I am doing my semester abroad in the University of DHBW Mosbach in Germany. That mean “Duale Hochschule of Baden-Württemberg” because this University offer a double certificate. DHBW is represented by two Campus, one in Mosbach and one in Bad Mergentheim who are both in the state of Bade-Wurtemberg on the south-west of Germany. Mosbach is a town of about 25 000 inhabitants located at 80 km northern from Stuttgart (capital city of this state) and 60 km eastern from Heidelberg.

My semester is on the Mosbach’s campus and this University offer a lot of different studies, I am doing the International Program in Business (IPB) but there are also some programs for engineering, marketing, informatics, medias…

To understand how this university has been created, it begin in 1980 when a University open with 18 students in the city of Manheim.

DHBW is the first university in Germany with this double certificate.

Thanks to a support of more than 1100 partners, DHBW has more than 3600 students today. The University Mosbach Cooperative state offer a high quality level certified by the norm ISO-9000.

Housing for international students, like me, are very close, between 5 and 10 minutes, to the University. International students are separate in two houses with 8 students in one and 12 in another. You just have to cross the street and walk 50 meters to be in the other housing.

DHBW Mosbach offer a stay of 5 days in a youth hostel in Heidelberg at the beginning of the Erasmus. We were in an accommodation next to the downtown. International students are in this beautiful city to follow some German courses during this time. We did a test the first day to be placed in different level classes. This week in Heidelberg permit students to know each other before the Business Program in Mosbach and to improve our German. That is great to visit a beautiful city and be integrate before the Business class in Mosbach.

The international program in Mosbach for 2^nd year contain 12 disciplines. We learn each discipline during 1 week and then we have an exam about one week and half or two weeks later. We have also one hour and half of German every Wednesday. Every classes are in English so it’s obviously easier for the American to understand the teachers. 

This week we will study “Money and currency” which mainly talk about the job of Central Banks like the ECB or the Federal Reserve and also how shares and bounds are using on the financial market. Then, we will have some Marketing, Management, Business law and other disciplines.

In Mosbach, we are this year in a classroom of about 30 students composed by German and international students. There are about 20 foreigner students of several nationalities: French, Korean, Slovene, Mexican, Columbian, American and Slovak. That’s a real melting pot!

DHBW offer some sports activities every Tuesday and Thursday like inside soccer, badminton, volleyball and even a Columbian dance whose name is Zumba.

Here, it’s another opportunity to meet some German students and to play with your international friends. It’s also possible to practice more sports with the fitness room available every day. DHBW organize a trip in March to visit Berlin, Potsdam and Weimar during 1 week. Every student has to prepare a small presentation about a monument of one of those cities. That’s a chance to learn more about this places with an important history particularly during  World War II.