GfK Sponsors Academia

German agency GfK-Nürnberg e.V. and the Economics and Social Sciences faculty at Erlangen-Nuremberg University have this week renewed an agreement under which the Market Information Management department (SBM) will receive financing and support for a further three years.

The agreement also provides for one or two study grants from 2003 onwards which will be awarded each year to graduates wishing to go on to complete a Master of Business Arts in market research at the University of Georgia in the USA.

GfK, which has already provided support for the department amounting to EUR 307,000 over the past three years, will provide additional funds of EUR 384,000 over the coming three years. Of this, EUR 45,000 will benefit students who wish to follow up their studies in Nuremberg with a Master of Business Arts (MBA) in market research at the University of Georgia, in Athens near Atlanta, USA.

Market Information Management is an interdisciplinary department jointly developed by the Economics and Social Sciences faculty and GfK, which prepares students of business studies for the complex challenges in today's market research profession, both at institutes and in industry, commerce and the service sector. Students attend lectures on IT, communications technology, marketing, psychology and statistics. They also learn how to process surveys from a practical point of view. To this end, GfK organizes a series of talks where marketing and market research experts and industry experts present case studies and outline their experiences from the front line. Students can also do placements at GfK companies in Germany or abroad or work for the companies whilst completing their studies.

'The Market Information Management department is a unique concept in German universities,' explains Professor Dr. Hermann Diller, who holds the chair of the Marketing faculty and one of the initiators of the project. 'GfK-Nürnberg continues to highlight its commitment, both past and future, to promoting the market research industry with first rate, hands-on training through its support for the department,' continues Dr. Klaus L. Wübbenhorst, Chief Executive Officer of the GfK Group, adding that the 'unique combination of practical training and theory' hitherto unknown in the market research industry in Germany, helps to achieve two basic tasks, namely promoting the training of market researchers as well as cooperating with academic institutions in Germany and abroad, particularly with Erlangen-Nuremberg University.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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