Xinyue Huang: DAAD Scholarship Report

My name is Xinyue Huang, pursuing the Master of International Business at Queen’s University, Canada. Currently, I’m doing the double degree of Master in Management at University of Mannheim. Last semester, I have received a scholarship from the DAAD matching fund, which help me explore the school, the city of Mannheim as well as Germany as a whole.

Mannheim University strikes me as a open minded, vibrant yet academically rigorous school. The Schloss is the very first impressive thing that amazed me. Locating in a centuries old Baroque palace, stunned by the fact that I’m really going to study inside of the delicate building, I literally got lost on the way of finding the orientation room. During the orientation week, I not only get the first glance of the culture of the university, the flexible structure of the program, but also meet a lot of fellow students from around the world.

Studying at Mannheim is a joy. All professors I know are extremely learned, experienced in teaching and all-heartily caring about students. During last semester, I mainly took courses in the Finance area. Professors would not only talk about related theories, carefully explain the logic and assumptions behind, but also walk us through the empirical results as well as the industry application. I was especially impressed by professor Ernest Maug and his Corporate Finance course. I have taken similar courses at undergraduate level and thought the valuation was mechanic. But through the course by professor Maug, I get to know, for the first time, financial modeling can be so challenging yet interesting.

Apart from studying, there are also countless exciting activities. The firework in September,2016 was the first big party I had in Mannheim. Later at parties and get-togethers hold by Visum, Double- Degree Team and also my dormitory, I get to meet all kinds of students. Through jokes sharing, exchanging ideas of current affairs, making fun of culture shock and stereotypes, I made so many interesting people and luckily also lots of friends.

The study and life here at Mannheim is way better than my expectation. It had been a wonderful semester, and I believe the following semester will be also great. I would like to thank the Ekkehard Foundation and DAAD for the great experience and all the help and support. My Mannheim experience would be much less colorful without you.