Universidad estatal de Guayaquil - UG vs University of Applied Science Wiener Neustadt - FHWN vs FOM University of Applied Sciences for Economics and Management vs Schellhammer Business School vs The Lisbon MBA

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I'm currently in my fourth semester of the International Business Consultancy bachelor program, which is fully in English and has a highly international demographic. The week-to-week lectures are generally very theory-based but they do provide a solid foundation for business principles that are essential for creating value and ensuring the profitability of a business. What stands out about this program are the professors. A great deal of them are hired externally and have succesful careers in their respective area of business (marketing, finanace, or management.) This has been very valuable because it allows students to network with current business professionals. There are also many opportunites for students with an entrepreneurial spirit. The university is very supportive of students that want to start their own business or have creative business ideas (bonus points if it's a sustainable business idea). I truly believe that students "get back what they put in" when it comes to this program. Also, the university is only 30-minutes by train to Vienna!

In my opinion, it was a good mix of theoretic and action-based learning and therefore relevant for the job. The professors were very qualified and also had work experience. The exchange between students about the practical experience is part of the classes and helps to learn different perspectives.

I have just done my Masters at SBS (MA in Organisational Psychology) and below I want to provide the full, unfortunately not so positive, picture. I have no clue where all the positive reviews are coming from – most likely they are paying for them as 99% of them do not reflect reality at all. As it doesn't fit in 1 review, I will split it, to offer the full picture. Contact me if you’d like to know more. Let's start positively – I have met several very knowledgeable and nice people among the teachers. Some are truly willing to teach you and help you grow. But do note that these people are not paid enough and outside of their actual teaching hours which means you will receive little to no support outside class unless the teacher is willing to go the extra mile with no compensation. This is where the „positives“ end. Organisationally – tuition fees are unclear, they will charge you whatever they can get away with based on your nationality (e.g. Mozambique 700eur to Netherlands 12000eur so quite the range) and you will find out randomly when you talk to your peers after enrolling. This will be labelled as „scholarship“ but it doesn’t have anything to do with your previous grades or performance. Everything is payable as opposed to standard practice in serious academic institutions - for example if you need thesis deadline extension, it is, of course, possible - for about 2K EUR. Everything and anything you pay them is non-refundable, of course. There is also insanely high staff turnover, as usually the better teachers leave the moment they find a better job in the area - often these teachers must teach there because the job market in Malaga/Cadiz province is ridiculously saturated and it is not easy to find another employment. Career days are a joke – people from hotels come to recruit cheap labour (600eur/month internship or unpaid at all) but no real professional opportunities are offered – if by some miracle you find anything suitable for you, the uni will charge you money as they have „provided“ you with this opportunity. Personally I was advised and referred several times by a staff member who went the extra mile with my CV and job applications but this is not the norm, as they definitely don't have the resources to do this for everyone. Academically – they should not have the right to call themselves a higher educational institution. There is no clear curriculum, they are changing subjects all the time – if you dared to apply it will certainly not be the same subjects as are listed on the website. For which they have a little legal note written there but that is just to cover their behinds obviously. Teachers are preparing their own syllabus with almost a free-hand, often far from what would be challenging on an actual Masters academical level. Unfortunately, AI use for cheating purposes is not strictly punished - oftentimes students will get away with it despite the instructors' full awareness of this practice, as the instructors do not have the resources to penalise everyone for it as would be the standard practice in any other reputable academic institution. It's very demotivating to be putting in organic, honest work while many just pass by using AI for every single thought they're supposed to produce scot-free. Language classes are a joke – they do not offer ANY of the languages listed online as they do not have the teachers for them. There is a Spanish class – divided between beginners and those who have already come across it, so if you’d think of improving your Spanish from B2 and higher level - don‘t even think about it as the „non-beginner“ class will not be challenging enough by far. There are English classes which are „mandatory“ for students with lack of English skills but again, no courses on e.g. Business English provided, which are a standard at other universities. Thesis writing is an absolute chaos. The guidelines are extremely vague and sometimes conflicting with what is said in class. Do not expect actual academic support – you will choose your topic and you’ll be asigned „Thesis Advisor“ which will be one of the underpaid teachers who will NOT be informed of this assignment and thus will NOT be compensated for it (as they are only paid for teaching hours and not full-time). This means that depending on your TA you will either receive some minor support out of the potential „goodness“ of the specific teacher but in reality, all is decided and „reviewed“ by the Dean - currently Prof. Sousa. „Reviewed“ is because he will only judge based on whether you have followed their template mainly regarding formatting but not content. Which means when you ask for feedback on your 60 page document you’ll often receive „Please follow the template“ which will get your thesis to „passing“ grade but if you want to actually better yourself in academic research and writing, don’t expect that here since their regular procedure doesn't strive to help every student get to their best. Grading is thus based not on content or someone actually thoroughly reading your thesis (nor there are clear grading guidelines as is more than common in other universities). Facilities – the building on campus is okay, but doesn‘t reflect the tuition amount at all. It is far from everything which means you either have to pay for school bus (expensive), figure out Spanish public transport (bus is about 7min walk) or have a car/motorcycle. There is a cafe on campus which is owned by the owners of SBS with a minor discount for SBS students but that means that there is not even a microwave or water kettle available for students - so that they would go spend money in that cafe if they want to have hot meal during their day. For people considering to apply: please be warned – if you can choose another institution for your development, do so. This university will not challenge you academically nor professionaly. It is a deceiving marketing practice at the very least – scam is the correct word unfortunately. Students that were seen sleeping/obviously using AI to answer absolutely basic (definitely not Masters level of knowledge required) questions asked by teachers IN CLASS then use AI to write on their LinkedIn how enriching and challenging this experience was after their graduation. Moreover, the university praises and advocates for the above mentioned fake social media behaviour even though they are well-aware of the scam they are running and the quality of students they enroll – no entrance exams required, of course. In fact, the university administration used AI to prepare their graduation speech for last year :) Make of that what you will. If you have applied and now cannot go back as you would loose all the tuition fees paid: challenge yourself during this time. Make sure to do all your courses diligently so that you can make the most out of this experience focusing on your academic growth. Ask an external thesis advisor to guide you if you want to actually improve your academic research and writing skills. Do the voluntary tasks during the courses, ask the teachers you deem knowledgeable and interesting for more info about their field of expertise, additional literature etc. You have to make it count yourself, as no one else will in this place – once you paid, your growth and development is irrelevant to the university with the exception of a few staff members that care. I have also submitted this review via Google, see how they don't reply as opposed to the positive ones, because they know all of the above is true :)

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