Hello,

I am a civil engineer with 4 years experience from Peru. I got accepted for both MBAs starting next winter semester. After the course I would like to stay working in Germany (Berlin if possible). What are my chances if I speak basic german (would like to be intermediate at the end of the studies though)?

I am waiting for the answer of the Berlin TU IMES double degree program answer. That will possibly be another option.

Any recommendations?

Many thanks

[Edited by Diego Zeballos on Jun 20, 2018]

If you don't speak German before starting the degree, I just can't see what sort of firm would hire you. Berlin is especially difficult because GDP per capita there is around half that of the West German cities.

I think a one-year intensive German course followed by an MSc taught in German will be a much safer route, as well as a cheaper one.

I agree with Duncan. It will be hard to get your language skills up to where you need them if you're only speaking basic German right now.

However, if you're set on Germany / Berlin in the short-term, ESMT would be a much, much better option. According to the FT it's a top 10 MBA for international mobility and a good chunk of graduates (70+%) stay in Germany after completing the degree.

Thanks for the advice! What about reputation from HWR in Berlin? Is it well known? Talking to German friends studying their bachelor there, they said it has a good reputation for international students...

I really thought from what I read in other forums that there were many chances in Berlin, specially in start-ups and international firms, when it comes to hiring non-English speaking people. Might be not easy to get those spots though... Talking to the responsible of career service of HWR she said that my chances will increase a lot more with German language but that it is not rare to find a job just speaking English. Supposedly, 50% of the students go back their countries by their own decision and from the other 50%, 38% got hired within the next 6 months. From the 100% of students there were just 3 Germans.

HWR is certainly a real, well known, Fachhochschule. Since those 3 Germans could be quite a large part of the 38% who find work within six months, it doesn't sound great.

My bet is that the 50% who return home would almost all have preferred to find work.

Many thanks Duncan! And what do you think about the reputation of GISMA/GEM MBA at the moment compared to HWR? I know that they struggled around 2012 because they could not sell enough, but do you have any ideas how is it nowadays? Are their graduates well considered?

Since I did not have time to take the GMAT, I could not apply to ESMT that is certainly the best MBA program in Berlin by now...

I think you can see from LinkedIn that since ending the link with Purdue, this is a very weak school. Moving from Hannover to Berlin helps them recruit students but the MBA opportunities are very limited because of the city's relative poverty.