Dundalk IT MBS students get to business in Austria

Six students from DkIT’s Masters in Entrepreneurship and Marketing course and their Lecturer recently undertook a one-week Residential to Austria. The Residential is part of an established collaboration between the School of Business and Humanities and the Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences in Germany. 

According to the college a key component of collaboration is the Business Strategy module on this course which is co-delivered by a project team from both DkIT and Heilbronn University Graduate School who have significant educational and industrial experience.

The module is delivered as a week-long intensive international residential module, worth 10 ECTS. The Residential is a high-level, intensive, interactive collaborative component, focused on teaching students to diagnose international strategic business issues and develop effective strategies to deal with them in a globally competitive environment.

The venue for the residential this year was Söllerhaus in the Austrian Alps, a self-contained residential venue facilitating complete immersion in the module. The initiative was supported this year by the EU ERASMUS+ programme which contributed to students’ costs.

During the week-long residential, students integrated in small teams of mixed nationalities, sharing valuable and complimentary educational, industry and cultural experiences. Sophisticated cloud-based business simulation software, Topsim’s Mastering Global Expansion was used, challenging the students to practice analytical and evaluation techniques.    

Through this International Residential with Heilbronn UAS,  DkIT’s MBS in Entrepreneurship and Marketing programme has achieved a phenomenal 4 awards, one for Best Academic Partnership and three for Best International Collaboration Project at the Irish Education Awards (2018, 2019 and 2023). 

According to DkIT Head of Department of Business Studies, Dr. Brian Boyd:

“Our MBS students have a world-class opportunity on this Residential to work with Heilbronn University of Applied Science graduate School, putting Business Strategy into practice in a dynamic and intercultural learning environment.”

Dr. Maeve McArdle, Business Strategy module Coordinator noted:

“The Residential Module is a truly unique learning experience, where our students are fully immersed in the module for an entire week. They learn to live, study and work together as a team, making memories and forging life-long friendships.”