Munich MBA Students Persevered Despite COVID Challenges

12.04.2021

First MBA Students from Wittenborg's Munich Campus Graduate

The first students from Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences' Munich campus have graduated – a remarkable feat for these MBA students as almost their entire programme the past year and a half had to be followed online due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions in Germany and Europe as a whole, including the Netherlands.

The students who graduated are Mahmut Cagatay Kirici from Turkey, Gustavo Buendia from Colombia and Sushma Rajanna from India. All three of them graduated with an MBA in International Management. The students were supervised by Wittenborg senior lecturer Dr Alexander Bauer.

Wittenborg added Munich as a study destination for its students in 2019 after partnering with New European College who facilitate the campus. Students are able to complete a full Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), MBA or Master of Business Management (MBM) programme in the bustling German city.

Wittenborg's Munich Campus Director Sascha Liebhardt said: "With the density and demanding structure of the Wittenborg MBA no easy feat even in normal times, it fills me with great pride that all three made it in the regular time despite all the challenges the Corona pandemic has thrown at the students.

"A truly international group coming from Colombia, India and Turkey, they started their studies as normal on campus and then had to switch, more or less overnight, to hybrid studies and with the strict lockdown in Munich to 100% online studies. For all of them, not only did the in-person contact with their lecturers end, but also most of their social contacts.

"Having a strong relationship with our students and lecturers, we ensured that the personal contact, although online, was always there and that regardless of the matter students at all times know that they can reach out for support. All three of them showed incredible resilience and successfully managed to stay calm and focus on their studies despite the side-effects of the pandemic. Based on their hard academic work, all three choose MBA thesis topics based on their academic and real-life passions:

"Sushma and Mahmut were both working part-time in the field of their thesis topics and received offers for full-time employment before they even graduated. Gustavo is going back to working full-time with his former employer, he had switched to part-time to accommodate his MBA studies, and will pursue his entrepreneurial idea in the Crossfit sector once the Corona pandemic is over. All three of them intend to stay in Europe," Liebhardt said.

Sushma commented: "This MBA has been the learning time of my life. Meeting amazing people like Sascha and all the outstanding professors has been a wonderful experience."