Student Report
Fall Semester – 2014
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
After applying to Copenhagen Business School, I was quickly contacted by the BI
International Office with emails guiding me through the application process. Already
in the beginning of March, I received a welcome letter from Copenhagen Business
School, and was sent information regarding the exchange period along with
documents that needed to be filled out.
During the whole process, the International Office at BI and CBS kept me updated on
what I needed to know before traveling abroad. I did not feel that there was any lack
of communication between us, and if I had any questions they were quickly answered.
I did not encounter any difficulties during this period, but was amazed at how many
courses there were to choose from. It really made it possible for me to choose courses
that I felt were interesting and suitable for my bachelor in marketing.
Travel
Seeing how Copenhagen is just about an hour away from Norway, it was really easy
to get there. I chose to take an airplane because it was the fastest way to travel, but
there is also the possibility of taking a bus, which might be a cheaper alternative. SAS
offers youth tickets for 700 NOK per way, but Norwegian also offers tickets as cheap
as 299 NOK per way.
Housing
The International Office at CBS was very helpful, and had a really welcoming staff.
They did their best to make sure that the international exchange students found a
place to live through international housing. The amount of exchange students
applying at CBS every semester is extremely large, so the International Office has to
prioritize students from outside Scandinavia. Even though it may seem unfair, it is
understandable seeing how CBS does not actually own any housing of their own, and
do not have the capacity to house all of the students.
I was very fortunate to already know a few people studying in Denmark. They
advised me to become a member of the ANSA Copenhagen group on Facebook,
which is the Association for Norwegians Studying Abroad. On the group there were
constantly people posting that they had a room for rent, or needed a person to live in
their apartment while they were on exchange.
I had a few students in my class that did not find housing until about 8 weeks after
they arrived in Copenhagen, which caused them spend a large amount of their savings
on living at different hostels. I therefore advise you to become a member of ANSA
early on, so that you have plenty of time to look at your options online. A girl I knew
from Norway, who was already living in Copenhagen, was going on an internship in
Norway for the fall semester, so I rented her room. The apartment was in Valby, a
cute little district just 6 minutes from Copenhagen center by train. I lived with another
girl from Norway, and we became very close friends.
Costs
Renting a room in Denmark costs about the same as in Norway, so unfortunately it is
a bit expensive. I paid about 4500 kroner a month where I stayed, which was a pretty
reasonable price. The normal amount to pay is around 4500-5500 kroner a month.
On the upper side, it is a lot cheaper to buy food in Denmark. I was amazed by the
prices on fruits, vegetables and meats when I first arrived. Eating out is also a lot
cheaper than in Norway, and I was recommended a few restaurants where a meal only
costs around 59 - 100 kroner. I spent a lot of time at a restaurant called “Dalle Valle”,
which is a student friendly restaurant that offers 50 % of all food from Thursday to
Tuesday every week. I really recommend that you go here if you are looking for
quality food at a good price. Another good student restaurant is the Paulidan Café,
located on a street called Fiolstrædet. They have the best Cesar Salad in Copenhagen.
When it came to buying books, I was advised to check the CBS library, and it turned
out that they had a few of the books I needed. The other books were available at the
CBS bookstore, which is located at the main building on Solbjergs Plads. There are
also a few “buy and sell books” pages on Facebook, where you might be able to
purchase the books for half of the price.
Public transportation is amazing in Copenhagen, and the bus, train and metro leave
about every 5-15 minutes, depending on the time of day. The first week of my arrival,
I bought a “month card” for 360 kroner a month that applied for the bus, train and
metro. I downloaded an app called “Rejseplanen” that showed me which trains to
take, where to switch from train to metro and so on. It was extremely helpful, and I
would have been completely lost without it the first couple of weeks.
Copenhagen is the number one city in the world for bicycles. They dominate the
streets and even have their own traffic rules. I quickly found out that biking was the
best way to get around. It was free, forced me to exercise, and it only took me about
12 minutes to bike to school. The city center was only about 15 minutes from the
school as well, which was nice if I needed to go there to get something. I was lucky
enough to borrow my friends’ bike, but I do know that CBS has their own bike
rentals. If not there is a type of “finn.no” where you can find a lot of cheap bikes for
sale, and also some groups on Facebook.
