Student Report
Name of the University: Bocconi
Exchange semester: Fall 2014
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
We received information from Bocconi before departure, mainly concerning student housing,
course selection, login to your student page (similar to @bi / itslearning), and information
meetings. The information was given through emails. The information was sufficient to
choose and enrol in courses, and when we should arrive at the university.
Applying for a visa
Visa is not needed for Norwegian citizens travelling to Italy.
Travel
We travelled to Milan by plane. There are three airports near Milan; Linate, Bergamo and
Malpensa. Linate is closest to the university, as it is located just outside of Milan. However,
the bus-ride from Bergamo and Malpensa is only around 1 hour long (to Milan), and costs
about 10 euros.
Housing
Bocconi offers student housing close to the university. Although this is somewhat cheaper
than renting an apartment on ones own, you are not allowed to have visitors during the night.
So, if you are planning to have visitors while staying in Milan, they will have to stay at a
hotel. As we were expecting visitors from Norway, we chose to rent an apartment on our
own. However, as most require that you live in the apartment for 1-4 years, this process was
quite difficult. They also require rather deposits, which are handled in a less formal way than
in Norway, thereby providing little security for the tenants. Also, rental activities are
performed by agents, which require a fee, making the rental process more expensive.
After talking to other exchange students at the university, we discovered that many rented
apartments through AirBnB, thereby avoiding the deposit and agent fee. Also, many found
accommodation through facebook groups for international students / Erasmus students, that
frequently post available rooms/apartments. We therefore recommend others studying at
Bocconi to rent through AirBnB, or finding it through facebook.
Costs
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Gym
6000 NOK
2000 NOK
3000 NOK
300-400 NOK for monthly for public transportation (metro card)
620 NOK
Culture and language
The culture in Milan is very distinctive in its way and is something we really appreciated. It
is not enough just to drop by in Milan for a weekend; rather you have to stay there for a while
to get a feel for the Milanese culture. You should not be unfamiliar to the thought of eating
Pizza and pasta if you want to live in Milan. But of course, there are other options as well,
such as the famous concept called Aperitivo, where you pay for the drink, but you eat as
much as you like for free. Even though, eating is a big part of the culture in Milan, especially
in areas such as Navigli and Brera, Milan does also offer a great variation in nightlife. Posh
clubs are easiest to find, but you could also find more laidback clubs and bars. I think most
exchange students in Milan agree on that they got closer to other exchange students than local
Italian students. A good way of getting closer to the Italian culture is to try to share apartment
with Italians rather than staying at the Bocconi residents or with other exchange students.
When it comes to the language, we found that the ordinary man on the street do not speak
very well English. A little bit of pre-knowledge on Italian could always help, but there is no
problem in getting around even if you don’t learn Italian.
In prior to our arrival we were offered to sign up for both an Italian crash course and a
follow-up course consisting of in total 70 hours of Italian lessons. If learning languages is a
field of interest, the language course is highly recommendable. It is also a good platform to
get to know other exchange students, before the ordinary classes at Bocconi started.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
The University – Bocconi
We all had very high expectations to Bocconi as it was ranked #7 in Europe. The university
itself is a mix of old buildings and newer ones. The facilities at the Uni were surprisingly
poor. You could for instance not scan anything, and the printing system was down the first
weeks, which forced us to find external copy stores for their service. However, the library
was quite good (BI is still better), offering many quiet areas as well as group areas. But
remember to be there early if you need to read as it gets full very fast.
Course registration
We registered for courses prior to arrival, which was done at Bocconi’s website. We received
instructions on how to do this by email. After the semester started we also had an add/drop
period of approximately two weeks, to adjust for overlapping courses, or just to try out the
courses before making our final choice.
Academic calendar
The academic calendar was very much similar to our home university calendar. One major
difference, however was the scheduled midterms for many of the courses halfway in the
semester. Those of us who had courses without midterms were able to spend these days on
travelling in stead. The exam dates were adjusted for exchange students in order for us to be
able to finish the semester of before we went home for Christmas. However, one could
choose to come back in January/February to take the exam, or even retake exams (if one
whished to improve results achieved on exams in e.g. December) Hence, a very flexible
calendar.
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
21st of August
4th of September
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
15th of December
December – February (you can choose to
only have exams in December)
Arrival
The introduction week was organized by ESN, and consisted of two weeks with dinners,
aperitivos and parties. The schedule was easy to follow via their facebook page, and they also
invited all Erasmus students to the different events.
