In February of last year I decided to do a semester abroad at the Dublin Business School because I really wanted to stay in an English-speaking country and in Europe. At the time, I was looking for testimonials on the MicroEDU page that really helped me. I can recommend Dublin Business School and the city itself to everyone.
Preparations
I advise anyone who has decided to contact DBS to start looking for an apartment early on. Many of my fellow students lived in the dormitory, where rents were in the four-digit range. It is best to look in student groups for possible accommodation beforehand or apply for a place in the student dormitory early on. Thanks to Ryanair, the flights to Dublin are now available for less than 30 €, so I was able to fly home for a weekend. Visit educationvv.com to get information about Universitat Autonoma De Barcelona student exchange program.
University
The university itself cannot be compared with a German university. The DBS does not have its own campus and is divided into several buildings. All buildings are 5 minutes’ walk from each other and are all in the city center, which makes studying and life after university very pleasant. The library is great for learning and the student service, as well as the IT department, will help you with any matters. The WLAN works everywhere and you can also print. There is no canteen or cafeteria, but there is a kiosk in the individual buildings where you can get snacks and fresh wraps. A supermarket is right across the street. So you don’t starve. The DBS also offers manySports offers. For example, in my three months I played on the DBS soccer team and made a lot of friends there. A compensation next to the university was very good for me.
Courses
All courses at DBS have earned me 5 ECTS. It was the same with all the other students from Germany. The effort differs depending on the course and level. In some subjects a term paper was enough, in other courses it was several presentations and tests. But that depends on the professor. The courses are actually easier than in Germany, at least that was the case with me. In addition to university, you definitely have enough time to see beautiful Dublin and Ireland. The professors always try to deal with current issues and to help as best they can. It is best to ask right at the beginning what the requirements of your course are. So you can get a rough overview of the workload directly.
Dublin
Dublin in itself is worth the trip. The people are very warm and help you in every situation.It gets exciting when you are outside the city center – in a positive sense. Both Howth in the north of Dublin and Dun Laoghaire in the south are worth a trip. With the dart you can reach both within 20 minutes from the city center. Traveling by bus in Dublin is also very easy. The buses mostly run every 10-15 minutes and you pay a maximum of € 2.50 per trip or € 5 per day. The Luas (tram) goes directly from the student residence to the city center and costs about the same as the bus. As already mentioned, the rent index in Dublin is significantly higher than in Germany. For the rent you have to plan between € 800 and € 1000. A pint of Guinness isn’t available for less than € 5, and that’s cheap by Irish standards.
Summary
I enjoyed every second of my stay. If you work constantly and spend an hour on the subject in the afternoon, you won’t have any problems getting a good grade at the end of the semester. MicroEDU helped me with any question I had during my stay. The DBS tries very hard to convey relevant knowledge to the students. What I found a bit of a shame was the fact that a good 80 percent of the students at DBS are not from Ireland. I had a lot of German and French students in my courses. Nevertheless, there were also many students from other countries, which of course was very exciting and made friendships all over the world possible.
A special feature of the DBS was that you had to register with your card for every course, as the minimum attendance is 80 percent. Don’t let this confuse you, as the 80 percent is only relevant for non-EU students due to the visa.
In summary, I can say that I have more than enjoyed my semester abroad at DBS and would do it again at any time. I hope my report made your decision easier.
