EBS Oestrich Winkel MBA vs. Lancaster University MSc Project Management

lily

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Posted May 08, 2017 09:06

Hi I am Lily from China majoring in Mass Communication, and I have 6 years working experience in Shanghai Media Group for news writing and reporting (in Mandarin). Now I am relocated to Germany for family reasons. With a German B1 level proficiency, I find it's quite hard to find a job in my fields as the job normally requires excellent communication skills in German. I'm thinking to take a further study in Business to broaden my career options. Indeed I have got an MBA(fast track) admit from EBS Oestrich Winkel, however, the negative rumours and reviews about EBS make me uncertain if EBS is worth the investment, especially after I learned that EBS has lost EQUIS.

I have another option is the MSc Project Management from Lancaster University UK. The program for me is very practical based on real-life projects, and also my past experience on the summer exchange programs in Lancaster leaves me very good impression of the Uni. Both programs are one-year English taught programs. The big differences are the accreditation and the types of the programs ( MBA and MSc). I did not apply any MSc business program in public university in Germany because I only give myself one-year study time considering my age 34. The budget is also the main reason that I narrow down the choices to EBS and Lancaster. My future career will still be in Germany. I really would like to know what will you choose if you're in my shoes considering the job prospects and course quality? Any suggestion would be appreciated. Many thanks in advance :)

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Duncan

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Posted May 08, 2017 09:53

Hi Lily. I don't understand why you think a masters degree taught in English will widen your career choices in Germany, when your German language skills are lower intermediate. Without German language skills, I don't understand what sort of work you think an MSc would produce for you in Germany.

I also don't understand why you are limiting yourself to one-year courses, or looking in business schools when your background is in mass communication. Surely your most credible role will be to do media communications for a business in Germany that has interests or owners in China? There are one-year schools in German for communications (e.g https://journalistik.tu-dortmund.de/) and also part-time offers which could be followed alongside employment or language study (e.g. http://www.djv.de/en/startseite/info/themen-wissen/aus-und-weiterbildung/journalistenschulenstudium.html).

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lily

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Posted May 09, 2017 06:43

Hi Duncan, thank you very much for your prompt response and suggestion. Perhaps the reason that I limit myself to a one-year English-Taught MSc is that I'm eager to return to the workforce soon. And an English-taught MSc or MBA for me is easier to be accomplished compared with a German-taught MSc considering my German skills. Hope it doesn't sound paradoxical to you.

Having lived in Germany for half a year, I have tried to apply for jobs in several mainstream media companies, but all in vain in the end so far, either because of my German skills, or because I don't have prior working experience in Germany. I totally agree that German is a must for working in Germany. So I will continue to learn German no matter I go to study or not.

What an MSc can produce to me? Frankly, I didn't give much thought to this. I just assume a business degree somewhat will increase my chances of finding a job in Germany. Of course I'm still targeting on the companies that have businesses or interests in China, particularly in the sector of media communications, so that I can employ my knowledge and experience.

Thank you for the links, it's really useful. I will give a second thought on the study thing.:)

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Duncan

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Posted May 09, 2017 12:20

A year studying managing in English will open a very small set of opportunities. You have read the reviews about EBS from international students without fluent German. Remember, EBS is not a terrible school. It's simply not able to do almost impossible things. It would cost you much less money to really perfect your German. If you study in English, you won't get into the German business culture so well either.

I don't know where you are in Germany, but why not ask marketing or communications people in Chinese firms offices near you to meet? Looking at LinkedIn, it seems that Huawei Technologies, Siemens, SAP and Nokia employ a lot of Chinese people.

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