FOM graduate Souradeep Pal

FOM graduate Souradeep Pal (Picture: FOM)

Indian master student Souradeep Pal about studying in Germany at FOM

“FOM helped me integrating into German society and the job market”

20.08.2020 | Essen

Souradeep Pal is one of the first Indian FOM students getting his Master´s degree in Big Data and Business Analytics this year at FOM in Essen. „Germany has a real good image in India. “, Pal says. The 27-year old sees the studies at FOM as a step to climb the ladder of professional success. He has started an internship at the energy-company BP in Bochum this year, which has recently been extended until December 2020. Having a reference from his FOM lecturer Lars Klingenberger, who is also working at BP, helped him being a suitable and convincing candidate.

Education helps to minimize the skill gap

For many young Indians Germany is a preferred destination for studying abroad. At FOM 47 Indians have been studying during the last two years. In general the total number of Indian students has sextupled within the last ten years, so says it the information service from the Institute of the German economy in Cologne (IW). This is a big success for the German immigration policy, because many Indian students strive for a degree in „MINT“ (mathematics, informatics, natural science and technique) professions and therefore could potentially minimize the gap of skilled employees in those business fields in Germany. An essential advantage for the business location Germany is as per the IW, that Germany is not only a good place to study, but also to work: A quarter of all international students stay in Germany after they got their degree. Means that the students’ qualification is not only an advantage for the international relations but also minimizes the skill gap on the German job market. Therefore, FOM has developed a study program, which focuses on the corporate value of data and is aiming for the participation of International students. From the winter semester 2018 onwards, programmers, engineers, and scientists, as well as mathematicians and statisticians, can enroll in the new Master’s program – just as Souradeep Pal. He just wrote his Master thesis on 'Impact of Digital Technologies in Supply Chain Value Proposition: A Study of Oil and Gas Industry' with Lars Klingerberger as his supervisor. His job at BP has helped him to understand the Oil and Gas Industry and enabled to write his thesis.

Unique offer nationwide

Prof. Dr. Dirk Stein, Professor for General Business Administration, is a specialist for Digital Business and Entrepreneurship and teaches three courses of the new course of the new study program: „What we need in Germany are people with Data Science skills, that can develop new products and services out of those data.“ Anyhow, the small and medium-sized businesses may still be skeptical to take the initiative to hire experts from India on their own. And that is where FOM turns up: „We match those companies with the suitable experts after finishing their degree – so we hand them our graduates on a silver platter“, Stein laughs. „There is and should not be a reason why German companies shouldn´t take hold.“ Other universities in North Rhine-Westphalia also offer programs for Indian students – but only for economical and engineering topics. Big Data is a unique feature at FOM.

Shaping the professional profile

In India Souradeep Pal already worked for an international known business consultancy and already got degrees in Data Science and as a technical trainer. Before that the engineer studied for one year at the Don Bosco School of management in Bangalore and already speaks a little bit German. “The study program at FOM has helped me to develop the management skills from a strategic and practical perspective that I am able to leverage in driving the right technical strategies on an international platform. The expertise of the professors, the content of the curricula and the delivery of practical applications and implications has helped me shape my professional profile.” Right from landing in Germany till now, the “tremendous support” he has received from FOM has helped him to integrate smoothly into German society and the job market. “It has been a really exciting journey for us so far and I´m certainly looking forward to the promising future ahead”, Pal says. Currently, he is living in a shared apartment in Essen.