Student Report
Name of the University: Mannheim University
Exchange semester: Spring, 2015
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
We received notice from BI in early spring, but the letter of acceptance from Mannheim
University didn´t arrive until November. After a while you get a login to the MyUniMa portal
where you can apply for student housing, for the summer/winter academy and get some
information about your exchange semester.
Applying for a visa (if applicable)
If you´re from Norway or another Schengen country a visa is not necessary. You need to
register at a government office once you´re in Mannheim, but the International Office here
will give you more information about that.
Travel
From Oslo, flights with SAS are the best and cheapest way of getting to Frankfurt. From there
you can take a train directly from the airport, either a fast ICE train (30 min) that is more
expensive, or a cheaper train that takes a bit over an hour. There is also cheap buses. The main
train station is close to the university and you will probably have to get straight to the
International Office after arriving. This is a 5-10 min walk away from the train station, and
pretty easy to find.
Housing
You can apply for student housing via the portal mentioned earlier. The apartements is
available on a first come, first serve basis, so you have to be really quick the day that they
open up for applications – the best appartements are gone within minutes. The student
housing is cheap, some of it is not very high standard but others are quite okay. A lot of the
exchange students will live in Ulmenweg, which is a bit far away from the city and the
university. However, a lot of parties will be going on here since so many people live here. But
if you can get a more central housing, at for example B7 or G7, that is better as it is more
central, higher standard and closer to the university. We payed 290 EUR (Ulmenweg) and 354
EUR (B7) per month for our appartements, the first in a shared flat and the second in a oneroom, single apartement.
Costs
In “food” we included partying and eating out quite a lot. Food in Germany is roughly half the
price of Norway, so you can live quite well here on a student budget. Transport is 150 EUR
for a semester ticket – this might not be necessary if you live in the square, but it also includes
some train rides etc. Books are usually not required at Mannheim University, instead they
focus on using the slides.
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
320 EUR
0 EUR
400 EUR
150
EUR/semester
20 EUR
Culture and language
The language is not a problem at the university, most professors speak quite good English and
young germans as well. In stores etc. some people don´t speak English, so it is an advantage
to know some very basic german.
The culture is pretty similar to the Nordic countries, and you will get lots of chances to
experience it during the summer/winter academy and the rest of the semester. We highly
recommend attending the summer/winter academy, as you will get lots and lots of friends, go
to many parties and get some travelling opportunities around Mannheim before the actual
semester start – and maybe pick up some german in the process. You can also apply for a
language grant from Lånekassen if you take the winter academy.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Please describe:
Mannheim University is in the middle of Mannheim center, so it is very conveniently located.
It is in a huge, old baroque castle so it is beautiful surroundings. On the inside, the university
is quite modern even though it is not as nice as BI Oslo. The library can get very crowded in
the exam periods so then you need to get there early. The university had 12000 students and is
considerered the best business school in Germany.
The university is also host for many parties during the semester, they usually require a cheap
ticket and they are often very good – especially the Norwegian party. Mannheim isn´t the
most exciting city, but the student life here is very good and there is partying opportunities
every day, every week during the whole semester.
Course registration
There is a registration period in January when you have to register for courses. You are not
guaranteed to get all courses you apply for, so sometimes you have to change courses. In
some courses, you can go to the first lectures and then register for them late if you liked them,
or ask the professor to join the class. Later you will have to register for the exams, and it´s
important that you remember to do that.
The courses offered to only exchange students are easier than the ones offered also to german
students. The university also have seminar courses that lasts roughly a week, and gives you 6
ECTS. These are a very good way of getting credits done, and opening up time to travel the
weeks you don´t have intense seminars, so we recommend them highly. They are also quite
easy to pass and are often held by interesting guest lecturers.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
Any special events/holidays:
Other:
8/1 2015
8/2 2015
27/5 2015
1/6 – 13/6 2015
Spring Break 27/3-6/4
Arrival
We arrived the 8th January and immideately went to the International Office to register. After
that, we went to our accomodations and got our keys etc. Then we were pretty much on our
own to explore the city and meet each other until the introduction meeting of the Winter
Academy.
