Seite 34 - General Recommendation for the Award of Credit

34

Appendix

General Recommendation for the Award of Credit

The Expert Examiner`s Appraisal

By Apl. Prof. Dr. Ulrich Scheele

The good economic prospects in

Germany and its - in comparison to other

countries - relatively high growth rates

and low rates of unemployment can be

seen as the result of a high international

competitiveness of the German industry

and of the leading role of German busi-

nesses – even medium-sized ones – in

the global markets.

An essential condition for businesses

to maintain their position in the market

even long-term is the availability of suf-

ficiently qualified employees in the area

of import and export. Not only a high

degree of specialist expertise, but also a

high degree of social competency is im-

portant.

By now there exists a multitude of res-

pective advanced training programmes

that often focus on very different core

themes.The here assessed project „Euro-

pean Manager for Foreign Trade - Export

/ Import (EMfEI)“ constitutes something

very special, as it is the joint result of a

merger between institutions of higher

education and adult education hailed

from five European states that develo-

ped uniform training standards.

The broad spectrum of content that is

covered by the EMfEI-modules also deter-

mines the reference modules that are to

be considered in the equivalence check.

Because of overlaps in content,themodu-

les „Macroeconomics“, „Microeconomics“,

„Project Management“ and „Marketing“

were chosen from the Bachelor study

programme „

BA Business Administration in

small andmedium-sized enterprises

“.

In a first overview, it is noticable that the

advanced training programme „EMfEI“

shows - contrary to the university Bache-

lor modules - a very high orientation to-

wards application. The focus is not on im-

parting theoretical knowledge; a critical

reflection of information and respective

discussion - for example about the limita-

tions of methodologies taught - does not

occur. The advanced training programme

is rather descriptive in character; interdis-

ciplinary references are hardly present.

The assessed documents rarely exceed

the respective professional context and

barely make explicit reference to current

scientific debate.

These differences between the advan-

ced training and the university pro-

gramme become especially pronounced

when inspecting those course units that

deal with economic aspects. The as-

sessed presentations hardly respond to

formal or theoretical foundations that

would be necessary for a comprehensive

and critical examination.

In a similar manner this applies to the

business studies elements of the ad-

vanced training programme. In contrast,

the programme „EMfEI“ contains a mul-

titude of components that are essential

for the practical import / export busi-

ness, experiences and qualifications that

are nearly not imparted in the Bachelor

study programme.

Beside the immediate basics of business

administration and economics, the fields

of „Marketing“ and „Project Manage-

ment“ play a role in both educational

opportunities. These subject areas are

also in the university education rather

application-oriented and directed at the

distribution of immediately applicable

knowledge. Therefore there is a large

overlap regarding these very practice-

oriented subjects. Particularly the ana-

lysis of the available documents concer-

ning the field of „Project Management“

revealed only minor differences bet-

ween the advanced training programme

und the university modules.

The advanced training programme „Eu-

ropean Manager for Foreign Trade - Ex-

port / Import (EMfEI)“ represents a high-

ly significant offer particularly for small

and medium-sized businesses and may

also be seen as an important addition

to the university programme offerings.

The Expert Examiner

Apl. Prof. Dr. Ulrich Scheele

held the administration of the

Chair of Economic Theory and

Economic Policies at the Carl von

Ossietzky University Oldenburg

until he changed into the private

sector in 2007. He is co-sharehol-

der of the „

Arbeitsgruppe für regionale

Struktur- und Umweltforschung GmbH

(ARSU)

“ in Oldenburg. In the con-

text of research projects, he is par-

ticularly concerned with politico-

economic questions in the fields

of energy and environmental po-

licies and infrastructure planning.

He still works as adjunct professor

of economic policy at the Institu-

te of Economics at the University

Oldenburg. For years he has been

responsible for the module „Mi-

croeconomics“ at the „

Centrum

für Lebenslanges Lernen (C3L)

“. This

module is offered in the Bachelor

study programmes „

Business Admi-

nistration in small and medium-sized

enterprises (B.A.)

“ and „

Business Stu-

dies for Top Athletes (B.A.)

“. Moreover

he is involved in vocational and

advanced training in the power-

supply economy (

ForWind

,

BfE Ol-

denburg

).

Seite 34 - General Recommendation for the Award of Credit - EMfEI