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Program Overview

Special program information sessions:
The faculty Director, Dr. Eckert, will conduct two info sessions where he will go into more detail about the trip and the itinerary and will handle as many questions as possible.  It has proven productive in the past for students interested in the trip.  It is not mandatory, but he would encourage you attend one of the meetings (there is no need to attend both - they will be basically the same).

German Business & Culture Informational Meeting #1
Monday, October 29
5-6pm
Room 2355 Schneider

German Business & Culture Informational Meeting #2
Tuesday, November 6
5-6pm
Room 2335 Schneider 
Come and learn more about the program and meet with the program faculty director!

Message from the Program Director:

Concept:  Get a chance to add international understanding to your life experiences and your resume without having to commit to an entire semester abroad.  Additionally, this trip requires no language competency which makes it more accessible to many people (people with German language skills are absolutely invited also!).  The total trip involves an educational program tour of German business and cultural sites and interactions with German university students, while the optional  third week involves an intensive negotiation course taught in English by Dr. Eckert at Paderborn University.  The tour part of the trip is scheduled as BUS 5940 and the Negotiation component is MKTG 4780 (MKTG 6780) for graduate students.  Each of these is a three credit course.

The Educational Program Trip: (BUS 5940):  The Tour (BUS 5940):  We will start in Hamburg, Germany’s famous port city.  We will explore the harbor district, gain some insight into the German media and communication industry (centered in Hamburg), and take a stroll down the famous Reeperbahn in Hamburg’s entertainment district.   Our next stop will be the world headquarters of Volkswagen in Wolfsburg.  We will have a tour of the production facilities and get to hear about their brand strategies.  Volkswagen is one of the largest car manufacturers in the world and their Wolfsburg facility is amazing!  Our next stop is Berlin, Germany’s capital city.  We will spend a day in nearby Potsdam, having a special negotiation (and social!) experience with the students at Uni Potsdam.  Our second day involves a “Fat-Tire” bike tour of Berlin where we will explore the history and culture of this once divided city.   From Berlin it is back on the train to Dr. Eckert’s “Deutsche Heimatstadt” (German Hometown) of Paderborn, home of WMU’s partner school ; Paderborn University.  Here we will hear from Dr. Andreas Eggert,  an expert in customer value,  and interact with German Uni students via a couple of case experiences.  From Paderborn we will head to the Rhein river area and explore the castles and the wine industry that surround the Rhein River.  We will conclude our trip in Köln (Cologne) which is home to the world famous “Kölner Dom” (Cologne Cathedral) and is often known as the center of the German festival industry (they take their festivals very seriously!

The Negotiation Course (MKTG 4780):  Each year Dr. Eckert teaches a week long negotiation course at the Uni Paderborn, and if you stay for the third week you will get the opportunity to participate in this course.  Side-by-side with German students you will learn the strategies and tactics of effective negotiation.  The course, taught entirely in English, meets six hours per day and requires work every evening, so it is definitely not a vacation!  However, negotiation skills are considered one of the most fundamental abilities for a successful business person and this course takes an intense, yet highly practical approach to teaching you those skills.  The course concludes with a negotiation case where each student must put what they have learned to use in a head-to-head negotiation.  My German colleagues and the German students are excited to have American counterparts involved and the experience should be culturally interesting and enlightening for all.  And if that is not a good enough sales pitch …. The week concludes with a great group social event at Paderborn’s best restaurant and Beirgarten!

Visit the blog from the past two trips at: http://wmugermany2010.blogspot.com/

Common Questions:
Course Credits?  For the Educational Program Trip part, students will enroll in BUS 5940 for 3 credits.  This course may be applied to the business electives you need.  Generally, HCOB students must take 7 business electives.  Pre-approval by your academic advisor is required for all students to verify how BUS 5940 would count for you.

The negotiation course is MKTG 4780 for 3 credits.  For Marketing Department  or ISM students the course will generally fit as one of your major electives.  For others, you will need to meet with your major advisor to determine where and how the course could count.  Dr, Eckert will be glad to discuss the course with any advisor to help best apply it to your course of study.

