Can anybody tell how is this programme and post study placements in germany?

There are 11 courses in 1st semester and 6 courses are in 2nd semester. Some of prof. have discrimination. For example, we need to do a project as a group. As my previous experience in U.S., students can find partner by themselves and choose prof to do the proejct. But Prof. just pick German and American to be her group. Thats sucks. Also, if you hv good relationship with prof., prof. will help u to apply DAAD. You don't need to do anything. This school is so dark. Don't come. And you didn't learn anything. also you don't even buy a book. You just read powerpoint handout. Finally u got nothing.

Furtwangen is a German University of Applied Science (Fachhochschule). That means, it is not a university, but something between a university and a college. Academic quality of those schools is low (none of them is internationally accredited or ranked), but they claim to focus on practical experience. On the other hand, you cannot expect much from their placement service. And don't forget the location: Furtwangen is in "the middle of nowhere."

All in all, there are much better choices in Germany (Mannheim, WHU). However, their admissions requirements are much higher.

Best,
JL

I recently visited Furtwangen's Schwenningen campus housing their MBA program and had the opportunity to visit with a few of their MBA faculty and students. The school is accredited by FIBAA, the required accreditation authority for the Germanic nations. FIBAA's reivew of the MBA program from a few years ago ranks quite well. The school is currently in the re-accreditation process and having visited the school I suspect their program review will yield higher results. I found the school quite accommodating and willing to cater to all my questions while showing me that they are worthy of application. My impression is that this is a well rounded general management MBA program. The facility was formerly an old clock factory as the town has a previous history in this industry. The professors appear to be well respected in industry and with students. I have heard a few minor complaints from some of the students I made contact with; however, these are nothing that concerns me as complaints are always to be expected from students. These students also recognize that the issues are not major issues for them. The school sounds to have a great orientation program and provides two weeks of German language training which I hear is not sufficient if you want to be well versed in the Language but it is a start. Team building with the 40+ international students from the MBA and other undergraduate programs is also a focus in the first weeks and includes a camping trip.

In summary my perspectives are the following:
- good facility and MBA lecture classroom; it's an actual small campus as opposed to a floor of a building as many private business schools are
- accredited and well ranked/known in Germany
- great international student base
- great price and cheap living compared to say large cities
- great program coordinator who you can easily get in touch with (visit the website)
- it's not New York so recognize that you are in a rural area in a beautiful area of southern Germany with easy train access to Frankfurt Airport, Freiburg, Munich, and the Lake of Constance.
- the Schwenningen campus houses their engineering and business (undergrad and grad) faculties
- close to Freiburg with the Goethe institute and other German language schools on Lake Constance if you're interested in spending part of your summer before school learning German
- industry and business connections are not spoon fed to students and this requires initiative from the students to work on finding jobs in the area/country if they plan to stay; I do believe there are a few career fairs and it's up to students to squeeze contacts out of their professors, etc.

It's not Oxford or Harvard but its a great program before price should even be considered.

Cheers...

I want to reply to the post by "Double MBA". I was in the same class in 2008-09 as her and her boyfriend (that's why the moniker Double MBA). These two students were the worst in the class. The boyfriend would play Mafia Games on his laptop while a professor was giving a lecture. Any of the other students that did project work with this pair regretted it afterwards. Their work was of such a poor standard, that everyone else had to make up for their deficit. They both also almost flunked one of their courses at the end of the program but were given a second chance to improve enough to pass.

So any 'discrimination' was based on their performance and the fact the other students preferred not to work with them if they could avoid it.

I found the professors fair and competent, the course challenging and instructive, and the school on the whole a good place to do your MBA studies.

As for whether this is a real university or whether it is accredited, it is both. When I returned to my home country, I had my MBA degree certified as equivalent to other MBA's in Canada by an independent accreditation agency.

Hope this helps. I have posted on the other threads for HFU for additional info. Cheers.