Student Report
Name of the University: Luiss Guido Carli
Exchange semester: Fall 2015
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
I recived information as soon as I was admitted to the university and continuously until the
semester start. Everything by email. The information done by the international office at Luiss
upon our arrival was not very good, but all the students and other individuals were helpful.
Applying for a visa (if applicable)
You do not have to apply for a visa.
Travel
I flew directly from Oslo to Rome, and the airport train and bus leaves frequently in both
cities.
Housing
Since I was attending Luiss with one of my friends we thought we would live together in
Rome, we did not accept student housing around Luiss, but we decided to arrive in enough
time before the semester started to look at apartments, while living at a hotel. This was not a
good idea, finding apartments in Rome is fairly difficult, all the online housing sights are
offcourse in Italian and do not translate. We wrote to many brokers and private people but did
not hear anything from them. It could also be more difficult to find two bedrooms in the same
apartement, in the city center and not too expencive. We ended up using Air B&B and getting
an apartment outside the center. We changed after 1 month because it took to much time
getting to school.
Tips: Try to look at places before you go, if you can get someone to write an apartment add in
Italian that’s a good idea. Live in the city center because public transportation is very slow
and time consuming. Rome is not cheap but for 500 euro, it should be an ok apartment close
to the city center.
Costs
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
NOK 5000
NOK 600
NOK 1600
NOK 350
NOK
Books: They use a lot of slides from presentations to study and many books are
available in the library or otherwise. Food: Depends a lot on how much you eat out,
with the amount I put we ate more in restaurants than we usually do at home.
Culture and language
The Italians speak mostly Italian. So if you have the chance try to learn some before you
arrive, they really enjoy if you are interested in learning and they will help you if you try.
I did not have any problems, offcourse you will always experience some situations where you
wish you could express yourself so they better understand, but I would say this is normal and
handeled with a smile you will get a long way.
The possibilities to experience the country and the culture was great. I spent some time
traveling with my friends, going on weekend trips or just exploring Rome. Which is an
amazing city! Erasmus also arranged a lot of trips, both small daytrips and weekend trips.
With Italy the problem is was that I wanted to see and experience everything, so it ended up
being very little studying in the beining and then only studying all day after mid November.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Please describe:
Luiss is located in a calm neighbourhood north in Rome, they have an amazing outside
area/park with gardeners always making sure it looks nice. We had summer heat until the end
of October so it was nice to enjoy this while trying to study outside. The school is a beautiful
old roman builing, previously used as a church and owned by the Vatican. It is not a very big
school and I would say the main problems we had was that there were no study areas. If you
wanted a seat you would have to be there before 8.30 in the morning, and tables are small and
crowded. The lectures is short but many, so be prepared to have lectures every day and some
days one in the morning an then again in the late evening.
The Mensa (kantine) is good for Erasmus students, food is very cheap and there is a lot to
choose from, offcourse pasta every day.
One thing I want to mention is the toilets, which are the worst I have ever seen. So dirty, the
females of Luiss did not know how to leave a bathroom and it did not look like the cleaning
staff did their job at all.
As for academics, the relationship with the Italian professors is a bit different than in Norway.
You should be more respectful, in general using their last name and greating them in a formal
way. At the same time the small classes makes it more intimate and the usually learn your
name. They say they have very frontal style of teaching, but in my experience they expected
us to be more active in class then they do in BI.
Course materials vary in different subjects, but a lot of lecturenotes and maybe parts off a
book.
The exams are very different, a lot of groupwork, presentations, midterms, the style is both
oral and written. We had more multiple choice than I am used to and in general written exams
are 1 hour. My least favoritt thing with the Italian exam system is that it has no anonymity.
You write your name and student idea on the exam and the professor usually knows who you
are. For me this was very strange seeing that the grades has a huge potential of being biased.
So best tip is to be prepared for a very different experience, make a really good impression on
the teacher and be active in class.
Course registration
You registrer online within 2 weeks after starting school, you can generally choose whatever
you want. Bachelor students can also choose master courses, but beware that there are not
mentioned a lot about prerequicits in course descriptions but that does not mean that you don’t
need them.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
Any special events/holidays:
Other:
17.08.2015
10.09.2015
05.12.2015
9.12-16.12.2015
NB! The courses have 2-3 exam dates, the first ones are in December and second in January, I
precived the second one as the second try, if you failed the first. But usually the Italians split
and have two of their courses in December and two in January.
Description of courses
Course code & name
Master/
Bachelor
Master
Exam form
Prerequisites
Group paper,
and written
None
Approved
as
Strategy
Economical and
Financial Law
Master
Individual
paper, and
written
None
Elective
Risk Management
Master
Written,
multiplechoice
None, BUT
you need.
Econometrics
and usefull
Financial
Analysis
Business modelling
and planning
Comments
The
professor
was really
bad,
subject is
interesting.
Good
professors,
who both
work in the
field.
Interesting
and usefull.
Good and
Strict
professor,
not very
with asset
management
Equity and alternative
investments
Master
Written
Some general,
but also here it
is a must with
econometrics
and asset
management.
Elective
pedagodic.
Course was
difficult but
interesting.
Very
interesting
and great
lectures.
Splitt
between
two
professors,
one
academic
and one
CEO of
and
internationa
l bank.
My exchange experience was amazing, I met a lot of great people and had
so many good cultural and social experiences. Italy is great, so beautiful and
the people are very kind and friendly. I would recommend it to anyone!