Fudan MBA sudents were having lunch with the lecturer, Dr. Caroline Glackin from Fayetteville State University
This August, Fudan students joined the opening ceremony of the Cologne International Summer University program with other program participants from Japan, Canada, Turkey and other countries. They were given an introduction to the program arrangements and curriculum. The lecturer of the program was Dr. Caroline Glackin from Fayetteville State University.
The curriculum was comprised of all together 30 hours of classes and 150 hours of after-class practice, which was indeed a fully arranged one. The students really expected the program as it seemed so helpful for the improvement of their academic performance.
During the program, University of Cologne has arranged a set of courses and activities centered around “Enterpreneurship”, covering contents from lean startup, business model test, market analysis, minimum viable products, to execution of a business plan.
Fudan MBA students in class
The students were divided into 7 groups. Each group was required to model the process of starting up an enterprise. The students worked together to complete a business plan and establish a business model canvas which precisely located 9 main factors of starting up a company, including Key Partners、Key activities、Key resources、Value proposition、Customer relationship, among others.
The students learnt from the class that one should not move to the next step until he’s fully aware of the current situation. Once started, he needs to stick to his initial ideas and sharpen them in the practice and challenges of the market. Furthermore, Professor Glackin introduced to the students the Lean Startup Model, which was an upgrade of business model canvas, with a much stricter requirement.
To fully represent the business environment, each of the students did market survey with 10 interviewees of different backgrounds and produced a report on the survey. And on completing the project, the students also established their own industry website and produced an introductory video clip.
The course combined several pedagogies including: lectures, videos, readings, in-class activities, and real-world experimentation, through which it promoted entrepreneurial thinking and explored a variety of problem solving approaches. Students had the chance to experience what it meant to fully engage their brains to discover the patterns that produced breakthrough ideas and identify their own creative problem-solving styles.
The students were discussing the after-class exercises
According to the students, during the program, they often need to stay up late to do the case study and other practice. But the courses were so helpful that no one had ever complained about the hard work. Through various learning methods, the students were absorbing the knowledge in a highly effective way.
The program also included several cultural tours to the Cologne Cathedral, the Presidential residence at Bonn, as well as a leisurely cruise trip along the Rhine, offering a chance for students to get a deeper understanding of German history and culture.
The students took a group photo in front of the Presidential residence at Bonn
On the last day, all the students did well in the final presentation and successfully passed the exam. They presented a gift to Caroline to thank her patience and kindness.
On completing the program, the students presented a gift to Caroline
According to the students, it’s remarkable that the program has embedded a complete set of courses on entrepreneurship into a short term of just two weeks. And they all had made great improvements on their understanding of entrepreneurship and starting a business. Xu Wei, a participating Fudan student, said the trip had a perfect combination of academic learning on campus and cultural experience off campus, which allows the students to enormously enrich their knowledge on related topics.
