Student report
Exchange semester fall 2014
After we got accepted and submitted to the school all the information was sent to us students by
mail, all the communication is also going on English with the international office in Mannheim. We
did not encounter any difficulties. But if you do or have any questions concerning your stay they are
very friendly and answer your questions sufficiently and usually within a short period of time. They
also have an office just beside the school where it is possible to pay a visit if you should have any
questions after arrival.
Travel
Our journey started at Flesland Bergen the 21. July 2014, from there we took the plain to Oslo and
then from Oslo to Frankfurt. From Frankfurt we took the train (the train station is in the same
building as the airport) directly to Mannheim. The train ride takes you 25 minutes and costs 25 euros.
After arrival we found ours apartments, meeting up with the house owners and wrote contracts.
The summer- academy does not start before first of August so we used some days traveling around
Europe with a rental car. The roads are super-efficient and you can reach far around Germany and
Europe just traveling for some hours.
Housing
The University provide several different housing opportunities for around 280 euro month, both in
the city center and just outside the “quadrat”. The housing situated outside the center have good
public transport opportunities. The standard of the student housing is relatively low compared to
Norwegian standards, but as an exchange student you do not spend too much time in your housing
so it’s a good alternative to private accommodation. But we choose to rent privately and the
apartment was only 5 minutes of walk from the school.
Costs
Since we chose to rent privately and we were living in the “quadrat” the rent was quite high
compared to German standards, we also rented an apartment for three people but chose to live two
together instead of three. The total monthly rent was 1100 euros divided by two. The standard of
the apartment was quite good, and we had a lot of space.
You don’t have any expenses buying books, if you want to buy books you can but this is not required.
If you need books it is possible to rent them for free at one of the many libraries at campus. All the
relevant information and the reading is provided through the lecture slides, exercise slides and
tutorial slides. If you want it is possible to print those at school, this is quite cheap.
Food is very cheap compared to Norway, at the store you can buy food and make yourself or you can
choose to eat out at one of the many restaurants in town. A typical meal will cost you between 6 – 12
euros depending on where you want to eat. At campus there is also a very big cafeteria called
Mensa, here you can choose between two main menus every day. This will cost you between 2.50
and 3, 70 euro for a big meal.
When you arrive we recommend you to buy a “semester” ticket, this will cost you a onetime amount
of 150 euros. Then you can travel with the tram and the regional train through the whole region
without paying any additional fees.
Mini budget (All numbers is in euros)
Only Fixed costs
Rent
Electricity
Internet
Fitness
Food
Total fixed cost per month
550 per person
30 per person
20 per person
15
200 per person
815 euros
Culture and language
As everywhere else they speak a foreign language it is an advantage to at least know some basics,
but at school in lectures and with fellow students you speak English.
But I would strongly recommend to attend the summer academy starting 1. August and end the first
of September. This is an intensive course in German lasting for four weeks, you will get assigned to a
class based on your own German language level and you have the possibility to travel around and get
to know German culture, language and fellow class mates from all around the world. In addition to
this you would be able to gain 5 ETCS that you can count towards your final grade, meaning that you
can pick one less course when the school starts first of September.
About Mannheim University
Mannheim University is known as one of the best if not the best economical university in Germany
and was in November this year ranked by financial times as nr 18 best business school in Europe.
The school itself is an nice old castle rebuilt after the second world war, and it looks more like a film
revisit used in a harry potter movie than an actual school which is quite cool. It is located at the end
of the quadrate, so if you want and are able to rent a house within the quadrate you are able to walk
to school, but it is often easiest to take the tram anyway if you have a semester ticket.
It is systematically divided in different sections and the business students are located in the east wing
of the castle and right behind you have the BWL library that provides good facilities for studying with
silent tables, group rooms and open areas where you can work in teams. Just be aware of the strict
rules about what you can bring into the library, your bag, jacket and food is not allowed in to the
library. You should also be aware that the library is quite full in the exam period and you need to be
early or very late to get a seat. (In the exam period the library is open from 08.00 to 02.00 at night).
There are also others libraries at campus that you are allowed to use, but this is mainly meant for
students studying psychology, language and law.
Course registration
The course registration starts in the third week of august, just be aware of the deadlines that are
provided by mail. (You also get your own personal school mail, make sure you check this regularly).
The registration itself is done through the student portal (Portal 2, course registration), the school
also provide the opportunity for attending intensive courses providing 3-6 ECTS, and if you find
courses of interest I would strongly recommend to attend one or more intensive courses through the
semester. But make sure that the courses you are choosing is not colliding, it is your responsibility
to put together a timetable that fits.
The advantage with choosing intensive courses is that you have fewer exams at the end of the
semester, if not you can risk having all your exams at the end of the semester within the same week
and even some of them on the same day. I experienced having four exams in five days, this was quite
hard but not impossible. So if I had known this in advance my choices might have been different.
You are able to subscribe for your courses and wait to drop the courses until to know that you are
accepted and passed the incentive courses, so the best thing is to register for two courses “more”
than you actually need.
Academic Calendar
The academic calendar is quite similar to the one in Norway, the semester starts first of September
(introduction week), and ends 20. December. The lectures end usually in the first week of December
and the exam period last for approximately three weeks, but you can risk to have to take all your
exams the same week and some of them can be the same day as well. Just make sure that you are
well prepared in advance and you will be fine.
