Viele Persönlichkeiten. Zwei Standorte. Eine BO.

Welcome to my website

You will find everything relating to your IBM studies, English skill improvement, studying abroad, and career-related tips.

I hope you can find the information you need.

Below, you will find information about the Moodle content, exams, events and study abroad facts plus some thoughts on career planning. Seminar groups and Zoom information are gathered at the bottom of this page.

Find out who I am looking at the evaluation results, my personality profile and the conceptual background of why I do things the way I do them. The goals of this seminar and the learning outcomes may also be interesting to you because your experiences and expectations based on your secondary schools might be very different.

Remember to pursue your studies the best you can; here are ten tips from a great university in terms of online learning (Arizona State University).

Teaching

Prologue

Prologue - what I intend with my seminars

Understanding versus knowledge gathering is the most precious achievement at this level; knowledge is not helpful in terms of decision making processes or assessing or evaluating what we see in a real business. Assumptions and hypotheses are based on a systematic root cause analysis and not regurgitating knowledge (multiple choice exams are the worst in terms of understanding).

Interactions and communication at university is not about being right or wrong but learning to improve one's argumentation skills, learn from the others and develop one's own concept, and build a network.

Three inspirational authors in the fields of human development, neurosciences, and media studies have inspired me and I would like to share with you some of their thoughts.

Verena Kast
Gerald Hüther
Manfred Spitzer

IBM English for Business Studies First Year

The purpose of the four semesters is to prepare students for their studies abroad; so the better term for the seminar would be English for Business Studies. In the first year, we work on texts (academic or technical) and videos (BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC) that give us an overview of business and management in general and then branch out into the various fields during the second semester.

There is language work to some extent but students are required to identify skill issues and improve them with the help of feedback gained from in-class writing and set short assignments. There are many tools catering for different kinds of learners. A very committed student suggested a quizlet tool to help you with your vocabulary. Here's his result! Do you think it makes sense for our group?

GROUPS & MOODLE

Mon
moodle.hs-bochum.de/course/view.php

Tue
moodle.hs-bochum.de/course/view.php

Thur
moodle.hs-bochum.de/course/view.php

IBM semesters 1&2 exam specifications (full first year - 2022 intake, online)

Percentages for grade calculation:

  • one 150-word assignments (two attempts, business topic chosen by student, 10 per cent; deadlines December 15 and May 30 for second attempt)
  • voluntary ten-minute presentation on a business topic plus question time (20 per cent, semester one or two)
  • written exam (40/50 per cent, 45 minutes, June 27 at 10am)
  • 1,200 word assignment on a business topic (30/40 per cent; deadline August 15)

Written Exam June 27, 2023,  - 10am

Please follow the instructions given in my emails. Download the exam from Moodle when the exam starts and upload your text BEFORE Turnitin closes. If there are technical issues with Moodle Turnitin that are to force-majeure type incidents, screen shot the issue and IMMEDIATELY send me the text by email. There has to be a solid proof that is was not IT incompetence or bad wifi. I explained those factors during class many times.

June 27, 2023,  - 10am : virtual or classroom exam - three topics/graphics to be explained and discussed, two topics of your choice and one is on global sourcing; pdf will be on Moodle at that time; texts will be handed in until 11.05am on Turnitin. Late hand-ins are not acceptable under any circumstances. If you experience problems with Turnitin that minute, send me your text via email until 11.07am.

August 15, 11.59pm : deadline for your 1,200 word assignment covering a business topic of choice.

ALL relevant downloads have been moved to the Moodle platform.

 

Handing in texts - some important remarks

I am happy to give you feedback based on the condition that

  • you don't make avoidable mistakes (use the spell check; also online and free)
  • you have learned from the previous feedback (sentence length 26+ words)
  • you don't address me (using 'you')
  • you don't use the present progressive form (ING, or any derivative) unless you are sure it is correct (it is not in 98 per cent of student writing); this does not concern the gerund which is a beautiful piece of grammar
  • you don't use 'people'
  • you have re-read your text several times to make sure you have written clearly and precisely

IBM intake 2021 - first years

Exam June 28, 10am


IBM English for Business Studies Second Year

In the second year, we will work on a script containing plenty academic texts on various aspects ranging from economics to logistics. They will be final-year Bachelor level in order to be well prepared for UG (undergraduate) and PG (postgraduate) levels of study in Anglophone programmes.

