Read on to find out about the unique University Excellence meets SAP event hosted at SAPPHIRE NOW 2010, in Frankfurt and the impressions of the students who attended.

Fifty-four top students from 27 different universities in the DACH-Region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) followed the invitation of Michael Kleinemeier (Managing Director SAP Germany, Regional President DACH) to meet in Frankfurt at the SAPPHIRE NOW 2010 for an exclusive opportunity to look behind the scenes at a "University Excellence meets SAP" event.

All the students learned how SAP impacts the business world, listened to keynotes from senior SAP executives including Bill McDermott (Co-CEO) and Jim Hagemann Snabe (Co-CEO), Michael Kleinemeier and Andreas Naunin (Head of Management Board Region DACH, SAP Deutschland) and Mark Jones (Global Head of HR Operations).

They took a dive into the ecosystem and the history of the world’s leader in collaborative business software with a guided exhibition by Thomas Pfister (Head of SAP World Tour) and by visiting customer breakout sessions. And, last but not least, were invited to learn about potential career opportunities with SAP as a recognized employer of choice.

Students were selected based on merit and nominated by professors of leading universities in the regions. They are studying a variety of undergraduate, master and MBA courses including business, computer engineering, and innovation management.

One more time, the feedback was overwhelming:

• 97,8% said the event positively changed their perception of SAP as a company
• 93,3 % said the event positively changed their perception of SAP as an employer
• 100 % of all participants would likely consider SAP as an employer
• 100% would recommend this event to fellow students

Assortment of received impressions:

• “I gained much more information on the company especially as an employer and it conveyed that SAP is a company that is more open, more interesting and more sympathetic than I thought. I liked the values that were communicated by the people we met.”
• “…I also found it very impressing that you (as SAP) have talked about mistakes you made in the past. That in fact was the reason for me being convinced that SAP is an employer that I would very much like to stay in contact with…”
• “I particularly liked that everybody we got in contact with was absolutely accessible and encountered us on equal footing and that people from very different departments gave an impression of their work and SAP.”
• “It was very interesting to get a closer look behind the scenes of SAP, to see how they run their business and how the colleagues are connected with each other over the world. I got a really good impression of how it would be taking part at SAP.”
• “… the most important point was that students were taken seriously, even by top managers and that SAP was able to give me a very personal feeling of a company where I can imagine to work for in a demanding but personal, good atmosphere”
• “The company's vision and strategy shared by the C-Levels, managers, and individual contributors have enhanced my positive perception of the company.”
• “I believe SAP is a company which really cares about the employees, so that they can grow in responsibility, self confidence and knowledge.”