Career relevant Skills and Experience

Transferable skills are those skills which, having been learned in one context, can then be applied in another. A major goal of this program is to prepare students for their future career in business informatics, either in academia or in practice. However, because the work environment is changing dynamically and very fast, few students will have a 'job for life' and graduates will have to be adaptable and be willing to become 'lifelong learners'. For this reason, in addition to the strong knowledge in business informatics, we aim to enhance key transferable skills, which will enable the graduates to take on a variety of jobs in various types of organisations. Students in this course are expected to already have well-developed key skills, mainly from their earlier education and possibly from their work experience. The European M.Sc. in Business Informatics expands these skills and aims particularly to enhance key skills in:

• Critical thinking
• Problem management and solving
• Research skills and methods

In addition, students' abilities in the following areas will also be enhanced, enabling them to work in an intercultural business or research environment:

• Communication
• Working with others (group / interpersonal skills)
• Working in an intercultural environment
• Planning, organisation and resource management

This latter set is enhanced through experience in various courses of study, assessment and particular through the practicum in another European country. In addition to lectures the program is based on following teaching, learning and assessment methods:

• guided independent study and activity, with specialist input when appropriate
• recent or current case studies
• essay and report writing
• collaborative group work and discussions
• presentation of findings to the group as a whole

All participants in the European MSc program are required to participate in an European Practicum, which takes place between June and September. This project provides participants with an essential opportunity to use their business informatics knowledge to tackle real business issues. A member of the academic staff of one of the partner universities and, in the case of a co-operative project an expert from a company will supervise the project. The academic supervisor will guide the participant and grade the master thesis. Partner universities are responsible for identifying project opportunities. Students with exceptional initiative are welcome to make project proposals on their own. All projects will be presented and offered to all participants.