Writing is part of all four semesters and prepares students for their final year at English-speaking universities.

Students will do a presentation and take a written exam or write a 5,000 word assignment at the end of the second year (deadline August 29). Every student has to register for the exam in order for the grade to be put in.

IBM semesters 3&4 exam specifications (full second year - 2020 intake)

  • a 10-minute presentation plus question time on a business issue (30 per cent; Covid update below)
  • one assignment (5,000 words) at the end of the academic year or a 90-minute written exam (70 per cent).
    The written exam (June 28, 10-11.30, online, please register with me) requires students to answer three questions (text-based and graphics based).
    The 5,000 word assignment covers a topic of choice and needs to be consistent with either the German or the Harvard style. A title page, table of contents page and the reading list are mandatory. The assignment is typical of UK Business Studies Programmes and is, thus, part of our system here. Use the spell check function of your writing software (here is how; or use free offerings online).

Presentation options:

  • Zoom-based presentation, several cameras are possible, in front of the group or just me (consent form necessary).

Individual online presentation dates will also be available in July and August.

For technical information go to Zoom web site

  • Classroom-based presentations
  • Classroom presentation next semester

You will just present in another class for the time it takes, question round and then leave.

ALL relevant downloads have been moved to the Moodle platform.

At MMU, students have to use the slightly adapted Harvard referencing system which can be found here.


Wirtschaftsenglisch im 3. Studienjahr (A Modul)

In der zweistündigen und damit zweisemestrigen Veranstaltung beschäftigen wir uns mit Themen, die die Kursteilnehmer als A bzw. B Module gewählt haben auf Englisch. Dies soll die internationale Ausrichtung der Teilnehmer fördern. Darüber hinaus wird anhand von aktuellen Themen, britischen Sendungen wie Dragons' Den oder The Apprentice die Perspektive der Teilnehmer erweitert und die Sprachkompetenz auf das strategische Niveau angehoben.

Moodle
moodle.hs-bochum.de/course/view.php


Marking principles

Both written exams are 90 minutes; second year assignment option replaces the second written exam.

General marking principles:

Two main areas determine the mark; the language and the content. The order is from the worst level to the best one.

Your assignment feedback lists all mistakes and errors plus a syntax analysis and some general feedback about more systemic issues. Here's a sample from this year's cohort; the first assignment is ungraded to give you an idea how my assessment works. This is the analysis of an excellent student submission of the 5,000 word assignment in year 2 (graded 1.3). And this is what a junior professor's analysis looks like (text is in the second semester seminar notes). The software I use for text composition and analysis is Corel's WordPerfect.

  1. language: no spell check used (for assignments; here is how)
  2. language: basic errors (student does not understand basic grammar rules such as third-person s)
  3. language: basic mistakes (not systematic, sloppiness, lack of rereading one's text)
  4. language: avoidable errors (hand-outs ignored, e.g. ‘you’ (similar to the German Du/man), 'people', 'there is', etc)
  5. language: translation tool suggests wrong term because it does not explain how it is used or what the context is for the term
  6. language: connectives (lack leads to simple sentences that do not reflect academic complexity)
  7. language: level of detail/precision ('things' instead of more precision/detail)
  8. language: progress (new terms and structures from texts/hand-outs)
  9. content: completeness of answers
  10. content: basic/fundamental blunders (sourcing/producing, class content)
  11. content: sloppy research or insufficient knowledge leading to misspelling of companies or terms
  12. content: graphics section descriptive or a deeper analysis/interpretation

Spelling problems (dislexia) will not mean the end of your studies; however, it will have an effect on the first grade; choose an assignment for the second year exam and make sure to have the software check spelling and grammar.

 

In presentations, there are a number of No Nos (and we really don't say nogos because that has a different meaning)

  1. No spell check
  2. Ignoring the tips handed out in the first seminar notes
  3. German graphics
  4. (Intercultural) Content that is secondary school level and does not reach the level of the material in our seminar notes (Seminarskripte)
  5. Long text passages
  6. chaotic lists (remember the airline graphic in the first week of semester 1)

Evaluation results

Evaluation results

Winter semester 2022

IBM1 (Mon&Tue)

IBM1 (Thu)

IBM3 (Thu)

Summer semester 2021

IBM2 (Mon group only - not enough participants unfortunately for the other groups)

IBM4 (Mon)

IBM4 (Tue)

Bachelor year three (international/Erasmus group)

 

Winter semester 2020

IBM1A (Mon&Tue)

IBM1B (Tue 12)

IBM1C (Thu 10)

IBM3A (Mon 12-4)

IBM3B (Mon 4-8)


Personality profile

Personality profile - four test results

I highly recommend tools that help us to reflect on who we are and what we might want to train or develop in the future.

