Hi,

Anyone heard about Hochschule Furtwangen University MBA program?

I'm seeing its name in http://www.find-mba.com/germany

Regards,
Farooq

Hi Farooq,

Hochschule Furtwangen is a University of Applied Science (Fachhochschule), i.e. is more a commercial college than a real university. Their program may not be bad, but the school will never have the chance to get internationally accredited or ranked. Those school's career offices often focus on regional markets and the schools are often even unknown on a national level.

Best,
JL

Hi John,

Immense thanks for your reply. Are you from Germany

I agree this school is not internationally recognized. Moreover it doesn't have any national reputation. I think I should drop this university.

Regards,
Farooq

You are welcome! Many schools featured here (e.g. Furtwangen, Bremen, Berlin, ESMT) are only tier 2 or 3 schools in Germany.

By the way, I am not German (but Scandinavian), but I live in Germany.

Best, JL

Thank you.

How about doing MS in Management from Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg?

Hi there,

Magdeburg is a normal German university (in former East Germany) and an MS is not an MBA.

Best, JL

Yeah, I agree with the other posters - the schools you've mentioned are ok schools...

However, there are a handful of decent up and coming programs in Germany, you may want to look into if Germany is your thing. Off the top of my head:

Manheim University - triple accreditation! Probably the best MBA program in Germany, but tough to get in to.
HHL Leipzig GSM - I've heard Leipzig is a cool place, and this school's been showing up on the FT European list the last couple of years
Hochschule Bremen - has a couple interesting niche programs, like one in tourism management.
Geothe in Frankfurt - AACSB accredited.

I agree with you concerning Mannheim and Frankfurt. You could add St. Gallen (German speaking Switzerland) and WHU.

Bremen should not be an option if you are looking for a program with international reputation. And in the case of Leipzig, I read some delicate articles about their appearance in the FT ranking on Handelsblatt and MBA-Channel. After all, I would not rate them as a top German school.

Best, JL

hello, anybody knows about scholarships in Germany, I am German citizen. I already participated in Socrates, Daad, Iaste.....

I just can't afford the admission fees....

Thanks for any comment.

adios

Please consider that a lot of good ranked universities in Germany take tuition fees of 40,000 or 50,000 Euro and some of them do not really have a unique international class profile. You pay at least a good sum only for the name. If you want to gain from the lectures, an international atmosphere and do not have a lot of money to spend you should look for places like Bremen, Berlin, Furtwangen, etc. Universities of Applied Sciences are also state Universities and going through national and European accreditation. They have a more practice oriented profile than other Universities and are often liked to a lot of companies they are cooperating with.

You should take this into consideration.....

But please do also consider that those schools are even unknown on a national level. The MBA degreee is not very well accepted by German HR departments by now and if you have additionally gained the degree from an unknown institution, it is hard to find an adequate job.

i am attendind the Exec. MBA in Furtwangen. It is an International Program (Shanghai, Paris Sorbonne), FIBAA Accr. Fees are 18k total and a reasonable program positioned between the low cost no-name programs and the high-end programs.

Hi,

Anyone heard about Hochschule Furtwangen University MBA program?

I'm seeing its name in http://www.find-mba.com/germany

Regards,
Farooq

Hi All,

There seems to be a lot of misinformation on these boards that needs to be clarified.

First of all, HFU Furtwangen is a REAL university run by the state of Baden-Wurttemberg. In Germany, there are two types of universities: Hochschule (sometimes also Fachhochschule) and Universität. A Hochschule is a university of applied science, meaning they are practical-focused. Many German employers actually prefer hiring graduates of HS's because of the practical bend. HS's normally do not do such things as basic research projects, confer PhD's, or offer the humanities (though there are exceptions to each), but in every other regard they are just like Universitäts and the academic standards are high. To be a professor at a HS, you have to have a doctorate degree in your field of instruction.

I took the HFU MBA full time course in 2009 and found it to be very good. Yes, I'm sure there are better programs, but some of the courses like Strategic Management, Leadership, and Managing Cultural Diversity were flat out the best I'm sure you'll find anywhere. Sure, HFU doesn't have the brand image of an Ivy League school, but for the overall cost, you get a solid MBA program at an exceptional value you can't beat anywhere else. And living on the fringe of the Black Forest was a fantastic experience. If you can afford top of the line, HFU is not for you. If cost is a consideration, this is a great program.

The program is accredited by FIBAA in Germany, and when I got back to my home country of Canada, I had an official independent agency confirm that it is fully equivalent to a Canadian MBA.

Hope this helps.

Hi,

Just to correct a few items mentioned in the previous posts.

The course fee for most of the accredited programs is not 40k-50k. HHL - 27,000; ESMT - 29,000 (and almost 80% students getting scholarship, 9000 waived for year 2013). Goethe - 20k. WHU - 35k. and besides you get what you pay for. Even if you pay slightly higher, you will recover it in just a few years post MBA - have a look at WHU brain capital program.

Hi,

Just to correct a few items mentioned in the previous posts.

The course fee for most of the accredited programs is not 40k-50k. HHL - 27,000; ESMT - 29,000 (and almost 80% students getting scholarship, 9000 waived for year 2013). Goethe - 20k. WHU - 35k. and besides you get what you pay for. Even if you pay slightly higher, you will recover it in just a few years post MBA - have a look at WHU brain capital program.

Hi All,

There seems to be a lot of misinformation on these boards that needs to be clarified.

First of all, HFU Furtwangen is a REAL university run by the state of Baden-Wurttemberg. In Germany, there are two types of universities: Hochschule (sometimes also Fachhochschule) and Universität. A Hochschule is a university of applied science, meaning they are practical-focused. Many German employers actually prefer hiring graduates of HS's because of the practical bend. HS's normally do not do such things as basic research projects, confer PhD's, or offer the humanities (though there are exceptions to each), but in every other regard they are just like Universitäts and the academic standards are high. To be a professor at a HS, you have to have a doctorate degree in your field of instruction.

I took the HFU MBA full time course in 2009 and found it to be very good. Yes, I'm sure there are better programs, but some of the courses like Strategic Management, Leadership, and Managing Cultural Diversity were flat out the best I'm sure you'll find anywhere. Sure, HFU doesn't have the brand image of an Ivy League school, but for the overall cost, you get a solid MBA program at an exceptional value you can't beat anywhere else. And living on the fringe of the Black Forest was a fantastic experience. If you can afford top of the line, HFU is not for you. If cost is a consideration, this is a great program.

The program is accredited by FIBAA in Germany, and when I got back to my home country of Canada, I had an official independent agency confirm that it is fully equivalent to a Canadian MBA.

Hope this helps.

Hi Ranjit,

To answer your question, HFU does not have an organized placement service or direct links to companies in the region that would come to consider recruiting directly from the MBA graduants. Although the school does provide some guidance and ongoing information regarding periodic job fairs in the area, it is up to you to find and secure employment and internship opportunities. Truthfully said, I found this to be one of the weak points of the program. At least, this was the case in my year (Class of 2009).

You should check with the Program Manager to see if this has changed in recent years. Her name is Pia Schaechterle and she is listed in the website for contacts. She is very helpful and easy to deal with.

Otherwise, the program itself is very good and living in that part of Germany has many advantages.

Hope this is of some help. Good luck!