Hello, my name is Andreas Karle. I am 23 years old and I’m from Germany. I’m a student of the International Business School at the Hanze University and I’m currently in my second year. I would like to tell you something about the social aspects of studying at the Hanze University. To begin, we have a great international student association which is called the ISA (now called IBS-U) . They organize events ranging from guest lectures by company officials that come to IBS and do presentations to business trips to companies, such as VW or Mercedes.

Groningen is a very nice place to study. It’s a very cosy city with about 180,000 inhabitants. It’s a very safe city to study; it’s actually ranked number one in the whole of the Netherlands. It’s great for going out, people are open-minded and nearly everybody speaks English. Groningen provides you with a whole plethora of social activities; also due to the fact that it’s a student town and that there are so many students. Personally, summing it up, it’s a great place to study and hopefully I will see you soon on campus!

Nach einem zweijährigen Studium an der International Business School in Groningen und einem Auslandssemestern in Australien habe ich ein Praktikum bei HUGO BOSS Fashions, Inc. in New York begonnen.

Um einen Einblick in die Arbeitswelt eines global agierenden deutschen Unternehmens zu erhalten, bietet die Auslandvertretung von HUGO BOSS Fashions, Inc., Studenten umfassende Möglichkeiten. Nachdem ich einen ersten Eindruck im Human Resource Department erlangt habe, arbeite ich nun für das Woman’s Sales Team und betreue überwiegend den B2B Bereich, welches mir einen detaillierten Einblick in dieses Berufsfeld gibt. Die Modebranche stellt sich als sehr facettenreich dar.

Des Weiteren war es immer ein Traum von mir in New York, der wohl wichtigsten Wirtschaftsstadt, zu leben und zu arbeiten. Jenen Traum darf ich nun fünf Monate lang erleben. Die während meines Studiums erlangten theoretischen Kenntnisse helfen mir meine täglichen Aufgaben zu erfüllen und das Netzwerk der Firma zu verstehen. Ebenso helfen die Erfahrungen aus Gruppen- und Projektarbeiten bei dem Umgang mit Kollegen. Ich sehe das Praktikum als einen wichtigen Teil meines Studium und meiner Ausbildung: die erlernten Theorien müssen in der Praxis angewandt werden und Unterschiede zwischen beiden werden deutlich.

Dieser erneute Auslandsaufenthalt ist sehr hilfreich für mich, da ich in dieser Zeit nicht nur eine weitere neue Kultur und Mentalität sondern gleichzeitig auch den Arbeitsalltag kennen lerne.

Mein Auslandsjahr habe ich an der Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki (Finnland) verbracht und dort am Doppeldiplomprogramm teilgenommen. Der neunmonatige Aufenthalt ermöglichte mir nicht nur, die Kultur, Menschen und Besonderheiten des nordischen Landes kennen zu lernen, sondern auch mit dem Absolvieren des Studiums zwei Abschlüsse zu erhalten.

Neben dem Studium hatten wir viele Möglichkeiten, Finnland und die angrenzenden skandinavischen und baltischen Länder zu bereisen. Es gab wirklich eine Menge Spannendes zu entdecken. Ob Lappland, die Seenlandschaften in der Mitte Finnlands, Stockholm, Tallinn, St. Petersburg oder Riga – alles wurde fantastisch von der Hochschule organisiert.

Zudem bietet die internationale Atmosphäre mit über 300 Studenten aus der ganzen Welt ein perfektes Umfeld, um Kontakte zu knüpfen und eine tolle Zeit miteinander zu verbringen.
Die hervorragende Betreuung von Seiten der Haaga-Helia rundete das Jahr ab und ich kann nur jedem raten: Lass dir das Erlebnis „Helsinki“ nicht entgehen!
Helsinki on upea!

Hello, my name is Cam Tang and I am from Alberta, Canada. I am an IBS alumnus and graduated in 1999.  I currently work as an Associate Product Marketing Manager at FINCAD in Vancouver, a software company with approximately 100 employees whose core business is offering financial analytics software to over 35,000 users in over 80 countries. Due to the fact that the employees at FINCAD come from all over the world, it has a truely multi-cultural environment which makes it a unique organization to work for. The company is privately owned, which is also unique for a global player, however, it operates much like a public company. I earn between 3,000 and 3,500 Euros a month.

Prior to my current position, I worked as a Real Estate Agent for Royal LePage, British Columbia, Canada, and as a Market Researcher at Phillips in Hong Kong. I actually got a job offer from Philips, where I was an intern at the time, before I graduated from IBS. Prior to my internship I did my study abroad in Macau.

I think the strength of the IBMS programme is that it prepares students for a wide variety of career options. What I liked most about IBS was the international student body, the internship abroad and the practical work internship. Gaining experience with market research and the strategic marketing course as well as the mandatory internship for providing hands-on experience all helped me in my career.  The exposure to cultural diversity, the international focus and the work experience offers a first-hand, practical experience that can be useful for any future endeavour.

Eline Brussel, an IBS Alumnus of International Business and Management Studies (formerly known as International Marketing & Management)

Job Position: Product Manager
Company/Organisation: Boehringer Ingelheim B.V.
Previous Positions:  Regional Manager and Product Specialist

At IBS, the year abroad in combination with marketing as well as an entire four-year programme in English made IBS the right choice for me. During my studies I did my study abroad in New Zealand and my placement abroad at Océ in South Africa. This was a wonderful experience that helped me gain insight into different cultures as well as business etiquette around the world. 

