Report on CMIS-UC Summer School 2016 in Cologne, Germany Attended from 17th April to 30th April 2016 The Exchange program was funded from the DAAD - The German Academic Exchange Service (German Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst). Submitted by Mohd Nafees Khan Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies PRN – 15020441147 2nd July 2016

1. Report on CMIS-UC Summer School 2016 in Cologne, Germany
Attended from 17th
April to 30th
April 2016
The Exchange program was funded from the DAAD - The German Academic
Exchange Service (German Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst).
Submitted by
Mohd Nafees Khan
Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies
PRN – 15020441147
2nd July 2016

2. Sponsored Details
Center for Modern Indian Studies University of Cologne (CMIS-UC) sponsored the Summer
Exchange Program which was funded by DAAD - The German Academic Exchange Service. The
funding was towards the program fees and accommodation. We have to bear Food, Visa and Air
travel charges and any personal expenses that we incurred. My total expenses for this trip was
around Rs 80,000/-. I was not able to extend my trip any further, since I have to complete my
summer internship back here in Delhi.
About University of Cologne
UOC is the Sixth University to be established in Central Europe and is one of the largest university
in Germany with more than 48,000 Students. Ranked 156th Globally as per Times Higher
Education. The university is divided into six faculties/disciplines, which together offer 200 fields
of study. The faculties are those of Management, Economics and Social Sciences, Law, Medicine,
Arts, Mathematics and Natural Sciences and Human Sciences with all modern facilities.
Summary of the Programme
The program is a general one consisting of Lectures on Germany, German economy, visits to
Industries in cities like Duisburg, Dusseldorf, Bonn, Cologne, Leverkusen and case studies and
presentation at the end.
 Participation was from April 17 - 30, 2016, within a Scholarship of the Center for Modern
Indian Studies University of Cologne (CMIS-UC) at the CMIS-UC Summer School 2016 in
Cologne, Germany.
 The hosting University was the University of the Cologne
 The CMIS is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and is part
of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) program " A New Passage to India"
The Details of the program are as follows:
 Diverse lectures ( University of Cologne, Basic German, The Role of German Chamber of
Commerce, Indian IT migration to Germany, Germany History, Bologna Process )
 Side visit of the industry culture of German ( Ruhrgebiet)
 Side visit of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education in Bonn
 Visit of a German multinational chemical and pharmaceutical company (Bayer AG)
 Visit of the German Aerospace Center (DLR)
 Visit of the House of the History of the Federal Republic Germany
 Written draft and presentation of a case study in a German-Indian work group.

3. About the Process at SIMS
The notification for the participation was sent on 12th December 2015, interested candidate has
to go through a selection process which could be a test/interview and on 20th January we were
informed that we have been shortlisted for this program. In total 9 student has been shortlisted
from 4 different colleges of Symbiosis International University (SIU) including 1 professor, namely
SIMS (Nafees and Revathy) SIBM (Shrestha and Rohit)
SSBF (Shrasthi and Juhi) SSE (Katyayni and Deepali)
SSE Prof. Khushboo Thadani
Once we have been shortlisted, the next step was to get in touch with Mrunal from SCIE -
Symbiosis Centre for International Education. She helped us in getting the Invitation letter from
Lea Zenner in Cologne, Germany. This process was completed by the end of January.
While we were busy, in our Visa process. We were informed in Mid-February that under the same
exchange program, students from University of Cologne would be visiting SIU on a 12 Days
exchange program and we selected students have to be there guide and show them places
around.
Our first interaction was on the orientation day at SCIE, when we met at the SCIE Campus at the
lunch which was followed by a cultural lecture on Indian Tradition. Later in evening I and Revathy
took our German Friends to FC Road and later to Vaishali Restaurant and on one weekend we all
went to Lavasa.
At Vaishali Restaurant, FC Road On a Day Trip to Lavasa
After the Visa Process and departure of our German Friends, it was our turn to fly down to
Germany. It was 16th April, flying from different location Delhi, Mumbai and Trivandrum and we
reached Dusseldorf Airport around 10:00 AM (Local Timing) in Germany on 17th April.

