The University itself is very different from Nova, much more academic
oriented and a lot of courses don't have exams but rather academic papers with
a lot of academic research to do. Officially the fall semester starts in
October and lasts until March but you will have the Block Seminar in September
and this year we could take another course in September as well. The first
block of courses begins in October and ends in December and the second block
starts in December and ends in January/February. In the Fall term of 2012/2013,
the following courses were offered:
Courses offered Fall Semester 2012:
Exclusive and Core Course
·
Business Strategy in Global Supply Chain (Core Course)
·
Design‐to‐Launch Process and Management in Consumer Goods
(exclusive CEMS course)
Accounting and Taxation
·
Operative Controlling
·
International Accounting
·
Fundamentals in International Taxation
·
International Tax Planning II (Block 2)
Corporate Development
·
Advanced Seminar: Corporate Development and Business Ethics
·
Strategic Management (Block 2)
Finance
·
Fixed Income Management
·
Value‐based Management of Insurance Companies
·
Corporate Valuation Theory (Block 2)
Marketing
·
Practical Application in Retailing
·
International Marketing
·
Customer Relationship Management (Block 2)
Supply Chain Management
·
Global Competition in the Aviation Industry
·
Supply Chain Management and Management Science I:
Strategy
·
Supply Chain Management and Management Science II:
Planning (Block
2)
Economics
·
Money and Banking
·
Advanced Industrial Organization
Cologne Specific Offer
·
Elective in Business and Economics in German Language
·
The Political System of the EU: Strategic and
Conceptual Approaches
·
Research Paper Options
·
Project
courses
Every course is worth 6 ECTS except the Core Course which is worth 7,5
ECTS. Most
exams will last 60 minutes and are longer than we are used to (given the time). This semester the Core Course was a block course (2 half-days of classes and a field
trip to L'Oreal). The assessment was the following: 30% written exam, 50%
academic paper and 20% presentation on the paper. The Design‐to‐Launch Process and Management in Consumer
Goods course
was a course offered in September, it lasted for a full week and there is no
exam nor paper. This is a case-based course and you are part of a team (you
assume the role of either Head of Marketing, Head of Controlling, Head of
Sales, Head of R&D or Head of Supply-Chain). Your team is responsible for
launching a new product on the market and present a plan to the "board of
company" (aka the professor that pretends to be the CEO of the company).
The teacher is amazing and basically you spend your days in the classroom with
the rest of the students trying to figure out the best way to launch this
product (obviously the teacher is there and he will help you out). In my
opinion if you are going to Cologne, this course is a must, it is one of the
best courses I've ever had! The University of Cologne is known for being the
best university in Germany in Supply Chain, therefore Supply Chain Management and Management Science I: Strategy is a
course to try out. In this course you will have two projects and an exam, the projects
are fun and the instructor is good, nevertheless I don't feel like I learned
much. Finally, Operative Controlling,
the instructor is a little boring, the course is basically doing exercises over
and over again and the exam was way too big for the time given (the exam is
100% of the grade in this course). These are the courses I did in Cologne, none
of them had academic papers because I don't like them so I didn't choose them
but bear in mind that in around 40% - 50% of the courses offered will have you
writing an academic paper. You are also offered the possibility of doing a
pre-semester intensive German language course for free but it overlaps with the
Block Seminar and The Design-to-Launch course. You can also do a semester
German language course for free but it will last until middle/end of January.
Block Seminar
The Block Seminar is spent in another town called Oberwesel. We spent a
week there from Sunday to Friday. The topic of the Block Seminar was
Sustainability In Management: Applications to Logistics and Tourism. It is a
block seminar with a low workload (basically a 15 min presentation in the last
day that you prepare in the night before), professors from several universities
(this year from Cologne, Bocconi, ESADE, HEC) and some company presentations (I
would mention the presentation/drinks with A.T. Kearney and the day spent at
Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt).
If you want to come to Cologne for your CEMS term abroad, you should
start looking for a place to stay 6 months in advance. It is really hard to get
a room in the city (a lot of students are looking for a place to stay), it took
me around 100 e-mails and 30 phone calls to get a room! As usual there are two
possibilities: a room with the university and finding a room by yourself.
Getting a room through University sometimes can be very cheap (around 200€) but
most of the time is a little far from University and the area where you go out
at night (30 min by tram) and it is hard to get one (to get a room with the
University you should apply for one online, wait a week or two and then call
them and say you are an exchange student (it is easier that way)). For
"personal search" I would advise www.wg-gesucht.de and
www.housinganywhere.com (the best area would be "Lindenthal" which is
very close to the university and bars, clubs, etc...) but be aware that most of
the times they won't answer and when they do, they usually want to meet you
first!
To study here you'll have to pay a semester contribution of 218.31€ that
includes public transportation within the North Rhine-Westphalia area (tram, bus, slow trains). In addition in
the City of Cologne and around it from 7pm until 3 am every day, during the entire
weekend and on public holidays you can take someone else with you (but not in
the entire North Rhine-Westphalia area).
There are two different places (two different Mensas) to go if you want
to have lunch/dinner at the university and it costs 2.20€ (it is really
cheap!). There are also a lot of sports offered for free at the University and they also have
a gym that will cost you around 90€ the entire semester. As in all German
universities there is a lot of bureaucracy but you'll manage it and the CEMS
office is really fast to react to e-mails (next day maximum) and really
helpful. Nevertheless, part of the websites are in German which is quite
annoying. Moreover, there are weekly company presentations but are always in
German as well! I would say that the University does not have the
"mentality" of an international business school but it is a typical
German University. Two last things regarding the university, they are really
strict when it comes to dates and deadlines. Furthermore, you should react
quickly to the e-mails sent before the semester starts as you may miss the
chance of enrolling in some courses/skill seminars because of not reacting to
e-mails. The CEMS class was of around 35
people (half foreigners half Germans) which is very good as the group becomes
really close.
Regarding the lifestyle in Cologne, the university is practically in the
center of the city and close to the bars. You can buy a bicycle in the
beginning of the semester (on the bicycle market) for about 60€ and travel
around the city with it. It is a city with some parks and a lot of green
everywhere. The biggest "attractions" would be the Carnival, the
Cathedral (Dom) and the typical German Christmas markets. Prices of food, going
out, etc are more or less the same as in Lisbon and you have a movie theater where
you can watch movies in the original versions (prices vary between days of the
week and movies but Thursday is the cheapest day 4-5€). A lot of people speak
English very well even if they are afraid of speaking it. The city is not as
cold as most German cities (you will rarely see snow, I saw it once!) but a bit
rainy. Finally there are tons of students, exchange-students and bars
(Zülpicherstrasse). There is always something going on!
João Maria Hogan,
Class of 2012/2013
Term abroad - Fall 2012
Term abroad - Fall 2012