The Experience?
The world is a big place, and we are going to try and become familiar with just one part of it.  But that part is Europe's biggest Economy and a place that has seen a great deal of history (some good and some bad).  We are going to try and plug-into German life as much as possible.  So for instance, we will be staying at smaller hotels within the cities (versus chain hotels), we will be using the train system to travel (not a tour bus) and we will get to spend time with our counterparts at Uni Paderborn.  A trip can not fully simulate a live-in country experience, but we will do our best to not just be tourists.  As part of our pre-trip sessions we will discuss and learn a little bit about German history and culture as well as have a little fun learning some basic German.  When we are in Germany we will observe and discuss the similarities and differences between the US and Germany in both a respectful and fun way.  And hopefully when we conclude we will have had an enlightening and fantastic experience that will help us be better global business people and citizens and just maybe this trip will be the gateway for further travels.  In the US we might call it the travel bug, in German it is known as Wanderlust and I hope our experience infects all of us with this wonderful infliction!
Interested?  Start by sending Dr. Eckert an email and telling him that.  His email is jim.eckert@wmich.edu.  He will put you on the list for trip information and updates.
Dr. Jim Eckert
Faculty Program Director

Students applying for this program may be eligible for the Haenicke Institute for Global Education Study Abroad scholarship or/and the HCoB Study Abroad scholarship.
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Location

Berlin
Berlin is located in eastern Germany and is host to an international airport and a train system well connected to Europe.  Following the German reunification, Berlin was reinstated as the capital city, and the seat of German government was moved to Berlin from Bonn. Berlin's vibrant culture experienced a "rebirth" after reunification and, as such, is at once modern and historic, offering countless opportunities to experience theatre, music, festivals, museums, parks, restaurants, coffeehouses, and  many other venues. The city is also ethnically diverse, featuring Turkish stores, a large choice of ethnic restaurants, international festivals, and more. Students may find the historical and cultural offerings in and around Berlin so plentiful they won't desire to travel elsewhere.

Hamburg
Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany (after Berlin) and the sixth-largest city in the European Union. The city is home to approximately 1.8 million people, while the Hamburg Metropolitan Region has more than 4.3 million inhabitants. The port of Hamburg is the second-largest port in Europe (after that of Rotterdam), and the ninth-largest in the world.

Hamburg's official name is the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. It makes reference to Hamburg's history as a member of the medieval Hanseatic League, as a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire, and also to the fact that Hamburg is a city-state and one of the sixteen Federal States of Germany.

Hamburg is a major transportation hub in northern Germany and became a media and industrial center with factories such as Blohm + Voss and Norddeutsche Affinerie. The radio and television broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk and publishers such as Gruner + Jahr and Spiegel-Verlag represent the important media industry in Hamburg. In total there are more than 120,000 enterprises.

Paderborn
Paderborn is located in northern central Germany in the region of eastern North Rhine-Westphalia with a population of approximately 142,000.  Nearby lakes, forests, moors and low mountain ranges offer myriad opportunities for sport, relaxation, and recreation.  Many health resorts, spas, historic monasteries, and castles, as well as interesting towns and villages with rich historical backgrounds are located nearby.  From Paderborn, students can easily travel by train to many other European destinations.  At the Nixdorf Museum, one can follow the history of computing.  The modern university is an easy walk from the city's beautiful historic city center.

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Academics

Academic Eligibility
Good Academic Standing; Application requires resume submission;

Academic Program
Each segment of the trip would be a separate course offering as each would meet the instructional hour requirement.  Students would enroll for 3 credits for the 2 week session in "German Business and Culture" and 3 more  credits for the optional week long course "Negotiation: Theory and Techniques in a Global Economy".

STSA: a combination of lectures, business visits and cultural tours/visits will be employed.  
ICNC:  Each day will consist of 6 hours in a class room and at least 2 hours of outside group and individual activity.

