"Beste time of my life" - Alumni report on their semester abroad (Videos from 2020)

Fabian Meier has been around the world: after graduating from high school in Nicaragua, he attended summer school in Canada, followed by studies in Australia and Taiwan. For several years now, he has been working tech giant Apple in California, today (2025) as a manager in the field of cloud infrastructure, solutions architecture and analytics. How does one get into a company like Apple? Fabian says that his experiences abroad taught him how to work well with people from different cultures. His recommendation: Students should broaden their horizons through international experience whenever possible.

Benedikt Kohlstädde was very keen to spend his semester abroad at Murdoch University in Australia. At that time, there was not yet a cooperation agreement with H-BRS – so the applied biology student and some of his fellow students initiated one themselves. In contact with students from all over the world, he experienced ‘down under’ how people from other cultures ‘tick’ differently and developed a sensitivity that he uses in his professional life every day. Today (2025) Benedikt works as a Director CD&O training at Bayer.

Christian Klie studied business informatics for a semester in Australia, which gave his career start and career at the Telekom Group an extra boost. In his opinion, international experience and skills are a must-have in his field of work (cloud engineering). HR Management at T-Systems does also  and for HR decisions at his employer, T-Systems. Today (2025) Christian works there as a Global Head of Hybrid Cloud Engineering.

Barbara Bermes: During her computer science studies, Barbara chose the University of Toronto for her semester abroad and quickly fell in love with Canada. After graduating in 2003, she immediately moved back to Toronto. She now lives there and worked in several positions in the IT industry (Mozilla, Lever and others). Today (2025) she works as Director of Product at HR Platform Workleap, Toronto.

Sandra Bulling: During her studies (technical journalism/PR), Sandra gained insight into corporate communications at the Gerling Group in China and subsequently wrote her bachelor's thesis in Cambodia. Her time in Asia and her master's degree in the USA shaped her understanding that there are other ways to solve problems than the ‘typical German’ approach. For many years she worked at UNICEF Germany, beeing responsible for programme communications. Today (update 2025) she works as a Team Lead Brand and Content at the German NGO Welthungerhilfe.

Business administration graduate Daniel Kajan took the plunge and spent his semester abroad 2013/2024 in Vietnam. There, he learned, among other things, how much the reality of life shapes one's approach to problems. After completing his bachelor's degree, he went on to study for a master's degree in Sweden. During his time as an assistant to the CEO, he oversaw company-wide projects for Reifenhäuser, an international company based in the Rhineland. Today (2025) he works as a director business operations at a Dienes, a family company  in the field of mechanical engineering.

Mert Hakalmaz | After completing his bachelor's degree in business administration, Mert Hakalmaz continued his education with two master's degrees at business schools in England and France. He now works as a management consultant in London. Through his studies and joint projects, he has made friends all over the world.

Felix Kelberlau sent his video statement from Norway. At the time, the cooperative mechanical engineering programme did not offer a semester abroad. However, during his master's programme, he accepted an offer from a Norwegian professor who was an expert in wind energy. His final project on a new wind turbine, which he tested for several months in France, retroactively financed his entire master's programme in Norway. Felix completed his doctorate in 2020 and continues to live and work in Norway as a Floating Lidar Product Lead at Fugro.

Elisabeth Lamers-Schmidt took advantage of the opportunity to earn a double degree with the University of Aberdeen while studying Applied Biology. As a graduate with outstanding grades, she was able to immediately enrol in a doctoral programme in Biomedical Sciences in Ireland. She now lives in Germany again, putting her international experience to good use at a French consulting firm... and, looking back, she wishes she had gained more extensive experience abroad outside her comfort zone during her studies.

David Luhmer, Jens Weidmann and Markus Wiktorin embarked together on the adventure of a semester abroad at Dalhousie University on Canada's east coast. They wisely began their preparations a year in advance, researching suitable courses at their host university and applying for scholarships and funding. They still rave about their Canadian host university. Last but not least, the computer scientists organised enough free time to get to know Canada more intensively on a road trip.

For Daniel Stuch, his internship semester at Bosch in China turned into a six-year stay in various positions of increasing responsibility at Bosch. Today, he manages large international IT projects for his Stuttgart-based company Bosch with colleagues from all over the world. His tip for anyone who is unable to study abroad: seek out international team partners for virtual study projects, at least, in order to improve your intercultural and language skills.