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25 AlumniPlus seminars
25 AlumniPlus seminars
AlumniPlus seminars on the Reutlingen
campus
In the spring of 2007 Reutlingen
University organised two five-day
International Alumni Seminars on the
University campus. Both seminars were
well-attended by diverse groups of
delegates representing a large number
of countries. The topic of the first seminar
was “ Location Factor Knowledge”; the
second one took as its theme “Baden-
Württemberg and its medium-sized global
players”. In addition to getting to grips
with the stated themes of the seminars,
there was enough time during both events
for networking and personal interaction,
as well as excursions and getting to know
and enjoy the Swabian way of life. This
article offers an overview of the first of
the two seminars, which took place at
the end of March 2007.
Sunday, 26 th March:
“Coming home - coming together“ this
was the theme of the Welcome Evening
on Sunday. The seminar participants were
able to get to know each other over a
finger-buffet of Mexican food - in as far
as this was necessary, since some of
them had studied together during their
semester abroad in Reutlingen, and the
faces of all the former students were
certainly still familiar to the staff of the
International Office.
Monday, 27 th March:
After the rather informal start on Sunday
evening, the formal welcome by the
University took place on Monday morning.
Afterwards Peter Haller, a Swiss visiting
lecturer at the Baden-Württemberg Export
Academy, introduced the main topic of
the Seminar. He explained the function
and the effects of international
communication, illustrating his talk with
a variety of concrete examples; he
touched not only on the advantages of
international communication, but also
on the obstacles and traps which often
get in its way, particularly in the business
world. Finally, a series of team-based
activities enabled all the delegates to
put their own intercultural competence
and understanding to the test, and to
ascertain what they consist of, and when
and how they are brought to bear.
Tuesday, 28 th March:
Francisco Aguilera, a former Reutlingen
student now working with the consulting
company TMG Stuttgart, led the
discussions on this day. Taking the
American clothing manufacturer GAP as
an example, he introduced various
management strategies as employed by
international companies; these were later
discussed by means of role-plays. In order
to do this, a group of GAP-managers was
formed to talk about the brand`s current
problems - these include falling revenue,
a weak image, splitting up of the brand
and an ageing customer base. And even
though the fictional Reutlingen
management team naturally could not
come up with a patent remedy in just one
day, the case study was an excellent way
of demonstrating how various
management strategies can be combined.
Wednesday, 29 th March:
On Wednesday the seminar participants
travelled to the nearby town of
Herrenberg to visit the Walter Knoll
company, which manufactures
upholstered furniture. The success story
of Walter Knoll is as impressive as it is
unusual. After the company was taken
over in the early 1990s by the Benz family,
it was able to move out of deficit, increase
its turnover to 50 million euros, and
expand its workforce to 200. All this was
done not under the well-known company
name of Rolf Benz, but under the original
name of Walter Knoll the Benz family kept
the old name in order to continue the
story of its own family firm under this
“foreign” brand-name. The seminar
participants were very impressed by the
products themselves, which they were
able to subject to extensive testing during
the tour.
Thursday, 30 th March:
The last day of the seminar gave the
delegates an opportunity to reflect again
about what international networking
means for Reutlingen University. The
difficulties, in particular the wide
geographical distribution of the
international alumni, soon became clear,
as did also the opportunities offered by
this particular group of alumni as a result
of their generally positive experiences
gained during their period spent studying
abroad and their cosmopolitan attitudes.
All the participants agreed that the
creation of a successful alumni network
must begin before graduation. Only people
who identify strongly with their University
whilst they are studying there are likely
to be interested in continuing the
relationship with their alma mater in later
years. It was agreed that Reutlingen still
has some work to do in this area, even
though there is already a range of
sporting and cultural activities which go
some way towards enriching life on
campus.
In the afternoon the Swabian Alb was on
the programme. After exploring the
Wimsen Cave by boat, the delegates
recovered from their adventures during
the ensuing brewery tour and beer-tasting
in the Klosterbrauerei in Zwiefalten. The
day -and with it the seminar as a whole
- ended exactly as a Swabian day should
end: with a hearty Swabian meal in
Maximilian`s restaurant in Reutlingen.
“Networking” with lectures, trips and discussions:
Alumni Seminar at Reutlingen University, Spring 2007
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