"Ich bin ein Berliner" – 2014 MBA International Tour to Germany

“The impact of the tour is really hard to put into words – I truly loved it! You start receiving ‘lessons’ from the minute you arrive, and if you put your mind into that mode you learn constantly. You learn from the people around you, the beauty around you, the cultural interactions, the networking, the sight-seeing, the history, to name but a few,” observed Angela Rogers, a second-year MBA Part-Time student that was chosen to participate in the annual Graduate School MBA International Tour to Germany.

The Tour started in Reutlingen on the 18th of May. Fourteen MBA second- and third-year students, along with Prof Kobus Jonker, Director of the Graduate School, spent two days in Reutlingen visiting the European School of Business (ESB) at Reutlingen University. The ESB is currently ranked first in the European business school rankings.

Students were privileged to meet staff and researchers from the ESB and gain invaluable insight into the ESB’s approach to International Management as well as their research on management and a project called the “IPlane”.

“The programme that they [ESB] offer their students is truly amazing. There are 20 students selected per trimester to work on a project team to build a RV12 plane. They select the project manager, need to source the materials within their budget, build the plane that gets checked by aviation authorities for safety and speak to a person who has built one before but only via the internet, etc. They get so much more from this project than I think they even realise at this point in time and it is part of their studies. Once they go on to a company one day they have already experienced a true project team with a successful end result,” explained Angela Rogers.

The visit to Reutlingen was a highlight to many of the students on the tour.

“I would like to highlight that the networking was great. The fact that the ESB (European School of Business) in Reutlingen is the biggest business school in Germany and that this school has the same curriculum and outline as our MBA programme was good to hear,” commented George MBA Block Release student, Innis Erasmus.

After the Reutlingen University visit, students were given the option to further visit the biggest outlet city in Europe, the Metzingen Outlet City. The tour not only offered students the opportunity to experience business in Europe but also to apply what they’ve learnt on the NMMU MBA to date.

“With the support of the NMMU’s Office for International Education, this highly successful tour offered 14 of our top performing second- and third-year MBA students an international business experience and the opportunity to apply that which they’ve learnt in their International Management module,” Prof Jonker observed.

The tour had a significant impact on each student, a sentiment echoed by Mandla Sibiya, a Gauteng-based MBA Block Release student.

“It was a fantastic experience for me personally, and I will always remember it for years to come. It was my first time in Europe and it gave me a chance to learn in, and experience, a different country. The tour also made it possible to network with different people and especially to get to know each other better as MBA students in a different setting,” Sibiya said.

From Reutlingen the students travelled to Wolfsburg where they participated in a tour of the Autostadt and the VW Arena. They were also invited by Prof Dr Mike Hoffmeister, from Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, to attend the International Trend Forum (ITF).

The ITF not only offered students the opportunity to network, but also to discuss the topic of “The Asian Challenge - The Automotive World in the Lands of ‘Dragons and Tigers’” with leading industry specialists at the Forum.

“What was most rewarding was the realisation that although South Africa is a developing country, the education that we receive from the NMMU Business School perfectly matches the education that is received by students in the developed world!... This makes us even more proud of pursuing MBA Degrees from the NMMU Business School.

“It was a great experience to PRACTICALLY see how things are done in the first world... It completes the educational picture that was painted by the International Management Module at MBA second-year level,” observed Dorrington Giyose, a third-year Gauteng-based Block Release student.

“The opportunity given by the NMMU Business School to attend the International Tour to Germany has greatly enhanced my learning experience. Various facets of my MBA learning such as marketing, organisational behaviour and international management to name a few, has guided my thought patterns to extract information which I would’ve otherwise been oblivious to. Attending the International Trend Forum and visiting Reutlingen University have been informative and thought-provoking. It also became clear that the NMMU MBA is not just internationally-relevant but well on par with leading international MBAs,” said George MBA Block Release student, Lesharin Pillay.

Dorrington Giyose summed up the experience by voicing that which the NMMU Business School endeavours its MBA to accomplish…to graduate holistic business leaders that will be the change agents for a better South Africa: “Additionally, to those of us who have never travelled outside the borders of South Africa before, this particular international trip has inspired us to continually – from now going forward – travel the international globe so as to see and experience, first-hand, how things are done elsewhere in the world with the hope of coming back to South Africa and becoming change agents for a better, effective, efficient and prosperous South Africa.”