IE Blog Europe & CIS

Some interesting news to share with you about an immense increase of German students starting university: This autumn 2011 about half a million of students entered for their first semester at German´s Universities – there were never before as many students beginning their studies as this year – what are the reasons?

Since 2011, finally in all German federal states, high school finishes now also after only 12 years, one year earlier than in the past. In fact Germany was one of the few countries in the European Union, where students finished high school after a total of 13 years – as a consequence they were older than their fellow students from abroad who entered universities at a younger age.

Cutting one year of high school means that 2011 is the year when at many German high schools two classes from different intakes graduated. One intake finished high school after its regular 13 years, the other intake finished one year earlier according to the new school reform, so the double amount of students are ready to enter university! On top of this, 2011 is the first year in Germany when military and civil service is not anymore obligatory. In the past lots of our male students finished high school with 18 or 19 years and in continuation were obliged to render their military/civil service for the country. This means that beside the fact that anyway they finished high school one year later, counting in one additional year for the military/civil service they entered at universities in total 2 years later than others. Of course for many of them this was also a huge competitive disadvantage in respect to the job market!

All in all, this immense increase of students in autumn 2011, means that universities are overcrowded and students face lots of problems, since the conditions are not the same as in the past: It is much more difficult to get university place especially at one of the favorites universities, lecture rooms are overcrowded, to find housing is impossible and many other inconveniences!! Perhaps this is huge opportunity for Universities abroad, such as IE, to give students the possibility to start their studies under much better conditions!

Business Women series: “Recession or Renaissance: Thriving in the new Era” will focus on how the crisis has changed our world and how individuals and businesses can respond to make the most of this time of change. The need for growing talent and diversity in the workplace, including gender diversity, will be especially discussed and analyzed.

Speakers include Gayle Allard from IE business school, Siobhan Martin from Mercer, Christine Nielsen from University of Baltimore and Marijo Bos and Rieke Smakman from EuropeanPWN.

The conference will be closed by H.E. President of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal, Assunção Esteves.

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Name: Alessandro Procaccini
Home country: Italy
Program and intake at IE: IMBA, November 2010 Intake
Previous job: Consultant

Why did you choose IE?
I was searching for a 1-year program and targeting only European schools. I ended up choosing IE for several reasons: first of all for its innovative program as well as for its focus on entrepreneurship. Rankings were also an important element in my decision. Finally, another important element that made me choose IE, was Madrid: I’ve lived in several European countries, but never in Spain and the opportunity of living in Madrid really excited me.

What´s your favorite thing about IE?
I expected some degree of diversity at IE, but the diversity of nationalities, background and mindsets I found here was impressive! In the beginning, after my experience in consulting, I had to work a lot to adapt my way to work and my language to those of my peers, but I found this challenge extremely important in terms of personal and professional growth. It helped me to understand the limitations as well as the strengths of my background: if you never challenge yourself and what you think you know well, you never really learn and improve.

How easy was it to adjust to living in Madrid?
Being an European who speaks Italian and French, I didn’t encounter many difficulties when moving in Madrid; in the beginning I practiced my Itanol, but after a while my Spanish became less “Italian”. The main challenge was to find a flat: a good way to find a flat in Madrid is walking in the street searching for “Se Alquila” signs, but the Student Office also helped a lot. Besides that all the rest (utilities, bank account, mobile, internet etc.) is quite straightforward, or, at least, not impossible.

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On Thursday, October 6th, the IE France Alumni Club organized a conference in Paris focusing on the Main Trends in the Internet for 2012. The conference was lead by Cyril Mazeau, one of our IE alums, and CFO of AT Internet, the leading company in web analysis. He was assisted by two other internet specialists, Jean Baptiste Leroy, and Rémi Rivière enriching the debate with their respective experiences. Over thirty IE Alumni attended the conference which was followed by a networking cocktail. We would like to extend a special thanks to Cyril, Jean Baptiste and Rémi for their insightful presentations and to the Presidents of the IE France Club, Bastien Seignolles and Joseph Freiha, for making this event possible!

On October 5th, a Russian Alumni gathering took place in Moscow in the venue of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce. The participants attended a virtual master class of Gayle Allard (the professors of country analysis) where they were able to discuss the future of the global economy.

Networking cocktail followed during which IE graduates were able to catch up with the old friends, meet the new members of the group and connect with several recruiters that represented international companies interested in the professionals with the top international education.

The food was provided by the newly launched company Coté Catering that belongs to IE International MBA Alumna Inga Korchagina. Entrepreneurial spirit of IE Business School can be felt not only on campus in Madrid while students are learning, but also in every city where 40 000 alumni live afterwards.