International office
International office was helpful if we had any questions regarding the school. However, their
office hours were limited and were closed for three hours during the day. At the beginning of
the semester they had expanded the office hours to meet the students needs. We got a
welcome guide with information about the university, service, facilities and housing. Unlike
the rest of the staff working at Bocconi, the staff at the international office spoke and
understood English well.
Promoting
We didn’t experience any kind of promoting of the University in advance.
Social activities
There were a lot of social activities organized by ESN. The two first week of the semester
they hosted parties every day of the week, similar to “Fadderuken” at BI. They had a great
mixture of activities to do, such as game nights, aperitivo, “drink all you want”-dinner, and
traditional events at nightclubs. They also arranged trips such as daytrip to Lake Como,
October party in Munich, weekend trip to Vienna and ski trip to the mountains. They had
social activities for every one. Since all students choose different courses, we didn’t have the
same class with the same students, as we are used to at BI. It is therefore recommended to
participate in social activities early in the semester, as people seem to find friends quickly.
The social activities arranged by ESN are a great opportunity to get to know other exchange
students and get to know the city. It is also much cheaper to attend these happenings, than for
instance try out the nightlife by yourself (unless you are a girl and get a lot of free drinks
from intense Italian guys).
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom.
The classrooms were standard auditorium. They lacked of power outlets, making it difficult
to charge our computers during lessons. Every lesson lasted for 90 minutes, without any
break. The teaching style were usually theoretical lectures, but most also include cases and
assignments. The overall workload was somewhat lower than at BI, however, this will also
depend of whether one chooses to be an attending student or not.
Course materials
Course materials varied a lot depending on the courses. However, as a general observation,
attending students had a lot of articles, which for non-attending students were replaced with
books. Also, all classes used power point presentations (or similar), which were made
available for the students on the school’s webpage. In general we found the course materials
to be some “regular” materials that we are used to at BI, some materials that seemed more
“interesting” than based on quality research, and also some that were outdated and (from a
scholarly perspective) disappointing.
Exams
Exams also varied a lot. They could be written exams, oral exams, presentations, hand-ins, or
projects, either having one or several of these in the same course. In general though, most
courses had a written exam at the end, which amounted to anything from 20 to 100 % of the
grade. If you chose to be non-attending, this exam would be 100% of your grade. An
interesting point is that you can try to be attending, and if you fail on something you will get
the option of having the written exam for 100% of the grade. If you fail this exam in
December, you will get the option of retaking it again in January / February.
Library and technology
You can book rooms at the library, and there are some study places around. However, there
are not close to as many as we are used to in BI. Also, even if you book a room, other
students will ask you if they can sit with you all the time (mainly due to a lack of other places
to study). Technology seems up to date. They have discovered the Internet. There are some
computers available to students (never experienced not finding one available), but they are
not scattered all over the school, available to anyone at any time, like at BI.
Description of courses
Course code & name
Digital marketing and e-commerce advanced
Management of fashion and luxury companies
Consulting management
Globalization, sustainability and technology
Entrepreneurship and business planning
Management of design
Green marketing
Global operations and supply chain
management
Master/
Bachelor
Master
Master
Master
Master
Master
Master
Master
Master
Exam form
1 hour exam
1 hour exam
2 hour exam
2 hour exam +
assignment +
presentation
No exam
1 hour exam
1 hour exam
2 hour exam
Prerequisites
None
None
None
None
Approved
as
Elective
Elective
Elective
Elective
None
None
None
None
Elective
Elective
Elective
Elective
Management of fashion and Luxury companies
This is one of Bocconi’s flagship courses if one could say. Two of us had that as attending
students and two as non-attending students. The course is very interesting if the area of highend fashion companies is of interest for you. You will learn about different famous brands
and their strategies. Is could be seen as a mix of strategy courses and branding courses, where
aspects like vertical and horizontal integration, brand extension, value chain and
communication is investigated. We also got to a project for on behalf of L’Oreal, where we
were to propose a communication and retail strategy for a lipstick brand by Yves Saint
Laurent. An interesting experience, were those who wanted could get in touch with
representatives from L’Oreal and discuss work opportunities.
Overall, a nice course if, and this is a very big IF, you have an interest in the topic.
Consulting Management
Only one of us had chosen this course, so this is written as a personal opinion. I found the
course very interesting due to the fact that consultancy topics have rarely been discussed in
my four previous years as a student. I have to say; I was signed up as a non-attending student,
meaning that I did not go to classes. I had two books assigned as reading material for the twohour exam. Some of my friends were attending the course and they told me that there were
group presentations that counted for parts of the grade. They also reported that it was a
workload that was far too much and did not reflect the grading system. However, I would
definitely recommend this course as it gave me valuable and interesting insight in how
consultant companies function in terms of marketing, organizational structure, hiring and
promotion structure etc.
