ESB Business School

Undergraduate Programs

In addition to its very international educational concept, the ESB mandates a work-study phase in the form of semester-long business internships.

Single degree programs

Bachelor of Science in International Management Double Degree

Bachelor of Science in International Management and a second bachelor's degree of a partner university within the International Partnership of Business Schools in 4 years.

Students spend two years at the ESB in Reutlingen, Germany, and two years at an international partner university, receiving the degrees of both countries (the German degree and its foreign equivalent). Due to the Bologna Process, the ESB offers a bachelor's degree instead of the "Diplom-Betriebswirt" from the graduating class of 2011 onwards.

Below is a list of the partner universities for the dual-degree programs Bachelor of Science in International Management Double Degree:

Bachelor of Science in International Business & Master of Business Administration

The International Business (IB) program, unique in Germany, offers students the possibility of acquiring within only four years the degrees Bachelor of Science (BSc) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) or another Master’s degree (MSc/MA) within only four years. Students complete three and a half academic years at Reutlingen University. For a defined number of students this can be followed by an additional semester at Napier University, resulting in a second Bachelor’s degree or by a fourth academic year at one of ten partner universities in America, Asia, Australia or Europe, resulting in a Master’s degree.

The IB program provides a broad spectrum of expertise and methods in business studies and enables the students to select a special area of concentration while at the ESB, as well as at the partner university – e.g. in Management, Marketing or Finance.

The economic background to the study program has a strong international orientation. A high value is set on the training of soft skills, for example in communication and presentation skills, intercultural competence and business ethics.

The international dimension is one of the major factors in the composition of the students: 50% of study places per year are awarded to international applicants.

All courses – with the exception of the language courses – are held in English. A second, compulsory foreign language is chosen for the first three years of the program: German students can choose between Spanish or French, for international students German is the second foreign language.

The IB program is an academic program which prepares students for a management career in an international enterprise. This requires a clear practical orientation. In the 4th and 7th semesters a 6-month internship in a company has to be completed. This provide students the opportunity to apply their theoretical business management knowledge and soft skills, and to extend their comprehension of economic cross-links and management tasks.

The partner universities for this course of study are:

MBA

The ESB offers a full-time and part-time MBA program focused on International Management. This program is the oldest MBA program in Germany, founded in 1984. It is designed to give training to those whose undergraduate studies were within not in the field of business (e.g. holders of degrees in engineering, natural science, law, or languages). Approximately 50% of the students come from outside Germany.

The MBA program can be completed full-time in three semesters (full-time program) or over three years (part-time program). The part-time program is in the form of distance learning with attendance phases. The ESB distance learning materials are also used by a number of other program providers.

A feature of the full-time MBA program is an emphasis course on the Asia-Pacific region. Students who select this specialization attend MBA classes and seminars specific to this region; they also learn to speak Chinese or Japanese and spend their fourth semester in East Asia.

The MBA program has a number of partnerships with universities in other countries for example France, the USA and Argentina. The most highly developed partnerships are the joint programs with ESB, Eastern Michigan University (Ypsilanti, Michigan) and the University of La Plata (La Plata, Argentina). It also has a collaboration with S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai.

MSc

The ESB also offers a one-year Master of Science in International Management. One semester of the program is spent at the ESB in Reutlingen, the other semester at one of four international partner schools:

The ESB also offers two highly specialiced Master of Science programs with an emphasis on specific International Management related topics. Usually, all semesters of the programs are spent at the ESB Reutlingen but beside the normal possibility to go abroad for an exchange semester there are opportunities to receive a double degree. (among others from Edinburgh University in the International Accounting, Controlling and Taxation Master):

Furthermore, the ESB currently offers a two-year MSc program: Master of Science in Operations Management, with its main focus on the interface of business and technology.

MA

Moreover, a trilingual (German, French, English) Master of Arts in European Management Studies is offered. In this two-year program students spend one year in Reutlingen and one year in Strasbourg at the Ecole de Management de Strasbourg and receive two Master’s degrees.

International Partnership of Business Schools

The IPBS (International Partnership of Business Schools) is a consortium in which the partner universities offer joint bachelor's and master's programs together with the ESB. With over 1600 students in Europe, the IPBS program is the largest integrated cooperation program between European universities.

Corporate sponsors

The ESB's group of sponsors, V.I.M.A. (International Management Education Sponsorship Club), has existed since 1999. Almost 50 companies are currently members.

Corporate Fairs

The main company fairs on the ESB campus to which V.I.M.A. members are invited to participate are the International Business Fair (IBF) and the Corporate Forum (Firmen Forum, FIFO).

History

In 1971, the faculty of Foreign Economics was founded at Reutlingen University from which the faculties School of International Business (SIB) and Production Management (initially: the Manufacturing Department) derived. The Manufacturing Department commenced in 1973. The European School of Business (in short ESB) was founded as an independent faculty by Prof. Dr. Hans Tümmers with the goal of internationalising and renewing the German Management qualification. The first partner universities were the Reims Management School in Reims (France), as well as the Middlesex University in London (United Kingdom.) The study program was considered revolutionary, due to the fact it offered a collective, fully integrated study course with international partner schools at the end of which students could attain a double degree and the fact that a new internal selection method was created (more information about the selection method below). On the 1st of June, 2008, the business faculties School of International Business (SIB), Production Management and the European School of Business of Reutlingen University were united as the new ESB Reutlingen.

School of International Business

The School of International Business, also known as SIB Reutlingen, was one of the business schools at Reutlingen University. It offered a number of international undergraduate and graduate programs, some of which were dual degree. It was consistently ranked among the best business schools in Germany and merged with the European School of Business in 2008 to form the new ESB Business School.