I am a second year Business Administration student from Hochschule Heilbronn in Germany, with a focus in International Management. I chose to have my exchange at TAMK, because it is really forward-thinking higher education institution in the field of sustainable development. The offered courses also complement my studies well.
When I chose the courses for my exchange, I was missing 5 credits. I saw a course called Business case consulting training, read through the course description, and chose it without giving it much further thought. I did not expect this course to become the centerpiece of my semester abroad and being one of the most useful courses I have taken in my studies so far.
The training consists of business cases, where you work in a group, have one week to come up with a solution and present it to the class. Doing analysis and research is a vital part of coming up with well-reasoned solutions. Working in a team, you become aware of each members strengths and start utilising them more efficiently. Each week you get to see the presentations and ideas of the other groups, you receive and give feedback.
Looking at where I was at the beginning of the semester compared to now, in terms of presentations, I have improved a lot. Starting from designing professional PowerPoint slides, efficient time management, better analysing skills to more confidence when presenting, working better in a group and being able to find important information fast. I always get nervous before and during a presentation but presenting so often taught me how to overcome the nervousness.
As part of the training, we participated in an international case competition called Creative Shock . It was meant to be a learning experience, but our team managed to qualify to the finale in Vilnius Lithuania. The competition went over almost a week with teams from Canada, USA, Greece, Serbia, Spain and Vietnam competing. After two intense business cases, we ranked fourth in our first ever competition. This was an extremely valuable experience that made me use everything I learned during the training and improve my competencies and skills even further. Being a finalist in this competition helped me set myself apart from other people and I was able to secure an internship for the upcoming semester.
Overall, I am glad that I put the work into this course. Also, I am very thankful that I received a lot of support and coaching from my teachers and student coaches. I hope that business case solving will become a bigger thing here in TAMK, because it gives students the chance to improve and offers a truly unique experience.
Read more about the competition here.
Text: Onur Polat, incoming exchange student in TAMK
Image: Creative Shock
