At Munich Business School (MBS), we understand learning and teaching as a shared journey within the entire MBS community. Inspired by the MBS Explorer Spirit, this journey combines new experiences, challenges and adventures with individual pathways and social cohesion in the pursuit of learning goals. These goals can be unique to each student, are defined for each study program, and are articulated in MBS’ institutional learning goals. We place personal responsibility, individual personality and student activities designed to critically question and expand new knowledge at the heart of the learning process.
The following aspects are particularly important to us on our joint teaching and learning expedition:
As diverse and unique as our community. We apply an array of teaching and learning formats as appropriate in our study programs. These formats place a particular emphasis on lived experience, projects and skills. It is our firm belief that this is the only way for learning to yield lasting results – moving away from teacher-centered methods towards modern learning formats firmly rooted in the real world.
Interested in some examples? Here’s a selection of the formats we use.
Learning From and With Partners in Practice
Business projects with partner companies are an integral part of all study programs. They give students the opportunity to work on a real project for a large corporation, a medium-sized enterprise, a start-up or a non-profit organization. Students work in teams on these practical projects over several months. This allows them to familiarize themselves with the company’s internal processes and structures while also successfully applying their newly acquired expertise in practice.
Students on bachelor’s programs at MBS complete a social project in cooperation with a social institution or non-profit organization at the very beginning of their studies. In addition to project management skills, the students immerse themselves in other realities of life and see things from different perspectives.
Sustainable Learning Through Knowledge Application
Our study programs see students get hands-on with specific tasks in workshop settings. In digitalization workshops, for example, students actively apply digital technologies, program their own project websites and implement online marketing measures. Other workshops focus on agile working methods and creative techniques.
In the Start-up Week specially designed for the MBA General Management, students apply Design Thinking and Lean Start-up concepts, develop their own ideas in a design sprint and share them with founders from the MBS community. Students on the Innovation and Entrepreneurship master’s program also follow a similar path, completing a start-up project that includes creating various applications on digital prototypes.
The MBS Career Center also holds regular workshops that see students work on real tasks and benefit from supervision from our many corporate partners. This is how to put knowledge into practice!
Learning in Different Places
Learning at MBS takes place in many locations – from internships in Germany and abroad to semesters at partner universities, class excursions and cultural activities. This is because we believe new knowledge and insights are generated by more than just classroom-based teaching. Lecturers might invite students to immerse themselves in Asian culture in Munich’s Westpark or discuss case studies at the relevant company’s offices. The same applies to a wide range of lectures on practical issues. Experts from various companies regularly visit MBS to give guest lectures, while students visit companies and organizations to learn directly on site.
First-hand Practical Experience
A special learning experience awaits MBA General Management students during the Business Simulation Week. After a two-day bootcamp in accounting and finance, students take on specific key roles in a struggling company over four days with the task of leading it back to profitability and growth. It’s a challenging endeavor in which students immediately experience the impact of their own actions.
We also use simulations in our other degree programs to provide direct applications and feedback, such as in culture-specific courses, to simulate behaviors and general dynamics (networks, cultural factors, etc.) and place them in a realistic context.
Our students also have opportunities to participate in various competitions as part of their learning journey to get feedback from within MBS and beyond. Examples include open innovation challenges, business plan competitions and the IUM Mark Challenge on luxury business. Students prepare all necessary documents and meet requirements in class to ensure their success.
Thanks to our modern syllabi and innovative approaches to teaching, our shared learning journey is the perfect preparation for future professional challenges and the next steps in your career. It is particularly important to MBS as a university that you, as a student, can forge your own path and develop as an individual.
Our institutional learning goals reflect MBS’ mission and values, have been refined for each study program and are at the heart of everything we do. They represent the skills you will acquire, develop, consolidate and hone during your studies.
Our Assurance of Learning process monitors your attainment of competency goals during your studies. This special form of quality assurance enables us to continuously develop our syllabi, teaching and learning formats – and thereby ensure your personal learning success.
At the end of each semester, you will have the opportunity to anonymously evaluate your courses and the lecturers. The focus is on the quality of the teaching content and your lecturers’ teaching and communication skills. We use the survey results to systematically improve the courses we offer. In turn, lecturers have the opportunity to build on their strengths and provide you with the best possible learning experience. In addition to formal teaching evaluations, you can also provide feedback directly to the academic director, faculty, or program coordinator at any time.
To ensure and further develop the quality of teaching, Munich Business School promotes the continuous professional development of its lecturers. Measures include
We have awarded the MBS Teaching Award since 2020 in recognition of outstanding teaching. The award criteria include the use of innovative teaching concepts, a strong commitment to teaching and a focus on learning success, as well as excellent student supervision and support. The award comes with prize money of EUR 2,500.
Previous teaching award winners:
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