that in Germany you have more presentations,
essays and tests during the semester. The relationship I got with my professors and students
were very good, and I think it is a lot better than at BI were the classes are much bigger.
Here the professor really got to know you.
Course materials
In almost all my classes I got all the course material from the Professor in class. This was
really convenient because I didn’t have to buy any books. Sometimes the professor
recommend a book you should read and then you can just borrow it at the library.
PowerPoint is very normal, and you always get the slides before class. All my course material
was in English, but if I had German courses it would have been in German.
Exams
The exams were based on the course material and lectures. I had 7 courses, but only 3 large
exams. The exam was very different from subject to subject. In some courses the grade was
evaluated on presentations, casework, essays, participation in class, debates, group work
and midterms. Because of this the exams were a lot shorter than at BI. Mostly my exams
were from 60 min – 90 min. This was a bit stressful but it was ok because you don’t have to
write as much as at BI. Some parts of the exams were also multiple-choice. Class attendance
is important and I would recommend going to every class because the professor will always
ask you why you were not there.
Library
The school has a library on every campus, but they are a lot smaller than what we are used
to at BI. It was really difficult to print stuff out because they only had 3 computers, which
you could use for this, so I would recommend going when they open if you need to print out
something. Usually we didn’t spend so much time in the library because it was very small, so
we tried to find other places to read at the school. You can also use other libraries in the city
that are open for the public.
Other facilities at school:
There is a cafeteria on every campus were you can eat lunch or grab a snack. The Mensa is
the school cafeteria and you use your student card to pay for your food. The cafeteria offers
soup, salad or the meal of the day for around 3 euro. You can also eat at all the other
Mensa’s around Munich.
Description of courses
Course code &
name
Finance and
Investment
management
Master/
Bachelor
Bachelor
Exam form
Prerequisites
Comments
90 min written
exam
Accounting
Lectures about the basics of
evaluating investment
decisions and the various
methods of financing business
operations.
Management
decision making
based on Data
Analysis
Bachelor
Presentations,
debates
None
Intercultural
Communication
Bachelor
Written exam
90 min
None
Technical Writing
Bachelor
Essays, class
None
I would really recommend this
subject. You learn so much on
how to present, you body
language, how other people
see you, correct
pronunciation, excel, statistics
and so on.
Interesting subject where you
get to learn more about the
different cultures in the world.
Good to know if you are doing
business with example
Germans or Chinese.
Really good subject to take
Computer Science
Lean Six Sigma
Bachelor
Change
Management
Bachelor
attendance,
written exam
90 min
20-30 pages
report
Block course
on 2
weekends).
Attendance on
all lectures is
compulsory.
before writing your bachelor
and master thesis.
Statistics
None
Casework and
presentations
Creating Sustainable Bachelor
Advantages
Block course
on 2
weekends).
Attendance on
all lectures is
compulsory.
Lectures, case
studies, group
work and
presentations
None
This subject was different and I
was the only business student,
everyone else were engineers
so they were used to all the
data programs we used. We
had to design a paper
helicopter and make this the
“best” in the world. But it was
very interesting and you learn
a lot about the design process,
statistics, analysis, Minitab and
design expert.
Exciting subject and you get to
work with cases from the real
world. The teacher uses a lot
of examples from his own
experience, which makes it
really interesting. I would
really recommend this subject.
Interesting course, which is
very practical. You work with a
lot of Harvard Business cases
in class. You have to present
and write an essay for every
case. It is group work and you
have to present the case the
next morning (you get the case
after class at 18.00), so we had
to sit up late to finish every
case. If you like casework
choose this subject.
On a final note, being an exchange student in Munich has been a great experience and I
would recommend it to everyone. It became one of my favorite cities and I am definitely
going back. You don’t have a single boring moment here. I had the opportunity to travel a lot
and meet a lot of interesting people from all over the world. This is a great way to meet new
cultures and get contacts from all over the world.