IGTC’s International Exchange Programme with the Duale Hochschule Baden Württemberg (DHBW)
On 20th November, 2012, IGTC welcomed a high level delegation from the Berufsakademies in Germany, known as the Duale Hochschule Baden Wuerttemberg (DHBW) or the Baden -Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University. The delegation was headed by President Reinhold R. Geilsdörfer and included senior representatives of the various DHBW campuses. The purpose of the visit was to explore a deeper collaboration between DHBW and IGTC as both follow the Dual System of Education which incorporates both practical training and theoretical learning. The DHBW trains around 30,000 students in Bachelors and Masters Programmes in Business, Engineering and Social Work Studies. They have 8 campuses in Baden-Württemberg and each student is sponsored with a partner company with DHBW having over 10,000 partners in Germany!
This visit resulted in a new synergy between IGTC and DHBW Karlsruhe in the form of an annual International Student’s Exchange Programme titled Business Environment India and Business Environment Germany since 2013. The Business Environment India programme consists of DHBW students visiting Mumbai in the month of January under a compact 10 day intensive programme hosted and organized by IGTC. In the second half of the year, DHBW Karlsruhe is hosts and organizer to IGTCians during their fortnight Business Environment Germany programme.
The exchange programme consists of a mix of Guest Lectures, company visits, cultural experiences and foremost active interaction amongst the IGTC and DHBW students. In Germany, companies like BASF, Lapp Group, Mercedes-Benz factory in Rastatt, SAP, SEW Eurodrive and Siemens AG (to name a few) have been visited along with a variety of cultural activities.
Jini John, sums up her experience of being part of Business Environment Germany with these words: The main advantage of this exchange programme is that I made friends, – international friends for life! And it is not restricted to Germany. The DHBW students are now placed in different countries in and around Asia and Europe and whenever they or I need help in these countries we contact each other.
In Mumbai, the DHBW students get an overall view of the “Maximum City” by visiting companies like, Tech Mahindra’s Call Centre, Siemens’ Kalwa Plant, Godrej, the Associated Cement Companies (ACC) as well as Mercedes Benz and Bosch Chassis in Pune. They also get to meet and interact with representatives of institutes like the German Consulate General, Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI). And visits to Alibaug, Elephanta Caves, and Dharavi give them a glimpse of the cultural diversity, Mumbai has to offer.
Clarissa Gosemann had this to say about her exchange experience: This compact programme enables one to experience Indian in all its facets. The blend of lectures, co. visits and cultural exposure makes this programme very interesting and exciting. One gets to know the country, its people and through that one can do a lot of networking and create a wide range of contacts. And most of all create long lasting friendship with the IGTC students.