The IPIP-120 is a great tool assessing the candidate with the help of 120 questions (my results here). It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to do. There is also the IPIP-300 but I have not done that one, yet.

The second test I can recommend is the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised test with 104 questions. Ten minutes worth your while. I am happy to share my results with you.

The third one I like is a Myers-Briggs derivate; it produces a nice alphabetical code that sums you up based on 16 personalities. The other benefit is that it lists celebrities both real and fictional that correspond to your profile. According to the test results, I am “The Advocate” (INFJ-T). Take the test it - it's very widely used by companies; or use this slightly different test. If you want to read about your type, use Google to find documents detailing your personality ("INFJ.pdf" site:.ca OR "INFJ.pdf").

The third one widely used is the DISC test. According to the results, I am a Type I (Inspiring), very low on cautiousness; second highest is Supportive and in third place Dominance. Try it out for yourself.

The fourth one is a relatively new one called the Dark Factor test and looks at the dark trait that lies at the heart of hurtful behavior. My score is 1.47 (results here, and go to do the test here).

The first one I have not tried, yet, is a German one from Zuerich University. Check it out - Professor Ruch did a fantastic presentation about gelotophobia ( fear of being laughed at) at the Lindau Psychotherapy Weeks.

The second one is based on career anchors - very useful insights - find out about yourself here. And if you want to compare yourself to me, check it out.

Or as a final one - a very recent one - focusing on your strengths.

Since apparently narcissistic managers are on the rise even in Germany, here is a test to find out if you are a narcissist.
 


Studying Abroad

IBM English stream year abroad

Year abroad & coming home information

The year abroad
The Bachelor of International Business requires students to go abroad for one full academic year - either in their third or the final year - completing 60 ECTS (120 CATS) or a combination of internship and 30 ECTS credits in academic studies.

Requirements:

  • the first academic year has to be fully completed
  • the earliest possible starting point for the year abroad is the fifth semester
  • in total, you have to complete 60 credit points if you study for 2 semesters abroad or 30 credit points if you do a combination of one semester studying and one semester internship
  • at least 75 % of all courses have to be in English
  • a minimum of 50 % of all courses taken must be related to business modules

Please have a look at the pdf file. It provides a comprehensive overview of all aspects related to the year abroad including costs, planning, options, requirements and homecoming.

This visualization hopes to help you with what the pathway is and who to talk to: IBM - final year decision tree.

This list shows you at which universities the previous cohorts studied and what second degree they obtained.

The second list shows you the specialisms students chose to boost their careers.

For credit collectors, there is the regulation that determines the content of their year (50 per cent Business and the remainder can be of any academic content). If students do a Business degree abroad they are exempt of this regulation.
The scheme may not require a thesis if it is not part of the programme at the host university.
Students can do a year in any country provided the course is taught in English and the university is accredited by the German system (Anabin/KMK).
A large majority do a Master's degree in the fourth year; they receive our Bachelor and the British Master after four years and a few months.

Here are samples of the main files you need for your applications: grade transcript, grade transcript for 2019 and later cohort, references, letter of motivation. You also need the BO fonts to make sure the layout stays the same - meaning page breaks must be where the pdf transcript from your self-service area are. Check if Word tells you it's the Calibri font - then you have not installed the fonts (correctly). Contact me if you need help. Your modified transcript MUST look the same as the original one - same page breaks etc. I will sign and stamp your pdf or word files. For some universities, it is helpful to have the provisory Bachelors degree document which I can issue in August or whenever you are finished with thesis and viva (Kolloquium). The complete list of third-year modules can be found here.

