104 Nations on One Campus: Semester Start 2010 at Jacobs University

Anne Valtink found her program of choice: “Management has always fascinated me. Combined with a sound, globally oriented education in economics and politics this is exactly my thing.” The Bremen-born Valtink, who had been active on many committees in high school, and, as an election volunteer during her 2007 exchange year in the US even had the chance to chat with then presidential candidate Barack Obama, is one of about 30 freshmen in the “Global Economics and Management” program. The new program is one of the university’s 19 Bachelor programs and one of the most popular. It differs from a classical business management or economics program, as it combines economics and business administration with aspects from the fields of sociology, political science, history, natural sciences and technology as an integral part. “I was convinced after attending last year’s Open House and saw how international the campus was and how good the professors are,” says the 18-year-old Anne, who skipped one high school year and speaks not only English, but also French and Spanish fluently. The fact that she has not left her hometown Bremen to study in the US, as originally planned, does not bother her: “Here it is completely different to what I’m used to in Bremen: rather like on an American college campus, only that the other students bring such a variety of experiences from all over the world. Everybody benefits from that.”

It also "clicked" with Mari Sugimoto. The Japanese student came to Jacobs University to study “Integrated Social Sciences”, a combination of sociology, politics, economics and communication sciences. The 19-year-old was certain from the start that she wanted to study in Europe, ideally in Germany. “I spent my childhood and youth in three countries: Japan, Tanzania and India. Therefore I was curious about the German culture as a Western industrialized nation, which differs very much from my own native Japan.” Mari learned about Jacobs as an international English-language university from her elder sister Amina, who received her Bachelor's degree in the field of Biochemistry and Cell Biology this summer. “This made the decision to come here very easy for me,” she says. “That younger siblings come to us, after the older brother or sister has studied here, has been quite common for some time now and seems as a trend to be increasing,” says Marie Vivas, Director of Jacobs University’s admissions department. “Apparently, the older child’s study success is the best argument for families to send the other children as well, despite the often long distances from home.”

Jacobs University’s excellent study conditions, which the CHE ranking recently honored with top evaluations in many categories, were also decisive for Joe McInnes: “I looked into this very thoroughly: my program, Biochemistry and Cell Biology, is simply the best in Europe,” says the 18-year-old American from Florida. The entire program is well conceived, so that we will be optimally prepared for a career in research as well as in industry. Also the labs and equipment are state-of-the-art. The rankings confirm this.” In addition to an excellent education, Joe is personally looking forward to the promise of enriching experiences via the special “spirit” of the international campus: “We all fit in so perfectly because we all are so different. I believe that here at Jacobs University, I will build not only a worldwide network of friends but also the basis for world-wide professional networking.”

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