Shortly after I graduated I started working for Boehringer Ingelheim B.V., a family-owned business in pharmaceutical products. The fact that it’s a family-owned business is very unique in this industry and is defining for the organisational culture.  As a Product Manager (also referred to as Brand Manager), I work at the Marketing department for Prescription Medicines. I am responsible for ensuring we implement the best possible marketing strategy and positioning strategy for the products Sifrol and Flibanserine. Basically this entails writing a marketing plan and determining which strategic and operational activities can contribute to the objectives within the available budget both on a national as well as international level. As a Product Manager, you are the link between the sales department, the financial department and the medical department.

For three years in a row now, Boehringer Ingelheim B.V. has been awarded as being one of the best companies world wide by the Corporate Research Foundation. Within the Netherlands Boehringer Ingelheim B.V. has been responsible for several block busters of which the most well known are Spiriva and Sifrol. To the general public well-known products from the Consumer Health Care department are Bisolvon and Deoleen.
Boehringer Ingelheim B.V accounts for 270 employees in the Netherlands. World wide Boehringer Ingelheim B.V has almost 40,000 employees. In the Netherlands the organisation accounts for a turnover of approximately 130 million euro’s. World wide this is about 11 billion euro’s.

The International Business School (IBS) has helped me develop the competencies necessary for me to do the work I do today. I travel all over the world to visit conventions and to ensure that our products are marketed as desired. I look back at my years at IBS with fond memories and can truly say that IBS does a great job at preparing individuals for the global workplace!

(Check out my video)

Hello, my name is Iulia Socolov. I’m originally from Moldavia, I’m 21 years old and I am a second year IBS student. I’m really excited, getting ready to go on my third year (abroad) for my double degree in Paris, a really good business school.

What I really appreciate about IBS, is the international aspects. We have a unique opportunity to study together with 40 nationalities in IBS. It gets even more interesting in the second year when we have people from all of our partner schools coming, and we work in international groups together, we have classes together and so many social activities together…it is just a great experience.

I can tell you right away that we, as IBS students, have an advantage, because we start working in international groups from our first year. We already have the skills, the knowledge of working with people from different countries: something really valuable in today’s workplace.

Not only the educational aspect of it, but socially too - there are many social activities. We can go out every day, because Groningen is such an amazing city and both in- and outside school. We really make friends for life, and basically from all over the world!

I’ve been here for less than two years, and I already have friends from every country, like Australia, New Zealand, Asia, The United States, all kinds of European countries…And I think that, sometimes, we as IBS students get so used to this, that we take it for granted. But when you think about it, it’s actually amazing, and it’s so unique! This is something I think that everybody who gets the chance to experience this kind of international environment, should definitely grab it!

(Check out my video)

Hi, my name is Jingyi and I’m from China.  I’m 24 years old and a fourth year student at IBS. You may be asking yourself nowadays…what is most important for people when applying for a job? A Degree? No. Work experience? Possibly. The right study with lots of practical experience? Definitely, yes! IBS is the right place to offer you a wonderful opportunity to succeed in the global workplace.

First of all, the international student environment gives you a good insight into cultural differences. You can learn a lot from other students from around the world. Secondly, the study programmes are excellent. You can choose from a major an/or minor in Marketing, Finance, Tourism and Management.

The exchange semester and the placement semester are offered in the third year of study at IBS. This is the perfect time for you to experience and improve yourself not only in study but also in work. Last but not least, compared with other schools, team work is highly valued and insisted within your study at IBS. By doing a lot of project work, you have many opportunities to practice how to work in a team and this will definitely benefit your future career.

Nach dem IBS BW Studiengang in Groningen habe ich zwei integrierte Master an
der UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business in Dublin und an der RSM
Erasmus Universitaet in Rotterdam studiert (CEMS).

Beruflich habe ich nach dem Studium ein 2-jaehriges internationales
Management Ausbildungsprogramm bei Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) absolviert.
Das Programm war sehr interessant, da man alle 6 Monate den Job und das Land wechseln konnte; z.B. war ich Product Manager in Belgien, Sales & Brand
Manager in USA, HR Project Manager in UK und habe ein Team mit 16 Leuten in
UK geleitet.

Zur Zeit arbeite ich als 'Senior Operational Auditor' fuer S&N; der Job
verbindet klassische Elemente von auditing aber auch Aktivitaeten wie
kuerzlich abgeschlossen eine Erfolgsanalyse einer Akquisition oder eine
Beurteilung des Krisenmanagements in einer Tochtergesellschaft. Wenn es
etwas gibt was konstant ist, dann ist es bei mir 'change'. Im Sommer '08
ziehe ich in die Schweiz und starte eine Stelle als Assistent des Rektors
der Universitaet St.Gallen und verbinde dies mit einem Doktoratsstudium.

Das IBS Studium hat mir diesen internationalen Werdegang ermoeglicht, da
jeder Schritt auf dem vorhergehenden aufbaute und die IBS mir eine
erstklassige Ausbildung auf Bachelorlevel geboten hat. Vor allem die
internationale Projekt/Teamerfahrung, Sprachausbildung, Entwicklung von
soft-skills und erste praktische Arbeitserfahrung im IBS Studium haben mir
bis jetzt sehr geholfen.

Michael Lorz (Absolvent von 2004)

(Check out my video)

Hello, I’m Wouter de Jonge and I am studying at IBMS.

One of the reasons I am studying in Groningen is that the city is appealing to me. For example, there are many sports activities organized by student organizations as well as sports clubs. I’m a member of a student organization and you get to know many people as well as international people that study here in Groningen.

Also, the city centre itself is excellent for student nightlife, especially in the summer, there are nice terraces that are open and you can just have a drink with your friends. There is the “Noorderzon festival” which is a music festival in the park and is very nice with the sunset and many bands.

There are so many sports activities here and many student organizations in which you get to know many people from all over the world. Many nationalities are represented here. Another thing is that the city centre is relatively small but also compact, with many bars and restaurants and clubs. I think the best way to experience Groningen is to check it out for yourself.