Coming home
Provided you did your thesis&viva in year 3 with us (i.e. before your year abroad), send host-university transcript to the coordinator.
Check after two weeks if your HS Bo grade transcript contains this line (if not, contact the coordinator) "3000/3700/3701 Auslandsaufenthalt GE SS 15 1 BE 60"
Then, the Registrar will do as follows:
“Sobald uns [Prüfungsamt] der Ex-Antrag vorliegt, können diese abgeholt bzw. zugeschickt werden (per Einschreiben/Rückschein).“
Those students that are doing a PG degree at the host university hand in their transcripts stating they passed 120 credits (CATS, equals 60 ECTS) at level 7 and we will process them despite the fact that they still have to do their Master thesis at the host university. So they receive the Bachelor's degree before they are awarded the Master's.


Erasmus & Study Abroad

A semester or even a year abroad gives you the edge! For our students, we can offer a considerable number of free - however mostly undergraduate - places.

Caveat: outside of Germany, there is no such thing as a summer semester; terms usually are from September to December and from January to April/May (trimesters are slightly different).

The deadline for your application is April 1 with me and June 1 for the Erasmus application at the International Office. The IO is also the body that signs where the documents to fill in mention the Institutional Coordinator; I am the Departmental Coordinator.

Capacity update January 2022: Manchester Metropolitan University fully used up for 2022-3. Please contact me as early as possible for a free place - it is  first come, first served system balanced between PG and UG places. For full-year stays you need a language certificate from this list.

For your semester or year abroad, you may want to make use of the final year document downloadable on the right. 

Please make sure that you verify your translations of seminars using the course manual (Modulhandbuch).

The transcripts in English should look like the German ones you download from our web site. Therefore, make sure the order is the same and you also put in the correct student id in the footer of the document.

Please note that the German commas become decimal points in English.


Erasmus partners

Study abroad with a little help from our friends

Free semesters abroad in anglophone countries have become really scarce.

Luckily for you, we still have a number of strong partners offering terms under the Erasmus scheme.

Our deadline here at Bochum UAS is April 2 to give us time to sort out your applications.

You need the following documents:

  1. Application document(s) from the host university (Gasthochschule)
  2. Learning agreement from and for us (see downloads section)
  3. Erasmus application (International Office, deadline June 1)

 

Manchester

Post-Brexit times mean that there are no tuition fees at the host university. For our IBM students, there are four free places on their International Business Management Bachelor. For more information, check out their web site; their deadline is May 1. An overview of modules to be chosen can be found here. Here is a learning agreement template.

Brexit will not affect the September 2020 Bachelor cohort!

Term dates 2020 - 2021

14.09.2020 - 11.12.2020 (Master Erasmus, ein 'Semester')
04.01.2021 - 01.04.2021 (Bachelor ganzes Jahr, 2. Trimester)
26.04.2021 - 18.06.2021 (Bachelor ganzes Jahr, 3. Trimester)

Alternatives in other countries

Bochum UAS has a large network of European universities that run English streams or offer business seminars in English. Take Wroclaw in Poland where US and UK colleagues teach business seminars. Getting the real thing elsewhere is no problem any more.

Plus, if 3M, GM, VW, and many more globally operating corporations have branches or subsidiaries in Poland, it cannot be a bad place for a business student, right?


Undergraduate (Bachelor) semester abroad

Getting the planning process right

Going abroad needs a good project management.
First and foremost, students need to be aware of the deadlines, semester starts etc.
Make sure to use the calendar file (ics file, download on the right) to have an overview and a reminder function for all your study-abroad matters.
Information for Bachelor students
A term abroad is time well spent - for one's own horizon, to enhance one's knowledge, or just to experience change.
There are, however, no more Erasmus options in English-speaking countries for non-IBM students. At ESC Rennes one Bachelor student per year can do one term with Erasmus.
I had very good feedback from students who studied in Poland where many seminars were taught in English. This applies to a number of our partner universities. So do consider that option.
Of course, paying fees opens up all of the universities we cooperate with and lots more.


