HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
Student Report
Name of the University: HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
Exchange semester: Fall 2015
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
When I first was nominated to go here I got a lot of information from the HHL about the
whole process. At first sight it looked like I had to provide a lot of papers like CV, motivation
letter, transcript from BI and from bachelor degree, diploma, application, TOEFL and GMAT
grades. However, most of these documents are already required when you first apply for
exchange. I was also a bit unsure about TOEFL and GMAT since I don’t have any of those.
This was no problem since BI endores that both levels are good enough. In general, the whole
process went really smooth before going.
Travel
Airflight from Oslo Gardermoen to Berlin Schönefeld, approx. 1h and 45 min flight. Then I
travelled with a taxi to the main trainstation. Here it is easy to get to Leipzig by train and it
only takes 1h. It is also possible to take a flight to Halle, which is close to Leipzig. So getting
here is no problem at all.
Housing
You are pretty much on your own when looking for a flat. However, every semester one class
goes on exchange and it is therefore easy to rent a private flat from one of them. This is
usually posted on the campus net. I found one of these already in April/May just to be sure
that I would have a place. It also seems easy to find a place at a dorm which a lot of exchange
students did. Or if you want to improve your german and live together with locals there is no
problem to find a flat on the private market. There is a lot of options here, and you can easily
get something a lot cheaper than what I did. Compared to Norway, it is a lot cheaper here.
Costs
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
500 EUR
None, everything available in library or handed out during class
Maximum 100 EUR
100 EUR per semester (Till March)
Culture and language
Everyone at the university speaks English except for those working in the cafeteria, so in
general communication is not a problem. However, outside of university it is a bit more
difficult since not to many, especially the older people, is speaking English. But if you take
German while staying here or have some knownledge from before it is no problem. I had the
possibility to hang out with a lot of local germans, so it was a great experience to get to know
locals outside of university.
HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
The school is located approx. 5 min away from the city center with a tram, and there is around
500 students studying at HHL; including full-time master (new students each semester), parttime, MBA, PhD and exchange. The campus is split up in three buildings, the main bulding
where the offices, library and lecturing rooms is located. Another one has the biggest
auditorium and many group rooms, while the last one is the newest where most of the chairs
is located plus additional single and group areas. The last building is still under renovation,
where it will probably be a lot more, and newer areas in the future. The campus is also shared
with the University of Leipzig, sport faculty, so the cafeteria is shared with them.
The school has a special entrepreneurial spirit, which you really can feel. There is a lot of
successful start ups from HHL (Trivago to mention one of the most known), and they have a
cool place called “SpinLab” not to far from the campus, in Plagwitz. Here start ups can apply
and work for 6 months on their business idea together with mentors from HHL and the
business society supporting the “Lab”. We went here a couple of times in two of the courses I
attended to both work on assignments there and attend/have presentations.
The school is also quite demanding, of course depending on the courses you take. Course
credits range from 2-3 and I therefore had to take 9 courses in total. Not all of them were as
demanding, since some are over after one weekend of intensive lecturing and presentations,
while others are over the whole semester with both presentations, hand-in´s and/or final
exams. My self and other exchange students were quite surprised by the workload expected,
which we did not know of before going there.
Course registration
Course registration started already before summer. This happened online, where information
about all of the courses was provided. The biggest issue here is to make sure as little as
possible of the courses is crashing, because we could both do MSc and MBA courses this was
a big problem in the beginning for most of us. In some courses it is mandatory to be in all
classes, and by missing one you could end up not getting a grade in that course. However, this
is no stress at all as long as you inform the professors about the situation since they know it
can be difficult to have perfect schedule when on exchange. Also, the international
coordinator here is really helpful with any issues in this regard. We were able to add and drop
courses almost at any time, but this should be avoided as much as possible. Deadline for
choosing courses was a few weeks after semester start.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Last day of the semester:
Examination period:
28.08.15
31.09.15
03.12.15
08.12.15
Examinations through the whole year,
depends on the courses
Arrival
In the beginning we got a lot of information, got to meet all other exchange students and went
on sightseeing trip so that we got to know Leipzig. We also got a lot of information about the
school, library and IT system, etc.
HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
The International Office
The international office and its coordinators at HHL are really helpful with any issue you
might have here.
Promoting BI and Norway
I was picked out to have a presentation early in the semester for the new master students about
BI. A lot of students here asks a lot of questions about both BI and Norway, so I had some
one-to-one meeting after my presentation because some people wanted to know more. They
seem in general really interested in BI here.
Social activities
Everyone was really integrated into both the exchange group as well as with the full-time
students here. It was not too many social happenings on the school, except for TGIF which
happened first Friday every month where we got free dinner and beer at the school. However,
we had a lot of social activities among the exchange students. It is also possible to join
associations on the school where there are more happenings and activities.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
Depending on the courses, but it is in general it is more interactive here during lectures than
from BI. It is mostly smaller classes and in many courses the grade is dependent on class
participation/attendance. There is also a lot more group work here, which takes up most of the
time since the way the work in groups here are different than from BI. You spend a lot more
time together in the group solving the problem rather than splitting up tasks, which is both
good and bad from my perspective.
The biggest difference from BI is the way we work on creating powerpoint presentations.
There is a lot more emphasis on storyline, action titles, visuals, etc. in the presentation than
what we usually do at BI. Here I have learned a lot which is gonna be useful for the future.
Course materials
Course materials are presented by the professors in the introduction. Most of the courses are
taught from presentaions, and is then uploaded on campus net. The literature are either
uploaded or available in the library and handouts is given either during class or on the campus
net.
Exams
Exams is based on course materials and hand outs. Exams is in the form of the following:
- Final exam (written, oral, home assignment, presentation)
- In-class quizzes
- Small assignments and/or papers
- Presentations
- Group work
- Class attendance
- Class participation/debates
Library and technology
Library and technology in general is a bit disappointing coming from BI where everything is
of really high standard. However, the staff is really helpful and we have access to a lot in both
parts.
HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
Description of courses
Course code & name
Exam form
Risk Management
Master/
Bachelor
Master
Entrepreneurship
Master
Business Plan Development
Master
- 90-sec pitch
(compulsory)
- Class participation
(30%)
- Final pitch (70%)
Final pitch of
business plan
(100%)
Finance
Master
90-min written exam None
(100%)
Management of Organizations Master
- Class participation None
(10%)
- Presentation (30%)
- Essay (60%)
90-min written exam
(100%)
Consolidated Financial
Statements
Master
Specialized Innovation
Management
Master
Managerial and International
Financial Reporting
Master
International
Macroeconomics
Master
Prerequisites
90-min written exam Some finance
(100%)
background
None
None
- Class participation None
(20%)
- Final pitch of
business plan (80%)
90-min written exam None
(100%)
90-min written exam None
(100%)
Comments
One of the thougher
courses here,
however if you have
some background in
finance it is no
problem.
Interesting course
with one of the best
professors here. A
lot of input on
entrepreneurship.
The best course in
my opinion.
Working on a
business idea in a
group with many
guest lectures who is
doing start ups.
Another pretty
though course,
should have
background in
accounting.
Worked with E.ON
to provide new ideas
for energy efficiency
HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
Going on exchange has made me think in a different way, both in a
business- and social perspective. It is a really great experience where you
meet a lot of new people, will learn from another culture and get insights
you never would gotten if staying at home.
HHL is a great choice if you are interested in start-ups and
entrepreneurship, since this place has its own entrepreneurial atmosphere
and business. The city it self is also really great, young and a up-andcoming city in Germany.