The International Office
We received all relevant information at the International Office that also helped with
supplying maps, making sure we found our accomodations and so on.
Promoting BI and Norway
We didn´t have to promote BI and Norway in any official way.
Social activities
There are over 1000 exchange students in Mannheim every semester, so there are plenty of
friends to be made. During the Winter Academy and the parties at the university, there are
also chances to meet with german students. Overall, however, you don´t meet that many
german students and exchange students tend to stick to themselves. There is an organization
called Visum that organizes trips and parties for exchange students. They have an epic pub
crawl every semester that you have to attend to, and through Visum you can meet many
exchange students and also some germans. As we said, there is always a party for students in
Mannheim, no matter which day of the week it is. There are also other events such as
cinemas, small trips and so on.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
Our classes lasted for 90 min, some teachers liked to talk all the time, while others wanted
class participation. In the culture courses, attendance is mandatory, but in the other classes it´s
not.
We took classes that were mainly for exchange students.
Course materials
Every class we had the teachers used PP, and there were no books required in any of the
classes. The exams are based on the slides.
Exams
The exams are based on the slides mostly. The exams in Mannheim are a lot shorter than you
are used to, most exams are 90 minutes but other students had both 60 and 45 minute exams
as well. This is a bit scary at first, but we found the exams here to be manageable anyway.
But you have to know the slides and the course material by heart, because you don´t have
time to sit down and think that much about your answer. Most courses are evaluated on the
final exam, but our course on the German Economy was 100% evaluated on a presentation.
Library and technology
Despite being located in an old castle, the university is quite modern and nice on the inside.
The library is good but you have to leave jackets and bags in a locker before entering. You
can´t eat in the library, and most areas are silent areas – the rules here are quite strict. It can
also get quite full in the exam periods.
Description of courses
Course code & name
Master/
Bachelor
Exam
form
FIN301 Investments
and asset pricing
Bachelor
OPM350 Operations
and Productions
management
Bachelor
90 min
written
exam
90 min
written
exam
4001 Understanding
the German Economy
Bachelor
German course A1,2
Bachelor
FIN355 Behavioral
Finance
Bachelor
90 min
written
exam
MAN357 Climate
Change and Business
Bachelor
Writte
n
paper
(3500
words)
Presen
tation
Prere
quisite
s
None
ECTS
Credit
s
6
Comments
None
6
None
3
Basic
germa
n
Basic
financ
e
6
Approved as Logistics from BI.
Decent course, we recommend
attending the lectures, exercises
and tutorials.
Very interesting course with a
good teacher, but he demands
participation and you have to put
some work into the presentation.
Basic german course. A good way
to meet other exchange students.
The course structure is quite good.
Interesting course with a good
professor that made the subject
interesting. A seminar course, so
you get 6 credits for a weeks
work!
Decent course with a
knowledgeable teacher, but she
wasn´t the best lecturer and it can
get a bit boring unless you are
interested in the subject. Takes a
bit more effort than other seminar
courses since it is a written paper.
None
6
Pretty basic finance course,
similar to Finans 1 at BI.
On a final note, how will you sum up the exchange experience?
Our semester in Mannheim was awesome! The travelling opportunities from here is very,
very good since you´re in the middle of Europe. There are trains going in all directions, and
from Frankfurt airport you can access all of Europe. During the spring break a lot of the
exchange students went travelling for two weeks or more. We also had a lot of opportunities
to travel during the semester since we took some seminar courses, so we didn´t have many
lectures some weeks.
Mannheim isn´t the most exciting city, but the student life here is really good with loads of
good parties and travelling opportunities. Mannheim is a good, renowned school with nice
facilities. You will meet a lot of good friends from all over the world, and have the best
semester ever!