4. 17th April Sunday
It was Katherina Wi who picked us from the airport around 12:00 PM. From Dusseldorf we took
a train to Cologne Central Station – HAUPTBAHNHOF . The Hostel was at a distance of 700 Meter
hence we could easily walk till the hostel, admiring the shopping streets of Cologne flanked by
their most famous Cathedral. The hostel was equipped with all the modern facilities including Wi-
Fi, laundry, hot water and a modular kitchen where we could cook our own food.
18th April Monday
The official program started from Monday, 18th April when we were welcomed by the student
associate, Jana Hutten who along with Kathrina, guided us throughout the stay. This day, we were
given a tour of the beautiful university, which is the biggest in the whole of Germany. This was
followed by an official welcome by their dean Prof. Dr. Matthias Pilz and director, Ms. Lea Zenner.
They also hosted a welcome dinner at an Indian restaurant called Buy-Buy, thus making us feel
comfortable from the first day itself
Official welcome by Dr. Matthias Pilz

5. At the University of Cologne Mensa, University of Cologne Canteen
The coming week saw us getting acquainted with the German culture in terms of their eating
habits, travel and also their language. We had to travel to the University in a tram, which was
their second most used mode of public transport, after the underground metro. We were given
a weekly travel ticket for the same, thus making our stay easier, considering the completely
foreign language used for communication.
At the University, we attended diverse lectures on University of Cologne taken by Prof. Dr.
Matthias Pilz, learned basic German by Ms. Lea Zenner, Indian IT migration to Germany and The
Bologna Process. Apart from these enriching lectures, the program also consisted of various
industrial and museum visits.
Our first visit was to the House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn
followed by a site visit to the Federal Institute of Vocational Education and Training (BiBB), which
was taken by a staff named Ms. Airi Schmidpott, who handles public relations. We also had a
guided walking tour in Bonn, which gave us an opportunity to see the beautiful city surrounded
by river Rhine on one side.
The other visits included German Aerospace Centre (DLR), IHK German Chamber of Commerce
in Cologne, the Cologne Zoo, industrial visits to a multinational chemical and pharmaceutical
company Bayer AG and the Chemical Park, located in Leverkusen, and to a coal mining industrial
area, the Ruhrgebiet and the Zeche Zollverein in Essen.
These were spanned across two weeks which also included special walking tours of Duisburg and
Cologne taken by an Indian woman.
The program was just not focussed on the economic and industrial aspects of Germany but we
were also introduced to the social and historical aspects of Germany.
We visited a special German brewery named Kolsches Traditional Brewery, where we had a
chance to taste their traditional beer, Kolsch. On one of the days we also learned the German
way of cooking which included varieties of bread, their staple diet. We also visited the Cathedral,
the Prison Museum El-De and got invited by our German friends to their apartments to get a
glimpse of their way of living.

6. To cover the historical aspect of Germany, they took us to a beautiful castle named Schloss
Augustusberg in Bruhl. In a nutshell, we visited a total of 9 cities over a span of 15 days, which
include Cologne, Bonn, Duisburg, Bruhl, Essen, Dusseldorf, Ruhr. Adding to these we visited two
more places during the weekend, namely, a small town called Munster in Germany and
Amsterdam, Netherlands.
On the last official day, 28th April, we had case study discussions with the German students. It
was divided in 2 parts. In the first part, we were asked to introduce and explain the Indian
education system to the German students and in the second part, we had a case study discussion
wherein we had to make a business plan along with financials and present it to the Dean, Mr. Pilz
in the latter half of the day. The objective of this discussion was to facilitate German-Indian
working and understand and overcome the differences in each of their working and educational
culture.
Learning Outcome
To sum it all, attending this summer school was an enriching and a fruitful experience. The
objective of the program was more than fulfilled for us. We had an opportunity to experience
the German culture in the form of their language, education, travel, food and history. Their
hospitality was very warm, generous and one of its kind.
This program gave us an opportunity to widen our horizon by giving us international exposure
and adding value to our personalities and career. There was a new learning at every interval and
opportunity to interact with foreign students, their professors, the delegates of different
companies and members of reputed international organizations has been an unforgettable
experience.
Also, personally I feel more clear headed and confident after this trip and has imbibed a part of
foreign culture which will help in my future international travel.
Acknowledgement
I am grateful to the Centre of Modern Indian Studies, University of Cologne for designing, hosting
and executing this program so beautifully. They made sure that we came back with amazing
memories at every point of this journey.
I also extend my special thanks to the Symbiosis International University, my institute Symbiosis
Institute of Management Studies, Director Sir Retd. Brig Rajiv Divekar, Prof. Vanishree Pabalkar,
and Vishal Sir from Admin Team, Mrunal Ma’am from SCIE - Symbiosis Centre for International
Education and my all fellow friends who made this journey a memorable one.
References
http://www.cmis-uc.uni-koeln.de/en/activities/summer-school/

7. Here are a few memories that were captured in the course of the journey:
Visit to Bonn, Germany Visit to the Cologne Zoo
German Cooking Day German Aerospace Centre, DLR
Cologne Walking tour Duisburg Walking tour
Kolsche Traditional Brewery Schloss Augustuburg, Bruhl

8. University of Cologne Tandem Day # Prison Museum El-De
Case study presentation with German
Students
Felicitation (Farewell)

9. Certificates of Participation