Postgraduate (Master) semesters abroad

The semester abroad is much more than just an intercultural experience; since it is often no more than four months it is too short to suit that purpose anyway. Use the semester to enhance your skills making it a career milestone. For example, if you are in the Marketing stream here, find a host university that offers seminars in areas we do not cater for. You could do Digital Marketing Communications,International Fashion Marketing, or neuroscientific issues in Marketing. Other areas would be Business Analytics, Business Psychology or many other aspects in Human Resource Management available at many universities in the UK.
However, this enhancement comes at a cost but it will pay off when looking for a job. Whether locations such as Bali or California impress employers is a different matter altogether. They have a touristy feel to them...
In the set of universities that I manage, only ESC Rennes offers Erasmus places, no free UK or US universities. The Department has many Eastern European partner universities and some in western Europe offering English taught classes. Please read the pdf file with general and country-specific information for PG students abroad (when the term cost is used, it is usually only tuition fees).
We are able to offer two students per year a term at ESC Rennes where seminars are taught in English. This term would be eligible for the Erasmus scheme - but conditions may apply.
The coordinator of the MIM scheme ranks applicants according to their academic achievement and the best ones will receive the free place.
Fee payers are free to either use the partner institution or study elsewhere.
There is limited counseling capacity on my part because of the workload connected to the growing number of IBM students and teaching work load. So you need to read this information, download the respective packages and do extensive research yourself.
Toefl equivalent documents can be obtained from me and they work with most partner institutions and worked with others as well.
Non-standard routes
In the past, students have used service providers like College Contact (for the U.S.), the Ranke-Heinemann Institute or GOstralia (for Australia or New Zealand).
So, before you come and see me as your coordinator for Anglophone universities, read about your options, determine the budget, find programmes that enhance your career, check DAAD funding opportunities etc.


Location - location - location

Get your tailored year abroad with us

The choice of one's host university often is as individual as any other big decision in our lives.
Whether you love big places like Manchester or London or it is all about the right specialism, we make sure we are the listening university.
Many students are attracted by a large variety of specialisms and a great location: Manchester Metropolitan University.
However, every year students go out to their chosen locations in their favourite countries.

Remember that some of our partners (no Erasmus) have satellite campuses in interesting regions that would give you an extra boost of cultural competence. So there is a UK university with a Dubai and a Malaysia campus. Guaranteed high levels of PG programmes in Asia and the Middle East.


Check out where the previous cohorts have settled and what degree they chose (list is to be found in the final year information pdf)


Information for incoming students

Welcome to Bochum UAS

The German system requires visiting students to be slightly more proactive and self-organized.

The information and important semester dates for the academic year 2019-20 is to be found here.


Depending on the underlying agreements, students can collect ECTS credits or do a full UG or PG year.
UG year:
Students have to do a set programme finishing the year with a thesis and a viva. Here is the leaflet giving you the details.
PG year:
Students do 30 ECTS credits and then write the master's thesis (plus a viva/verbal defence).
Dual degree information
In order to get the German Bachelor (it's a BA, no honours in Germany), you need to complete the full third year all students have to do. Since you've collected 120 ECTS (240 CATS) so far, you will return after the year with us and do your final year; your coordinator will then notify us that you have completed three years in the UK and we can officially award you the degree (because it's a four-year degree here). Every student gets three resits but it is very rare that students fail.

This is the programme:

Complete third year
International Management (6 ECTS)
3 Enhancement Modules A (18 ECTS; 6 ECTS could be Business German)
Economics-related option (6 ECTS)
2 Enhancement Modules B (12 ECTS)
Intercultural Project (3 ECTS)
Bachelor Thesis (13 ECTS)
Viva Voce Exam (2 ECTS)

The A or B modules refer to specialisms; I am not sure what yours currently is but students usually take International Business, Sales, or Logistics as specialisms, then Environmental Policy or Innovation Policy for economics, another one-semester seminar in Marketing and that's it. Then, in May, they register for the thesis, work on it for ten weeks (or slightly less), and then do the viva voce exam (oral exam about the thesis). If the student cannot finish within the second semester ending August 31, there is generally no problem of doing a third Erasmus semester off-campus, so to speak; to finish the thesis and the viva while already back in Manchester.


Tipps zum Thema Fremdsprachen

Tipps zum Thema Fremdsprachen

Sprachenlernen ist ein gelungenes Mix aus Input und Output; generell zeigen sich in den Korrekturen große Defizite in der Erklärungs-, Eleuterungs- oder Darstellungskompetenz. Das bedeutet, dass Studierende nicht mehr genügend im Austausch mit anderen diese Fähigkeiten üben können. Also muss das Ziel sein, unter Studierenden sich gegenseitig Filme, Bücher, Zusammenhänge und anderes Interessante näher zu bringen.

