Thomas Bernhofer
Graduate year 2008
- Why did you decide to attend the full-time, bachelor degree program International Business Studies? What makes it such a special program in your eyes?I had actually heard many good things about the program International Business Studies. For example, I had heard that the curriculum was very practically oriented. And this was definitely the case in my experience: we were able to take concepts out of our lessons and apply them to projects and our work in the internship. Another factor in my decision was the relatively small size of the FH Kufstein; the familiar atmosphere should be especially conducive to learning. And sure, again in my experience, the small classes, the work in small groups, and the close relationships between students and faculty have made learning very interesting and effective.
- What’s special about the program?
I have a few friends at other universities who have had problems with transferring credits from their studies abroad. So what is really appealing about the program International Business Studies is the integrated year abroad at one of the FH Kufstein partner universities. What I mean is that the courses you decide to take at the partner university are approved before you go abroad so that you can be sure that the credits will be accepted. That’s a definite plus. - Which courses have you attended so far and what have you learned in or through them?The study program offers a very interesting mix of business and cultural focuses; it includes everything from Financial Mathematics and Psychology to Foreign Languages, Marketing, and Project Management. To me it seems that you get an education with a much broader horizon than you would in, let’s say, a standard business administration program. I like remembering the business administration project we did in the third semester. As part of a course, we – that is, groups of seven or eight students – composed a business plan and presented it in front of the class. This was useful for consolidating and applying the theoretical knowledge we learned in our first year of the program, and we also learned a lot about successfully managing a project.
- Have you already worked on any projects at the FH Kufstein? What did the projects deal with? How did you contribute to the projects?
During my studies I had the opportunity to work on two interdisciplinary projects: “Real Estate Benchmarking” and “Life-Cyle Oriented Optimization of Quality Aspects in Buildings”. In both projects I was responsible for formulating the texts and designing the website. Over the course of the projects, we also had to work together with specialists from other fields, which is something that enriched our experience tremendously. - Where did you go to study for your year abroad? And where did you go for your corporate internship?
I am currently doing my year abroad at the Groupe Sup de Co Montpellier Business School in the south of France and am inscribed in an all French, double-degree program. Before that I spent a semester doing an internship in the firm Haubner, Schäfer & Partner, which operates in the field of company succession. There I also had the possibility to do the research for my bachelor thesis. It was very interesting to apply the knowledge I was acquiring in my daily work to a scientific question. - What career aspirations do you have?
Because I was able to prove myself to my colleagues, and thanks to a bit of good luck, I received a job offer from the company I did my internship in. I accepted, of course, but I will also go on with my master’s degree at the FH Kufstein by studying part-time.