Testimonials and interviews

"After six years of entrepreneurship, I needed new impetus. I was looking for a degree programme that would strengthen me professionally and strategically advance our company, a driving school for people with disabilities. Applying for the extra-occupational MBA degree programme was one of the best decisions of my career. The time was intensive and very instructive. The effort and level are high, but every module pays off. I really admired and benefited from the expertise of our lecturers. Business law became my favourite module. The knowledge imparted there helped me to change our legal form. Since the MBA, I also approach negotiations and technical discussions differently and my expertise is greatly appreciated. The pandemic began shortly after my degree. Unfortunately, we were unable to implement our award-winning growth concept and instead crisis management and HR management took centre stage. Thanks to my MBA, I am now in the position of Executive Director, where I have to make difficult decisions - but I can do it."

"A few years ago, I decided to start an MBA at FH Aachen, not fully knowing what the journey would bring.

Today, I can say that I'm proud and grateful for this decision, it has shaped me both professionally and personally.

I'm happy to share that I have now completed my MBA at FH Aachen.

This milestone was not only about lectures and exams, but also about late nights, balancing work and study, and the lessons I learned from inspiring professors, colleagues, and friends.

I'm thankful to everyone who encouraged me along the way.

With this chapter complete, I'm excited to take on new challenges and see where the next step will lead."

"As an engineer, it made sense to acquire not only technical knowledge but also business administration, company law and management expertise. My employer covered the costs of my MBA programme. I was happy to accept this offer in order to qualify for my further professional development.

The commercial and legal content was particularly valuable: it gives me a better basis for working with commercial colleagues and helps me to better understand company decisions. The events on personnel management were also a good basis for my work as a line manager. Thanks to good organisation, it was easy to combine family, job and studies, as the seminars took place on Fridays and Saturdays.

The all-round good support from AcIAS and the team spirit among the students motivated and supported me. The MBA signals to employers that you are interested in responsible tasks and demonstrates management expertise - not only I benefited from this, but also my other fellow students during my studies."

An engineer by training, Petra Grossmann founded a company early on and built and led a team herself. Today, she is active as a coach and imparts knowledge and skills on the topics of leadership and team building in workshops, among other things. She has been leading the "Team Leadership" course on the MBA degree programme since May 2023.

"Leadership no longer works through control – and good team leadership begins with self-leadership. In my course, participants learn to better understand themselves and their role in the team. We work with theoretical approaches from organisational development, but above all in a practical way: How do I conduct effective employee appraisals? How do I build trust – especially in times of home office and remote working?

People who want to develop teams today must also develop themselves. This understanding shapes my approach in the MBA programme."

Marcel Wiegard completed his MBA in the "Management and Entrepreneurship" degree programme in 2021.
He is a landscape architect and was already employed as a project manager at GREENBOX LANDSCHAFTSARCHITEKTEN Partnerschaftsgesellschaft mbB during his studies.
Today he is a partner at GREENBOX and his area of responsibility has changed considerably in this new role. In this interview, he reports on how his participation in the MBA Management and Entrepreneurship degree programme has strengthened his professional development...

"In addition to my degrees, I also completed an MBA programme because I really wanted to become a tax consultant, lecturer and entrepreneur. My previous education didn't give me enough knowledge about business management. I wanted to close this gap. At that time, I had already been working for seven years. The decisive argument in favour of the MBA programme for me was the high-quality courses in German and the proximity to the place of study.

I learnt a lot about entrepreneurship, start-ups and growth on my MBA course. In my Master's thesis, I wrote my first business plan for my law firm, which I founded after graduating. The result: seven years after completing my MBA, my law firm is one of the largest in Germany with over 120 tax experts. The MBA programme also gave me access to an interesting network. The path to self-employment requires courage, and the MBA has given me the necessary expertise and self-confidence. But it's also worthwhile for those who don't want to start their own business: all my MBA fellow students have gone on to have very successful careers."

"My position requires expertise in finance and organisation. I completed my first degree in mechanical engineering, specialising in product design. In my professional career to date, I have focused exclusively on design, primarily in creative roles. In my previous position, my financial and supervisory activities were primarily shaped by the “learning by doing” method. This had its limitations in the long run. So I looked for ways to organise myself better and also to broaden my knowledge and horizons.

The MBA programme in Management and Entrepreneurship fulfilled exactly these wishes and helped me to perform my current role to the best of my ability. Despite the effort involved, I really enjoyed the programme. Overall, the time commitment for the programme is high, but this is quickly forgotten when you hold the final certificate in your hands."

"With my engineering degree, I could have very well continued my career in the technical field. But my heart beats strongly for entrepreneurship, which is why I really wanted to continue my education there. In 2009, MBA programmes were not as widespread in Austria as they are today, especially not part-time ones. I opted for the MBA programme at FH Aachen because it was one of the few that had a large number of lecturers with practical experience. You could clearly feel the practical knowledge in the quality of the content. The entire degree programme was highly interesting. 
I particularly remember the personal development course, which taught me a lot about myself and laid the foundations for self-reflection. Another thing that makes the programme so special is the team spirit among fellow students. It is an intensive time and an exciting journey, and in the end, despite the additional workload, I felt it was a shame that the time had passed so quickly. An MBA imparts lifelong knowledge and the combination of technology and entrepreneurship offers a wide range of career prospects. And many companies value entrepreneurship highly."