• Campuspläne
• Fakultät
• Warum in Magdeburg studieren?
• Tagebuch eines Studenten

“…oh dear, in eastern Germany. And above all Magdeburg. Are you serious? The capital of Nazis and “Plattenbauten” (typical style ob the buildings in Magdeburg which are still from GDR times). Isn’t the city sign for “Tadschikistan“ or “Turkmenistan” right around the corner?

The comments of my friends were more or less identical to this, when I told them I would be going to Magdeburg for my studies. And on top of that I was doing it out of free will, a kid from the south of the republic was going to Magdeburg voluntarily. “Maybe he’s a helper with the developing aid…?” were the mocking words of some.
Yeah, sure, Magdeburg lies in Eastern Germany, in Saxony-Anhalt and people are not completely mistaken when they say that this city is kind of the cradle of poverty in Germany. But people seem to forget that these outcries and howls take place on the highest level.
That is why I would like to offer the newcomers a personal but hopefully objective judgment:
The University, the faculty and the city deserve a clear and judgment free consideration. One thing is obvious: considering teaching offers and the university Magdeburg has a very good position compared to the whole of Germany – that is why the Faculty of Economics and Management – ours and yours – as well as the Faculty for Informatics has experienced a hype in the last four years.

@ The Quality of the teaching in Magdeburg is really very, very good. Other universities can not necessarily compete with that. Friends from Tuebingen, Munich, Stuttgart or Frankfurt have told unbelievable things. Lectures are cancelled on a regular basis, Professors whom you cannot talk to and horrible lecture rooms.
All of this is hardly noticeable in Magdeburg. (okay, this one Law professor is missing sometimes, but he’s a judge, so he’s allowed to cancel his lecture from time to time).

The lecture halls are in excellent condition and technically equipped (even if the lecturer hasn’t grasped the use or sense of modern techniques. If it weren’t so sad one could be prepared to laugh, since it seems impossible for a professor or his/her “Assi” (assistant, not “Asos” = Antisocial) to switch on the fan in the summer)
Lectures are often held with the support of a Laptop and/or A powerpoint presentation, the scripts and tutorials are available online for downloads on the professors’ websites. Too crowded lectures are transmitted to other rooms with beamers, because unfortunately the rooms are starting to become too crowded as well. But compared to other Universities it is a minor problem.
Additionally, a lot of building has taken place. On every corner something is renovated and new buildings are being erected, e.g. from the beginning of the winter term 2003/04 the new Library will be finished. All in all, it is a really nice construction, which is to function as the new center for campus life together with the new computer lab and the cafeteria.
Unfortunately, to the suffering of the first and second semester students, the demand especially in Math is pretty challenging. But then again one receives a solid subject based first-rate education. Unforgettable – for those in the German program - are the comments of Prof. Gischer about “utility maximizing suicide” and that “suicide is a relative decisive intervention into one’s life”. As you can see, some professors do not miss to make a funny comment.

@ Many of the professors are pretty young, which makes a lot of things easier. The faculty itself has only been founded in 1993 and therefore very innovative. Germany’s first and for a long time only “completely in English” Bachelor-study program was designed and put into action here. Moreover, the international Management program, which combines the German BWL (Management) with English and the major IM in the core studies. In 2001 the first chair for Entrepreneurship (business- and existence foundation) was established here.
As you can see: everything’s in motion and changing!

There are times when right in the middle of a lecture it can happen that people from the MAXX-LAB burst in and perform game theoretical experiments with the whole class. Last time it was possible for every participating student (there were at least a few hundred) to earn up to 30 Euro. Additionally, It is fun to experience on your own and with real money to be won, how your actions effect the outcome in the prisoner’s dilemma situation.

@ Whoever likes big universities with masses attending the lectures will find him/herself in the wrong place here. Tuebingen or Berlin are better suited for this occasion. If however you are one of those people who is fed up with these situations and who prefers a clearly organized university, than you will definitely like the Otto-von-Guericke University:
Short distances, everything is reachable fast and the Uni is placed right in the center of MD, all of this making the campus the center place of attention and one doesn’t even have to use his/her legs that much.
And – people know each other. After two semesters at the most you will recognize many faces and be sure of it: you will always meet someone on campus – the University is not that big but has reached a size where student life is beginning to awake.

@ Students shape the image of the city. Even though only about 14,000 students (University + Fachhochschule (FH), in 2000 there were only 10,000 students) are following their studies in MD and with maybe 7,000 – 8,000 living here, they are noticeable among 230,000 inhabitants.
There aren’t a lot of times that you can stroll from the “Alter Markt” to the movie theatre Cinemaxx without hearing “Hey, how are you?” at least three times. That’s how the city becomes vivid and gets the flair of a big village.

@ The city is beautiful – despite all the bad things other people say. Magdeburg is a city, which presents itself very beautifully to the one who’s willing to observe it very closely. No wonder - no German city was destroyed more during World War II – about 85% of the area in the center of the city was destroyed by the fleet of bombs and therefore much had to be rebuild.