Globalization, Sustainability and Technology
The class consisted of a small group of highly interested and dedicated students. Learned a
lot about rules and regulations around environmental issues, some microeconomics
concerning subsidies, taxes and deadweight-losses. All students did a presentation and a
hand-in (with the same subject as the presentation) around any subject they would like, as
long as it was connected to the course. I discussed electric vehicles and their expansion in
Norway, which yielded a very good grade.
Entrepreneurship and Business Planning (E-learning)
We took this course through e-learning, and the exam was a final paper (with a presentation
of the paper). This meant that there were only 2 lectures (which were online), and that we
could organize the work ourselves. Very little curriculum. We did a paper about starting a
rental company (of apartments) in Norway, and it yielded a very good grade. This hand-in
and the presentation counted for 100% of the grade.
Management of Design
Only one of us had chosen this course, so this is written as a personal opinion. I was signed
up as a non-attending student, meaning that I did not go to classes, and needed to learn the
course material by self-study. The readings for the exam was based on academic articles and
case studies. The final grad was based on one individual written exam. I found the course
difficult to get a hold of at first, but after studying the course material I found it quite
interesting after all. I got a deeper understanding of how business companies can take
advantage of design and learn how different types of design consultancies are structured and
operated. I also understood the potential contribution of design and designers to value
creation and a company’s competitive advantage. I actually found the course interesting, as
the case studies made it easier to relate the theory to practical examples in real life.
Green Marketing
We were two students from BI choosing this course, and since it overlapped with our other
course “Management of fashion and luxury companies”, we had to be non-attending students.
In the course you get to learn about the new green marketing paradigm and its impact on the
market; new customer behaviour, the green Web, strategies for product innovation. Further,
we learned about the green marketing manifesto, the cradle-to-cradle theory and practice. The
textbooks consisted of many cases and discussion regarding fundamental theoretical
principles.
Attending students and non-attending students had different readings for the exam. The
reading materials for non-attending students consisted of three books and one Individual
written exam (with open questions and multiple-choice questions). We did not feel that the
exam reflected what we had read in the textbooks. Some of the multiple questions were very
specific, where you needed to know the full definition by heart. I strongly recommend being
an attending student at this course, due to the odd and strange exam for non-attending
students.
Global operations and supply chain management
Only one of us participated in this course, as a non-attending student. The course was quite
rewarding if one is interested in logistics and supply chain management in a global context.
There were no textbooks, only articles and slides. Some topics were quite hard to understand
as a non-attending student, so it may be better to take this course as an attending student. The
academic level was similar to that of BI. The lecturers did not provide much information
through the online platform, but they could be reached through email. The exam was quite
difficult, mostly because the questions were poorly formulated, so it was hard to understand
which topic they were addressing.
Digital marketing and e-commerce advanced
All of us had this course starting as attending students, but after some consideration we all
chose to take this course as non-attending students. The main reason for this was that the
course was not very rewarding. Most of the topics were covered in the 1st year bachelor
course “Marketing” at BI. Thus, the course was quite easy, but it was also very repetitive and
not very interesting. Some of the course material was outdated, and was much less practical
than we had hoped. As a non-attending student, we only had an one hour exam.
On a final note, to sum up the experience
Academically, Bocconi was disappointing. The school is very highly ranked, but we suspect
this is due to its efforts within finance or other branches. In the marketing department, we
found the quality, knowledge and research to be relatively low.
Culturally, Italy was a very different world from Norway. People show up late and deadlines
are not so important. The meals are consumed in very strict time-spans (in fact, almost all
restaurants are closed between 3 pm and 7 pm). A very interesting culture to visit, although I
think we all preferred the Norwegian one. South of Italy is also supposed to be very different
from Milan, but unfortunately we did not get the time to go there.
Socially, Bocconi is an enormous campus, with thousands of students. This might make it
harder to meet people, as classes are large and not that personal. However, there are plenty of
events for exchange students, and lots of group work or other situations where you’ll meet
new people from different cultures. Taking the Italian course, and also attending all the
events of the welcome weeks, are highly recommended. You’ll meet a thousand people to
enjoy your exchange with.
As for future career possibilities, there were a few things happening, one event with company
stands at the school, some companies visiting classes, lecturing, arranging competitions
among students, etc.