Hi,
I have received mixed reviews and feedback on ESMT, Berlin. Their program seems to be very young (just 5 years old) but the founder panel of 25 companies seems to be impressive. Do you have any inputs on the same? Any feedbacks will be thankfully appreciated.

Thanks,
Ram

Hi Guys,
so many hits here but no inputs on this school?

Hi,
I have received mixed reviews and feedback on ESMT, Berlin. Their program seems to be very young (just 5 years old) but the founder panel of 25 companies seems to be impressive. Do you have any inputs on the same? Any feedbacks will be thankfully appreciated.

Thanks,
Ram

Hi Ram,
ESMT is definitely up and coming in Germany. And you're right, it's supporters are a basically a Who's Who of the German business world. But as you probably know Berlin is not really the business capital of Germany.

That said, The Economist included a paragraph ESMT in an article about rising European b-schools a few weeks ago. They mentioned that its president is a former INSEAD professor, and that it has the financial support to triple in size over the next few years.

So, yeah, it's up and coming, if not in the European rankings yet.

Thanks Evan!!!
I looked into their placement statistics and it was less than satisfactory. I thought that a cohort of 25 big corporate names could easily absorb the entire class but that's not so!!! I am really confused about this 'partnership' with 25 companies? Any idea?

Hi Ram,
ESMT is definitely up and coming in Germany. And you're right, it's supporters are a basically a Who's Who of the German business world. But as you probably know Berlin is not really the business capital of Germany.

That said, The Economist included a paragraph ESMT in an article about rising European b-schools a few weeks ago. They mentioned that its president is a former INSEAD professor, and that it has the financial support to triple in size over the next few years.

So, yeah, it's up and coming, if not in the European rankings yet.

I've done a little research. Those 25 companies basically helped get ESMT off the ground a few years ago, and have some kind of deal where ESMT provides executive training for these companies. MBAs are still only a small percentage of the business education they provide. I'm not sure sure how close their HR departments reach out to the MBA students from the outside, but I suspect there's some interaction.

It's still very young, comparitively speaking. It will be a few years, I suspect, before ESMT will appear on international rankings or get accredited by someone like AMBA.

I visited the Berlin campus recently, and it is very centrally located in an old (but nicely refurbished) East German government building. Right across the street from the German Foreign Ministry and a golf shot away from the Deutsche Telekom offices. Half of the classrooms lookout on the former East German parliament building, which is slowly being dismantled as we speak. There's still stained glass socialist art in the lobby (a first for a business school?), but like I said, the building was rennovated just a few years ago.

Hi Evan,
Thanks for such an elaborate piece of information. Are you from Berlin (or other part of Germany?).
(Actually I work for a German company - Infineon Technologies, and visit their Munich campus a few times in a year... but never managed to visit Berlin)
Do you have idea about ESMT Cologne and Munich campus (I mean how they are similar or different when compared to Berlin campus?)

I've done a little research. Those 25 companies basically helped get ESMT off the ground a few years ago, and have some kind of deal where ESMT provides executive training for these companies. MBAs are still only a small percentage of the business education they provide. I'm not sure sure how close their HR departments reach out to the MBA students from the outside, but I suspect there's some interaction.

It's still very young, comparitively speaking. It will be a few years, I suspect, before ESMT will appear on international rankings or get accredited by someone like AMBA.

I visited the Berlin campus recently, and it is very centrally located in an old (but nicely refurbished) East German government building. Right across the street from the German Foreign Ministry and a golf shot away from the Deutsche Telekom offices. Half of the classrooms lookout on the former East German parliament building, which is slowly being dismantled as we speak. There's still stained glass socialist art in the lobby (a first for a business school?), but like I said, the building was rennovated just a few years ago.

Hi Ramdi - No, I'm from the States, but I travel to Europe a few times a year. Berlin's a great city - you should try to visit sometime. It's a different vibe than Munich for sure, not that Munich is a bad town either.

Unfortunately, I don't know a thing about the other ESMT campuses. Berlin is the main campus, as far as I know. Evan

Hi Ramdi,

I'm afraid I know even less about Munich, but as a resident of Berlin (having moved here from London), I'd struggle to find a single reason why you wouldn't want to live here. I've not attended ESMT Berlin myself, but if you still want some info on it let me know and I'll have a dig around.

Hi lukeh,
Any inputs on ESMT, as per your observation are welcome. Are you interested in ESMT MBA too?
Actually, I have no doubts about Berlin being a great city but I am more concerned about ESMT as MBA and job prospects after graduating. Any idea?

Hi Ramdi,

I'm afraid I know even less about Munich, but as a resident of Berlin (having moved here from London), I'd struggle to find a single reason why you wouldn't want to live here. I've not attended ESMT Berlin myself, but if you still want some info on it let me know and I'll have a dig around.

Hi Ram,
How are you? Even i am trying to find out about ESMT. Please share your findings with me. Let me know if you are planning to join ESMT.

Thanks

Hi Ram,
How are you? Even i am trying to find out about ESMT. Please share your findings with me. Let me know if you are planning to join ESMT.

Thanks

[Edited by Admin]

I propose that this forum should be kept free of paid PR work. ESMT is well-known for having a large marketing budget and for working closely together with networks like BusinessBecause where most articles are paid by the schools.

Hi La Brujita,

Yes a number of our stories are sponsored content (just as will other publications like the Economist and the FT). However, we always try to keep our content engaging and interesting, and we spend a lot of time speaking to the b-school mba/msc cohorts to get a student/lifestyle point of view so that it's not just the same press releases/facts and figures from the website regurgitated.

We also write many stories that are not sponsored content - about different schools and corporates, topical news stories and our members can post stories regardless of whether it's about a sponsor or not.

We're joining conversations that are relevant to articles we've researched and written - just offering another resource for applicants to tap. We don't mean it as a PR drive, and if you've got any suggestions about how we go about it then we'll take that on board.

I'd be interested to hear any more feedback on BusinessBecause? Any ideas for stories that you'd like to read? Please feel free to email me on [email protected].

I kind of have to agree with Brujita about the spam. Business school PR (and now PR about business school websites) is taking over!

ESMT is a fine school and you can actually use B-School networks to interact with students inside these schools

"It all depends on your Definition of Spam. As long as you get to read relevant information about a School it is justified."

I couldn't disagree more.

"You cannot be selfish and think only from your perspective."

Okay, everyone: Who else besides these guys wants this discussion board to become a dumping ground for paid PR for business schools?

Hey businessbecause people, why don't you go back to your own website to discuss your paid stories?

Hi Malia, I just saw your post.

I set up BusinessBecause using my own savings and debt in mid-2009 to provide additional and alternative stories about the business school world. My business partner (Maria Ahmed) and I felt there wasn't very much coverage of business students in the press.

We haven't yet taken any salaries. But we have been sponsored by 25 different b-schools - and this money pays for our office and web development (surprisingly expensive!) We write editorial about our sponsor schools that is generally interesting and unique. We also write content about other schools and stuff going on in the MBA world. For example, today we've got a lively headline story about a Stanford MBA who's setting up China's equivalent of Victoria Secret. Happy to write about FindMBA if you've got some interesting data or news? Or any other suggestions for stories?

I don't think it's surprising that we're reaching out to different regional forums to build awareness about the content on our site. You're warmly welcome to post your own (b-school relevant) content on our site.

Feel free to email me directly [email protected] or call us if you want to chat +44 203 176 0181.

Thanks, Kate Jillings

I think EMST is an interesting program but it still needs some time to become a top program in the international MBA scene.

It's AMBA accredited since 2009: http://www.esmt.org/sixcms/detail.php?id=210051