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Regular version of the site

"We get precious knowledge of how the things are in real life"

Meet Christoph Ehrle, 1-st year MIB student from Ravensburg, Germany who told us about the DAAD scholarship that he received, his experience at MIB program, and favourite places in Russia.

Christoph, please tell us a bit about your background. Where are you from, where and what did you study?

I’m from Ravensburg, a small city near Lake Constance in the southwest Germany. It is close to the Austrian and the Swiss border with the Alps nearby. This part of Germany is well-known for the most popular car manufacturers in the world such as Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.

I spent a lot of time during my childhood at my grandparents’ home in the Czech Republic. My grandfather adored Russia and told me many anecdotes about this country. From that time I started to be excited about Russia.

Back to the roots I spent one year working with disabled people in the Czech Republic after my A-levels exam at school before my studies at the University of Passau, Bavaria, Germany. During my Bachelor’s in International Cultural and Business Studies with a major in East Central Europe I prolonged my interests in economy and learned plenty of interesting things about Russia. One of the highlights was an exchange semester in Moscow at the State University of Management.

 How did you find out about the MIB program and why did you decide to enroll?

 I found out about the MIB program during the internship “Doing Business in Russia”. It is a program in collaboration of HSE and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Therefore, I had the unique opportunity to spend 6 months working at Volkswagen Group Rus in Kaluga in the purchasing department. During the program we had seminars at HSE to get prepared for the Russian working environment. In addition, I liked very much these English taught seminars at HSE. I got profound knowledge from excellent lecturers. At this moment I understood that the quality of education at HSE is outstanding and comparable to my university experience in Germany.

I was dreaming about returning to Russia to deepen my knowledge in international business and the Russian environment. That is why I decided to apply for the MIB program.  

Tell us about your experience with DAAD. Was it your first time applying for the DAAD scholarship? How did you find the information? Was it difficult to get the grant for the MIB program?

The DAAD is the largest German organization in the field of international academic cooperation. It was my third time when I applied for a DAAD scholarship. The first time was for my exchange semester to Moscow, the second time was for the internship program “Doing Business in Russia” and the third time was for the MIB program at HSE.

Firstly, I heard the name of DAAD from the international office during my Bachelors, when I decided to make the exchange semester in Russia. I got the information about the current grant from the Moscow’s DAAD representative.

Honestly speaking, it was not quite easy to get the grant. The last step of the application process was the personal interview with the DAAD selection panel in Bonn, Germany. This step was most challenging for me. The selection panel consisted of three professors, who checked my knowledge in Economy, Russian language and history. Also they asked me some critical questions about my motivation in studying in the MIB program.

What is it like to study in the MIB? What do you like about the program? What would you like to improve?

It is very exciting and challenging to study at the MIB program. Since the groups are small (less than 40 students), lecturers are close; and studies with students from all over the world gives great insights and makes it never boring. I definitely got what I wanted and at the same time it actually exceeded my expectations. The practical orientation of the program is not only the promise, but it is everyday reality. Since most of our lecturers are practitioners from the real business world or guys with a lot of working experience, we get precious knowledge of how the things are in real life. On the other hand, the education is underpinned with the necessary theoretical background.

 The aim of the MIB program is definitely to get well prepared to everyday business, for which only reading textbooks is not enough. At this point I would like to quote Mr. Buyevskiy, our lecturer of strategic management. One of the first things he told us at the beginning of our class was: “There are tons of good publications about strategic management, but nobody in this world learned swimming or bicycling by reading books”. This sentence is a metaphor for the whole program.     

Do you travel a lot through Russia?

I love traveling through Russia and honestly I think that one human life is not enough to explore its whole beauty. Having the possibility, I definitely would travel much more. Last autumn we went to St. Petersburg and Karelia for hiking. A highlight in Russia was the trip to Siberia, to Lake Baikal. While spending in train a couple of days in a row I understood practically how big Russia is. My dream is to explore the Altai region, Kamchatka and climbing on Elbrus mountain. Let’s see!

Do you have a favourite place in Moscow?

There are many nice places in Moscow, but my favourite one is the view during night-time from the Patriarshy Bridge (between Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and the Bolotny Island) in direction to the Kremlin. The Moscow river, the warm lights and the whole atmosphere is unique. I feel there like in a fairy-tale.

Would you recommend HSE, and the MIB program in particular, to your friends / colleagues?

I definitely would! The most important thing is that the expectations match with reality. I strived personally to study in a more structured and organized way during my Master. Studying generally in large groups, German universities require more self-organization and are more anonymous, which can be difficult for students. As already mentioned, the quality of education at HSE is very high and in particular the practically oriented MIB program is better than many of the Business programs offered in Europe. Especially in terms of international business it is extremely precious to have the possibility of studying and gaining practical experience in Russia. Reading books about Russia and the Russian business environment is nice, but not enough!