My experience studying a semester abroad at Essex Business School

Luisa Klameth came to Essex Business School for her year abroad semester, to study Business and Management. Originally studying at the University of Passau in Germany, Luisa enjoyed her experience at Essex Business School so much she wishes to return to the UK after her studies to live and work in England.

As an exchange student at Essex Business School at Colchester Campus I had the opportunity to experience numerous facets of learning, both academic, cultural or personal. Therefore, my learning experience at Essex Business School extends far beyond the lecture halls.

When I first started my studies at my home university in a German city named Passau, I was certain that I wanted to do something that combined two of my most significant interests. On the one hand, there is business and on the other hand, culture combined with languages. As my degree program includes choosing a specific cultural area, mine is the Anglo-American with a focus on the United Kingdom. The moment I started the program I knew I wanted to do a semester abroad in the UK, specifically in England. After doing some research on the options that my home university offered, I came across one of the several partner universities - the University of Essex.

The next step was to look at the different departments and if they offered modules that would benefit my studies at home. Hence, I discovered EBS and was instantly stunned by the numerous options, courses and obviously the beautiful building which is in fact the first zero-carbon one in the UK. In addition to the mentioned benefits of the business school in Essex, another reason why I chose to spend my semester abroad here, was the fact that you could reach London in 45 minutes by train. This offered the perfect opportunity to plan day trips on the weekend to the city.

After my first few weeks of visiting my EBS courses, I soon realised that I had made the right decision. I was very enthusiastic about the structure of the modules and how they were organised. First of all, the student–professor relationships are the exact opposite compared to most universities in Germany. At Essex the relationship is more personal with lecturers. They know your name and create a welcoming atmosphere to ask questions concerning everything that might come up. In contrast, in German universities, it is often the case that professors don’t know the student’s names and are just not as approachable. This experience was entirely new to me, and I will definitely miss it when I go back home. Another experience was that I had a variety of different kinds of assessments. The module leaders encourage the students to be more creative by using several methods for assignments. There were assignments, for instance, where the students had to do a consulting project with the Business Impact Assessment in Business Strategy or weekly journal entries about the necessary readings for the course in Business Ethics. I prefer these types of assignments over exams at the end of the semester like in Germany.

This leads to my two favourite experiences that I’ve had at EBS. Firstly, there is the structure that has been mentioned before. Specifically, I benefitted from the different seminars that followed the topics which were discussed in the lectures. This helped me to get a deeper understanding of the material and encouraged me to ask questions. My second favourite experience was the beautiful EBS building, creating a tropical and breathtaking atmosphere and supporting a perfect study environment.

Overall, I can say that the exchange program at Essex Business School benefitted me in terms of the knowledge I was able to gather in my modules. Additionally, I was able to get an insight into British culture and also into numerous others due to the high level of diversity at the University of Essex.

What I can definitely recommend to every student who gets the chance to study at EBS is to visit Ceri, Sienna, and Iryna at Bonds Café in the EBS building. The lovely staff always created the perfect atmosphere for taking a little break from studying or assessment stress. Another piece of advice I would give to abroad students coming to the UK is to take up as much of the University’s offers as possible to have the best experience here. There are plenty of different options available like sports, social clubs, and many more.

Living here for my semester abroad made me realise that I want to come back after my graduation and work in the UK, preferably in England. When I go back to Germany, I can tell with certainty that my favourite part of coming here has been the people I got to know. Not only did I get the chance to benefit from many helpful contacts at the university but I also made friends with people from the UK and all over the world who took part in the exchange.

Ultimately, it was obviously the best decision I’ve ever made to do my semester abroad at Essex Business School.

Find out more about our incoming exchange programme at Essex.