Saarland University Student Exchange Program
February 8, 2017
From chaos on the roads to structured thinking in the class; from friendly Mysore people to tough professors – German students see it all in two weeks
The MYRA School of Business had the pleasure of hosting two students from Saarland University, Germany under the student-exchange program. Gregory Filatov and Tariq Hoqoq who recently flew back home had this to say about their study of Marketing Strategy course taught by Dr. Sudhindra Seshadri, Senior Associate Dean and Distinguished Professor of Marketing at MYRA, Mysore. The versatility and dichotomy of Mysore in terms of its buildings, its people and the flavours of its cuisine is something that they mentioned upfront. If Gregory felt the traffic on the roads was chaotic, he was pleasantly surprised to see the manageable student strength at MYRA – a far cry from the 10 to15 thousand students in German schools. He felt that the smaller intake meant higher class-participation and better learning. Tariq felt that the course - albeit two weeks long - was challenging as the professors were tough taskmasters! Tariq was also struck by the level of industrialisation and development of India – something which they had not expected as the popular notion back in Europe is that India is underdeveloped. The two students were filled with respect for India when they noticed that despite a huge income disparity, there is no animosity between the rich and poor here. “maa vid vishaa va hai” (let us not be poisoned with hatred for anyone – as mentioned in the Taittireeya Upanishad) – an observation that not only fills us with pride but also makes us introspect.
Both the exchange students soaked themselves in MYRA’s unique Immersion model of teaching, which they opined was practical, quantitative and detailed as compared to the conceptual framework practiced back home. They appreciated the intellectual rigour and professionalism of the faculty as well as the responsiveness of the MYRA staff. The guest students wish that the program was longer.
MYRA has initiated many such student exchange programs with different university across the world. This season, MYRA had
· A batch of 20+ students of the Masters in International Business from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, during July 2016, in collaboration with Swiss Learning Exchange (SLX) as part of ‘Doing Business in India’ study trip.
· A batch of 6 students and 2 faculties from Comparative Study of Cultures, Tsuru University, Japan visited MYRA as part of Comparative Study of Cultures Study Tour II during September, 2016.
· Two students from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg will be at MYRA as part of student exchange in July 2017
MYRA students are constantly exposed to these interactions with students from across the world in addition to being taught by global faculty and this exposure prepares MYRA students for global careers.