Joint degree programmes with the University of Glasgow: "A German-language programme is no longer enough"
01.11.2022 Growing number of applicants, higher internationalization: Leuphana University and the University of Glasgow now offer management programmes together for the first time. Students can obtain degrees from both universities. Prof. Dr. Markus Reihlen, Professorship of Business Administration, in particular Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship, explains in an interview how the integrated semester abroad provides intercultural skills in addition to academic qualifications, which are also essential for the German job market.
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- Professor Reihlen, how do students benefit from the Double Degree programme?
We have strongly promoted internationalization in the Faculty of Management & Technology. Our English-language Bachelor programme International Business Administration & Entrepreneurship is in very high demand. We have outstanding students. This has encouraged us to continue on this path of internationalization with the Masters programmes. Management & Entrepreneurship, Management & Data Science, and Management & Sustainable Accounting and Finance can be studied entirely in English. This is how we bring internationalization to the campus. We have students from all over the world, for example from Jamaica, Egypt, Thailand, Colombia or Slovenia. It is not enough to study in English alone. On the job market, intercultural skills are in demand - internationally, nationally and regionally.
- Does that also apply if I want to work for a local company later on?
Absolutely. German companies are also looking for students with internationalization experience, because companies have long been operating on the European and even global market. A purely German-language study programme no longer meets the requirements of local industry. Teams have long been multicultural and international.
- Students can earn a degree in two educational systems. Why is this even more advantageous than a semester abroad?
After one year of study at Leuphana, students can immerse themselves in a Masters programme at the University of Glasgow. Degrees from two education systems send important quality signals: in the Anglo-American education system, a degree from the University of Glasgow is highly prestigious and opens doors for students who want to gain a professional foothold in the English-speaking world. Nationally, a degree is helpful in the German education system. But the double degree is only one plus point: students have a wide choice of advanced programs in Glasgow with which they can specialize in terms of content, for example with a Masters degree in International Strategic Marketing, Financial Technology or International Human Resource Management and Development. Conversely, we send our students to Glasgow very well prepared. Our Masters programmes are research-oriented. We teach qualitative and quantitative research methods and value theories that help us better understand the complexity of the world. Students in the programs go through a research project. This also opens the way to a doctorate for them. The quality of our Masters dissertations is already high.
- How can future founders also benefit from a Double Degree?
On the one hand, the University of Glasgow conducts intensive research on start-ups. On the other hand, Glasgow is an industrial location and thus a good ecosystem for understanding how start-ups function internationally and which start-ups are being promoted. At Leuphana, we cooperate with the Hamburg metropolitan region. In the third semester, students complete an entrepreneurship project together with a local company. The companies provide a practical task, which is then solved and scientifically analyzed by an interdisciplinary team of students. There is also the opportunity to write a Masters dissertation on their own start-up.
The second dimension is corporate entrepreneurship. How are start-ups implemented in established companies? I can see this best in a larger organization. Glasgow is a good place for this.
- Why do we need to break new ground in management education?
Major crises like the one we are experiencing right now challenge us to find new solutions. We can't go back and say, "This is the way we've always done it." That's why we place a lot of emphasis on interdisciplinarity in our Masters programmes. For example, we have strengthened finance and management topics, and students have been studying psychology. In order to further intensify the exchange between the two universities, the Masters dissertations are each supervised by a professor from Leuphana and the University of Glasgow. This also provides an opportunity to further strengthen cooperation between the two universities.
- Thank you very much for the interview!
Interviewer: Dr. Marietta Hülsmann
The University of Glasgow is one of the oldest English-speaking universities and, as a founding member of the Russell Group, consistently ranks among the world's best universities in international rankings. The Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow also ranks among the top in research and teaching. Leuphana students receive a 40 percent reduction on tuition fees.
Students wishing to participate in the Double Degree programme must register through the International Office by 22 November.
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- Prof. Dr. Markus Reihlen