Beim Wissenserwerb geht es generell immer erst um die möglichst realistische Einschätzung der Kompetenzstufe. Dazu werden online kostenlose Tools angeboten, die eine Einstufung ermöglichen.

Dann gilt es, die Lernform zu bestimmen.

Viele Online Plattformen bieten herkömmliches Lernmaterial und Arbeitsformen an. Dazu mehr auf einer gesonderten Seite.

Sollten Sie wie ich besonders gerne hörend lernen, bietet das Internet unzählige Möglichkeiten. Wer mehr Zeit hat, kann mit Youtube Material fantastische Fortschritte machen.

Die Online Wörterbücher sind in jedem Fall hilfreich, auch wenn die Details nur in guten, gedruckten Wörterbüchern abgebildet werden können.

Dazu die passenden Wörterbücher

Macmillan Dictionary
Leo (Übersetzungswörterbuch D - E/Ch/F/I/Sp/Rus)
dict.cc (Übersetzungsplatform mit der Möglichkeit des Vokabeltrainings und Übungslisten für einen Euro im Jahr)
Linguee (ganze Textpassagen)
Websters u.a. (USA)

Eine kostenlose, online IELTS Vorbereitung gibt es hier.

Mein Favorit ist aber die Birkenbihl Methode, die einen ungewohnten Ansatz bietet. Besonders schätze ich das passive Lernen und empfehle Studierenden, mit Hilfe von Videoplatformen das Sprachverständnis auch besonders in der Fachsprache zu verbessern. Der Audio-Sprachkurs Birkenbihl Basiskurs Business Englisch ist für unter 10 Euro auch aus inhaltlichen Gründen interessant (Management Fähigkeiten).

 

Social Media Möglichkeiten: Sprachtandem Ruhrgebiet

Hier suchen Deutsche und Internationale neugierige Muttersprachler aller Sprachrichtungen (sogar Urdu!):

www.facebook.com/groups/167189320115105/

 

Das eTandem Projekt an der RUB:

www.zfa.rub.de/ils/lernen/index.html.de

 

Und am Schluss noch etwas zu Sprachkursen im Ausland.

Meiner Meinung nach sind Sprachkurse an Hochschulen sehr empfehlenswert.

So googelt man einen Hochschul-Kurs in GB - man kann durch Ändern oder Ergänzen der Suchtermini natürlich passendere Ergebnisse erzielen (Beispielsuche).

Der DAAD hat - wie immer - exzellente Informationen zu dem Thema versammelt:

www.daad.de/ausland/sprachen-lernen/links/de/479-weitere-sprachkurse-weltweit/

 


Einstufungstests (self assessment)

Online Einstufungstests

Zur Einschätzung der eigenen Sprachkompetenz gibt es online einige kostenlose Einstufungstests, z.B. 


Kostenlose Sprachtrainingsangebote online

Online Sprachübungen sind hilfreich und oft kostenlos

Online Writing Tools


Online business simulations

Online business simulations

Free business simulations to practice your English

Business simulations are a great way of practising your strategic skills while using English.

 

Here are some that are (at least when I checked) free.

Rich Dad (cashflow)

INNOV8 2.0 (business process management)

EIS Simulation (change management)

SimCEO (entrepreneurship and investment)

Many others from MIT Sloane are free but it is impossible to save the game etc without paying.

 

Almost free for your smartphone:

Hipster CEO (tech startups)

 

Here is where you can find many more:

Classroom Aid


Business news and podcasts in English

 

Practice makes perfect: reading business texts

Reading business texts will help you greatly when trying to enhance your language competence.

Of course, you can choose a publication like Spotlight. It is well made and offers a great variety of topics and exercises. 

For my students, I always recommend online business news because this source is (still) free.

Here are some sites I often use:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business/

 http://www.cnbc.com/

Or podcasts that I find extremely interesting because they are almost like documentaries:

Wake up to money (BBC)
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0070lr5/episodes/downloads

Business daily (BBC)
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002vsxs/episodes/downloads

The world of business (BBC)
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nrwfk/episodes/downloads

Digital Human (BBC)
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n7094/episodes/downloads

Problem Solvers - podcast series by entrepreneur.com

The Infinite Monkey Cage is the most entertaining and knowledge creating podcast (and TV show I believe) I know. The great thing here is that it is a group working out topics such as big data, asking questions, discussing the issues.