Open to Undergraduate and Graduate Students in Haworth College of Business or other majors outside seeking business credit

Academic Credit
Participants will earn 3 WMU academic credit hours in BUS 5940: International Business Seminar "German Business and Culture" and optional 3 credit hours in Marketing 4780, "Negotiation: Theory and Techniques in a Global Economy". Undergraduate and Graduate students welcome. Graduate students will have modified assesment for "Negotiation: Theory and Techniques in a Global Economy" to reflect graduate level assignments.

WMU credit will be awarded for courses successfully completed on this program with prior approval of the student's academic advisor, academic advisors in departments outside of the student's major department (if the student plans to take classes outside of his/her major), and the Haenicke Institute for Global Education. This approval is obtained by completing the Course Pre-approval Form available from the HIGE. Students are urged to work closely with academic advisors and HIGE staff to plan a course of study allowing for steady progress toward their degree.

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Cost & Financial Aid

Cost
Program fee includes WMU tuition, orientation, administrative fees, WMU international health insurance, some meals, program related field transportation, program related cultural emersion/excursions and accommodations. Students are responsible for the following expenses: passport, visa, airfare, some meals, local travel and personal spending money.

Message from the Program Faculty Director:
"The trip is not inexpensive, however if you stay for all three weeks and earn 6 credits, have an amazing cultural experience, learn to negotiate better, and launch yourself as the globally oriented business person that the marketplace demands, the total costs of such an experience don't look as bad! "

** Please note that advertised program fee is budgeted for undergraduate credits. Program fee for graduate students will be increased to reflect difference in tuition fees.  Please see additional financial budget estimates for graduate students and  optional week. Contact WMU Study Abroad office if you have any questions.

Students applying for this program may be eligible for the Haenicke Institute for Global Education Study Abroad scholarship and/or for the HCoB Study Abroad scholarship.

Financial Aid
Students eligible for federal or state financial aid may use their awards for studying abroad. After a student has been accepted to the program, he/she must complete required paperwork with WMU Financial Aid to apply financial aid to the program costs. It is the student's responsibility to complete the paperwork prior to departure and to maintain compliance with financial aid regulations while studying abroad (i.e., remain enrolled full-time). *Non-WMU students must apply for financial aid through their home university.

Note: Program fees are subject to adjustment due to changes in actual exchange rates or other factors. In addition, programs may be modified or canceled in the event of insufficient enrollment. Program dates are subject to slight adjustment by the home/host university.

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Housing

For the first 2 weeks housing will be a combination of hostels and hotels in the locations of the program:
Hotel Transit Loft
Salesianum
St. Goar Hostel, Best Western.

More information will be provided for participants of the program later.

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Additional Resources

Contacts at WMU
Dr. Jim Eckert
Program Faculty Director
Marketing Department
Haworth College of Business
3248 HCB
387-5799
jim.eckert@wmich.edu
http://www.wmich.edu/business/facultystaff/person.php?pid=27

Geralyn Heystek
Advising Office
2130 Schneider Hall
Monday through Thursday
Telephone: 269-387-5075
Email: bus-adv-office@wmich.edu
http://www.wmich.edu/business/advisingadmissions/internship.html

Anastassia Kaml
Study Abroad Coordinator for Germany
Haenicke Institute for Global Ed
B 2425 Ellsworth Hall
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MI 49008
Phone: (269) 387-5890
Fax:     (269) 387-0630
E-mail: anastassia.v.kaml@wmich.edu
Website: www.wmich.edu/studyabroad

Ann Ganz (Study Abroad Specialist in College; office hours: Monday 2-4pm)
Diether H. Haenicke Institute for Global Education
Western Michigan University
B2425 Ellsworth Hall
Kalamazoo, Mi. 49008-5245
Tel:(269)387-5890
Fax:(269)387-0630
ann.ganz@wmich.edu
www.wmich.edu/studyabroad


Host Institution Information (external links)
University of Paderborn

Demographic Information (external links)
Germany - Lonely Planet
Hamburg - Lonely Planet 
Paderborn (North Rhine-Westphalia) - Lonely Planet
Warsaw - Lonely Planet 

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