The orientation in export of the German economy, the increasing Europeanisation of Germany and the neighbour countries as well as the global economic integration within the globalization leads to extreme changes in the working field of the companies. Both big-sized and middle-sized industry and service companies need more and more practice-oriented graduates with the focus on international business. This was the reason why an international department was added to the established study of Information Technology at the Berufsakademie Mannheim.

In the bil-lingual department International Business Information (short: IBIT), the contents of the information technology have been supplemented by special features of international business as well as intercultural communication and management. The main focus is put on the necessary abilities like expertise, methodological competence, linguistic skills, soft skills and intercultural competence. This includes dispositive skills (organisation, planning, control, communication), mobility as well as intercultural flexibility.

After graduation, the male and female graduates of the department IBIT should have the ability to support the management of companies with international business in all respects. Moreover, they should be able to assume responsible duties, if necessary they should be able to act as an adviser, free-lance or independent corporate. A main focus of the study is put on the education as an system architect of operative, information technological based as well as integrated information systems.

All foreign and German interested parties can make an application, who have an distinct in information technological and business duties. The applicants should have an excellent knowledge of the English and German language.

Within this bi-lingual dual department the male and female students learn to know the single scopes of duties with their specific needs in the course of the on-the-job training in the cooperating companies. At the same time, they learn to know the software products, IT services, functions and organisation structures according to their company. This happens mainly in line with project works. To gain a controlled and goal-oriented realization of the practical phase of the study, the students need to have a training contract with a German or foreign company.

The academic-theoretical part of the dual study, the theoretical phase attend the students at the State University of Cooperative Education (Berufsakademie) in Mannheim. At the Berufsakademie the contents of the study are taught in manageable courses in a dialog-oriented style by professors and experts. Thereby, the transfer of main contents of information technology and business administration including the accordant terms, models and methods are in the center of interest. This should allow a distinctive comprehension of business-economic coherences.

Thereover, the students learn multi-disciplinary contents by (international oriented) projects.

By extended foreign language skills and specific self-development they learn also to think and act in a culture spanning, solving and future oriented way. The graduates should know in the end of their study both, the German and English terms.

Therewith, the department IBIT makes sure, that the training of their students satisfies the scientific demands with great practice orientation.

All students of the department IBIT have to attend classical presentation and audit programmes of information technology and business administration during their academic phase which are extended by intercultural communication and management. According to this, the challenges for IBIT students are very high.

In the six terms are taught scientific-academic basics within the courses. Basically this includes required courses in following spheres of competence:

• Methods of Information Technology: At this, it concerns core competences of the information technology specialist; this knowledge and ability is absolutely necessary for the system architecture of operational information systems. Naturally, the methods of design of operational information system architecture belong above all to business applications. The central area for the solution of information technological duties is the system analysis and software engineering with their methods and techniques.
• Business Administration: The development of operational information systems provides the realization of professional problems of business administration. Therefore, the information technology specialist as a system architect has to know the models, methods and the professional terminology of the business administration to develop operational information systems successfully. Thereover, the development of information systems always happens in the area of conflict of costs, time and quality of a project. In this context, the information technology specialist as a system architect often has to accept duties of project management and organizational behaviour. By this, he has not only to know the methods of resolution of business administration, but also to apply in person.
• Intercultural Communication und Management: A third focal point of the department is to learn the intercultural knowledge, behaviour and management. These points are absolutely necessary for the international business success of a company and are and brought forward by stays abroad.
• System development: The principles, methods, techniques and tools of the system development from the central areas of information technology are close connected with the design models. Above all, they are used for the software technological realization of the system architecture. The principles, methods, techniques and tools of the development of systems are utilities for the solution of duties of information technology.
• Help-disciplines, like maths, statistics: The help-disciplines do not belong to the core competence of IBIT students, nevertheless, they are basics for the comprehension of methods of information technology. Lectures in law impart knowledge for example in IT, law, labor law or international business law.
  Soft skills: Because the development of operational information systems is characteristically a division of labor process within projects, the ability to communicate and to work in international teams and leadership belong to important demands of qualification of IBIT students.
• Languages: Next to the bi-lingual courses in German and English, the compulsory language Spanish is offered which becomes more important in practice.

The department IBIT means with professional competence the ability, in solving professional problems, to act intellectual and physical self-organized. By professional skills and abilities, problems, are dealt with and solved, knowledge is classified and evaluated and last but not least duties and solutions are formed and advanced.

The graduates of the department IBIT have established knowledge in informatics and business administration. They analyse business scenarios and processes from the point of view of business and define adequate IT concepts to transform in information systems. As a result of their courses and practical phases in the companies, they have a broad, solution-oriented special knowledge. This enables the graduates, to come up with the challenges of international business. The range of the education enables the male and female graduates to realize a career start in all international acting companies. Thereover, they can use their interbranch knowledge in the company and also on the basis as a freelance consultant. They keep up to date.

The department IBIT means with methods of compentence the ability to act structured referring the structuring of processes, the naming of aims, the clarification and concretion of contributions and realization of suggestion of method. With methodical knowledge they prioritize and summarize information.

The graduates of the department IBIT have a good command of analysis-, modelling-, and concept methods of information technology. In consequence of the high speed of innovations in the companies, they have to work in themselves in new methods and concepts in addition. The realization happens in projects in which they have the necessary knowledge in project management and the soft skills like the ability to communicate, ability to work in a team and the ability to motivate which are absolutely necessary for the project success.

The graduates have gained a broad knowledge in scientific methods and procedures. They have gained the ability to get and to keep the information efficiently which are necessary for the problem solving. Moreover, they get the ability to develop practice-oriented solutions and methods regarding the problem. They have mathematic and statistic knowledge as well as analytic abilities which allows them to solve complex duties efficiently. They are able (e.g. by practice-, study,- and diploma thesis) to solve problems in a structured and efficient way. The graduates are additionally able to express adequate (also in foreign language), oral and written linguistic way, to communicate on international level. Moreover, they are able to work together with professionals of other areas and to represent their work to another party.

The department IBIT means with social competence the ability to act in a communicative and cooperative way. On this belong the ability to deal with other people or to sit together and to think about matters, to act group- and relation-oriented and handle intended or not-intended actions with a high emotional characteristic. This needs a high reliability and capacity.

The graduates of the department IBIT are characterized by a significant personal maturity, professional expertise, colleagueship and the ability to make decisions. The graduates notice personal and external expectations, potential and continuing conflicts, standards and values. Concerning this matter, they can differentiate and handle it. They can take social responsibility and think and act in the surrounding human being society environment.

The graduates in IBIT are able to build up a relationship, to create it motivating and businesslike and to keep it. Within a team they make an independent and appropriate contribution.

They accept criticism and deal with it. They have a hand in constructive solutions: They prioritize, coordinate their time, make decisions on schedule and according to the situation. Furthermore, they are prepared to assume responsibility. They prepare for changes and different situations; they are actively involved in the development.

The department IBIT means with self-competence particularly the ability of a person to act reflexive (self-evaluating). They reflect their own experience of life and effort of life and question their action. The graduates of the department IBIT notice their own and strange standards, can handle it and crack it. They are prepared for different situations and changes, they are actively involved in the development and can cope with therewith combined physical and mental challenges and stresses. They learn from experience. Hereunto belongs the ability to develop a productive position, values, motives and self-perceptions, to develop own abilities and achievements and to improve it.