Behavioural Grooves is my latest find - very interesting for 21st century marketers: Matt Johnson & Prince Ghuman on Mid-Liminal Marketing and the Ethics of Applied Neuroscience

Senior students might want to consider reading texts that correspond to the focal areas in their studies. So a student of Marketing could find marketing texts that enhance the subject-matter competence and the respective language skills.

The best texts in terms of quality can be found using scholar.google.com.

 

Or these sites to improve your listening comprehension:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263

And finally, make sure you listen to a lot of factual podcasts - then you'll get closer to the future and reduce VUCA:
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08sztkt


Career planning : thesis topics and job market

The third-year specialisms path the way for a career in  business because they offer detailed and hands-on content delivered by the colleagues who worked in business.

I have found that many students, however, pick thesis topics that are less relevant to businesses than they might think. My advice is to first find jobs in your area of specialism and then check the requirements or job description.

For example, if your focus is International Business, you may find a large multinational pharmaceutics company looking for an International Business Development manager. Then, I recommend to my students to look at what scholar.google.com finds in terms of articles of the past three years to inspire you what you may research on. Most colleagues will be happy about your choice and the way you came to pick that topic.

Use this Google search : site:stepstone.de neuroscience consumers

The other highly relevant area is about who you are as a person. Who you are determines what job activities you will find most enjoyable or absolutely horrifying.

These questions can help you to find out a bit more about yourself - but be sure to also take the various personality tests I mention here.

Do you enjoy teams? Why? Reasons!

Do you like exploring, testing?

Risk taking?

Do you spot inefficiencies in normal life?

Do you improve what you do?

Do you give non-affirmative (disagreeable) feedback to friends and/or family?

Are you critical?

Short or long term oriented?

How fast do you need bad or unpleasant feelings to go away?

Also do you learn fast?

Do you get bored easily?

Do you seek challenges?

 

Zugriffsgeschützte Downloads

moodle

The link is this one (in case you cannot find the seminar materials)

https://moodle.hs-bochum.de/course/view.php?id=1509

1407 (IBM1)/1510(IBM2)/1509(IBM3)/1508(IBM4)

Persönliches

Veröffentlichungen

 

Journal Articles

Sodmann, Edward. “For better or for worse? - Recent developments in Germany’s transformation to an investor- and employer-friendly country.”, in: Academy of International Business (Ed.). International Business in the 21st Century: Change and Continuity - Strategies, Institutions, Regulations and Operations. Conference Proceedings, Volume II, Manchester: 2001, p. 769-782.

Sodmann, Edward. “The euro-cents abroad: UK Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Germany.”, in: British Chamber of Commerce in Germany (Ed.). BCCG Yearbook 2004. Cologne: 2004, p. 34.

Sodmann, Edward. “Portfolio and Foreign Direct Investment in Germany.”, in: British Chamber of Commerce in Germany (Ed.). BCCG Yearbook 2005. Cologne: 2005, p. 37.

Sodmann, Edward. “Angie in Wonderland: Assessing foreign direct investment and private equity in Germany for 2005.”, in: British Chamber of Commerce in Germany (Ed.). BCCG Yearbook 2006. Cologne: 2006, p. 22-24.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Forschungsschwerpunkte
  • Developing multinational curricula and study-abroad programmes
  • In-house language training strategies
  • Train the trainer Business English concepts
  • Growth Mindset Strategies

Quick links to overviews

OSt.R. Edward Sodmann

Wirtschaftsenglisch, Wirtschaftsfranzösisch, Wirtschaftsdeutsch

Ansprechpartner für das Auslandsstudium in GB, Irland, an der Rennes School of Business und Erasmusaufenthalte an der Manchester Metropolitan University

Edward Sodmann
OSt.R. Edward Sodmann
Fachbereich Wirtschaft
Campus Bochum
Am Hochschulcampus 1
44801 Bochum
Raum: AW 1-34
Tel.: +49 234 3210607
Fax: +49 234 32 14224

Sprechstunde:
Office hour as of May 2 : Tue 14.30 - 15.30 (Zoom Meeting ID 389-677-7267 / PW 300442) or by email.

Year abroad information

The pdf outlines all there is to know about options, planning, and homecoming.

Online seminars