Introduction week
This week is a week with many “happenings” and a lot of information, the lectures may also start this
week, here you get an introductory lecture in every course you have subscribed for. This is a good
way if you are uncertain about which course you should attend to make the final decision/ selection.
You meet the professor and they will give you detailed information about which topics the course is
supposed to cover.
The introduction week is also a week filled with different activities, such as bar crawl and much more.
This is a great opportunity to get to know the fellow international students at campus, and making
new friends from around all of the world. You are also introduced to the different student
organizations at campus this week which you are able to attend and join through your semester.
Social activities
There are many different student organizations and you are able to join most of them as an exchange
student. Instead of joining we made a new football team consisting of only exchange students and
signed up in the student league. The team was consisting of people from all around the globe and we
had a great time traveling around in the region playing matches once a week.
Generally information about the lectures
The teaching style is not so different to what we were used to back in Norway except the lectures
usually lasted only for 90 minutes without any breaks. Some of the courses is also divided into
lectures (90 minutes), exercises (60 minutes) and tutorials (60 minutes). The exercise goes a bit
further (deeper) into some selected topics only briefly covered in the lecture and then in the tutorial
you get to “apply” the theory learned at the lectures by solving cases trough group discussions and
team work. It is not obligatory to meet up in the lectures, exercises and tutorials but I would strongly
recommend it, this because they go through the important topics and this is what you can be
expected to be tested in at the final exam.
Description of ours courses
Course code and Name
FIN 363
Stock Market
Abnormalities and
Trading Strategies
FIN 401
Corporate Finance &
Risk Management
ACC 351
International
Accounting
FIN 355
Behavior Finance
MAN 301
Strategic and
International Marketing
MAN 352
Human Resource
Management
ECTS
3
Master/Bachelor
Bachelor
Exam form
100 % written 90
min exam
6
Bachelor
100% written exam.
(voluntary midterm)
6
Bachelor
100 % written exam
90 min
6
Bachelor
6
Bachelor
100 % written 90
min exam
100 % written 90
min exam
4
Bachelor
100% written 90m
exam
Stock market Abnormalities and Trading Strategies
An existing subject where you get an introduction within the “world” of stocks and different theories
such at the efficient market theory, behavioral finance theory and limits to arbitrage.
Only requirement here I would say is a general interest for the theme, advantage with some basic
knowledge about the theme but far from a requirement. You start at “scratch” and it is possible to
acquire the sufficient knowledge trough attending the lectures and reading slides posted at Ilias.
(German Its learning) This course will only give you 3 ECTS, and in my opinion could easily have been
6 ECTS because it is quite large subject with a lot of different theories.
International accounting
This was a course they only offered for exchange students and no earlier accounting experience was
required. You can say that is was a divided course, where part one was a lot of theory about the
creation and use of IFRS (Used in Norway when making and preparing the financial statements) and
part two how to apply and interpret the rules trough “solve” exercises on the different areas. Almost
felt more a course that combined law and accounting then a “clean” accounting course. The
accounting you need to do is very limited and superficially.
Behavior finance
A “new topic” where traditional financial models get challenged through behavioral explanations.
Provides a number of anomalies and provides new hypothesis on why the market is not as efficient
as first assumed. This was quite an interesting course with a medium difficulty grade I would say.
What makes it challenging is that it is an Intensive course that is conducted on three weeks with a
final exam in the end of the three weak long course. But if you attend lectures and read the slides
plus the provided syllabus. You should come through without problems.
Strategic and international accounting
This course is taken by German students as well as international students, but the lectures, exercises
and tutorials is in English. The oral English level of the teachers in the exercises and tutorials is
varying (second year`s students that are teaching the tutorials) but if this is a problem it is not
difficult to switch between the tutorial classes. An interesting course from a marketing perspective
and you go through much relevant theory that can be useful if you start working in big firms
operating in global environments.
Human Resource Management
A course that is in many ways similar to (Organisasjons atferd og ledelse) first year course at BI.
The difference is that this is focusing on fewer topics and it is a smaller course, this is also why it is
only providing 4 ECTS. I would say that this is the easiest course of the courses that I have taken in
Germany. No previous knowledge is needed.
Corporate finance
This course is an English course, which is mandatory for regular students. This is a very challenging
course, but in return it’s extremely interesting. In addition to regular lectures you can attend exercise
sessions, which are very helpful when it comes to learning different calculations.
General information about the exams
The biggest difference compared to Norway is the way the exams are constructed and conducted.
The exam questions are marked with an estimated time where each minute is indicating one point.
So if the task provides you with 15 minutes the maximal amount of point is 15. Each exam consists of
a total 90 points (and the time you have on the exam is 90 minutes).
You need to be very well prepared because there is no time to “think” on the actual exam, and the
focus lies more on memorizing models and slides than reflecting around the different questions.
This is the “German way of learning” although I personally prefer the Norwegian way better.
Final reflections concerning our stay in Germany and Mannheim University
Our stay here in Mannheim has been challenging and fun at the same time, when we look back at all
trips and social gatherings, it makes up for all the long hours spent in the library the last four weeks.
It has given us a view on how the German education system differs from ours in both positive and
negative ways. But all in all it’s been an amazing stay that we will remember for the rest of our lives.
Although we are now looking forward to coming home, we are sure that we will miss Mannheim, and
especially the friends we made during our stay here.