Some other information that might be useful is for example fitness centers. There are
two main ones in Copenhagen; Fitness.dk and Fitness World. They are both about the
same price, around 270 kroner a month, and are located all throughout the city.
Another great thing is that going to the doctor in Denmark is completely free. All you
need to do is get a CPR number and you can go as often as you need to.
Rent
NOK 4500
a month
Books
NOK 2500
in total
Food
NOK 3000
a month
Transport NOK 360 a
month
Other
NOK 2000
Culture and language
Since I was part of the exchange program, all of my courses were in English. This is
mainly because we had students from China, Japan, Singapore, Russia, Spain,
Portugal, France, New Zealand, Italy and so on. When talking to the faculty, I chose
to speak Norwegian seeing how the languages are just about the same, but spoke
English with the other students. I did not run into language barriers with the other
exchange students, but noticed that a lot of the Danish students had problems
understanding Norwegian.
I had only been in Copenhagen once before moving there. Coming from a medium
sized city, I thought it was an enormous city, and that it would be very confusing to
find my way around. It turns out that Copenhagen is not as big as it seems. Once you
get to know the city, everything seems closer. Since I lived with another Norwegian,
she was very helpful when it came to finding my way around. I also used Google
Maps a lot while biking, and the “Rejseplanen” app when taking buses, the metro or
the trains.
I traveled to Copenhagen about a week before school started. I went around exploring
by myself, and it was really breathtaking to find out what the city had to offer. It had
so many amazing things to see and experience, just a few minutes from location to
location. I got to see everything from the famous “Tivoli” amusement park, to the
Amalienborg Castle, and took a boat ride on the canal by Nyhavn to see the mermaid
statue that Copenhagen is famous for.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Copenhagen Business School
CBS is located in a district called Fredriksberg. It has six different buildings located
around campus, and it takes some time to get from one building to another. The
buildings are Solbjergs Plads, Kilen, Dalgas Have, Porcelænshaven, Flintholm and
Howitzvej. The main building is Solbjergs Plads, and this is where they have the main
library, bookstore, cantina and so on. The second largest building is called Dalgas
Have and is located about 10 minutes away from Solbjergs Plads. I had most of my
classes in these two buildings, seeing how the were the biggest ones. The other
buildings, Howitzvej, Flintholm and Porcelænshaven, take a little while to get to from
the main campus, but if you go by bike it is not far.
Course registration
In April I received an email from the international office at BI regard the Learning
Agreement. This had to be filled out in order for my courses to be approved by BI.
Copenhagen Business School gave us until the beginning of September to make any
changes to our courses. The Learning Agreement was printed out and signed by the
international office at CBS, and then scanned in and sent to the international office at
BI.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
16.08.2014
First day of the semester:
25.08.2014
Last day of classes:
27.11.2014
Examination period:
20.11.2014 -19.12.2014
Arrival
There were two introduction weeks that the exchange students were able to participate
in. The first week started August 18th and lasted until August 24th. This was a “Danish
Crash Course Week” where students were accustomed to the Danish language and
culture. I did not choose to participate in this week due to the fact that the Danish
language is so similar to Norwegian language.
The second introduction week was the “main” introduction week, and lasted from
August 25th until August 31st. It consisted of a speed date night, a Danish folk-dance
event, a boat trip on the Holmen canal, a Mardi Gras party and a tour of the city.
The International Office
The International office greeted us at the welcome introduction, where they also
presented their staff and contact information. Their main office was located in the
building called Dalgas Have.
Promoting BI and Norway
Due to the large amount of Norwegian students already studying at CBS, there was no
need for me to participate on BI’s behalf, but I did visit the stand they had at an
international event hosted by CBS.
Social activities
Most of the students in my courses were also in Copenhagen for an exchange. I had
the opportunity to make friends from all over the world, from countries such as New
Zealand, Germany, Italy and France. Some of us worked on group exams together,
which was an amazing possibility for us to learn from each other and socialize. We
spent some time together at Café Nexus, which is the bar at CBS. It is located in the
main building at Solbjergs Plads, and offers great student prices on beer and cider.
There is a group on Facebook called “International Students in Copenhagen”. This
group promotes events for international students about every week. I participated in a
few of them, and they were a lot of fun. I also participated a few events hosted by
NNU, Norsk Næringslivsutvalg ved CBS.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The Danish teaching system differs from the Norwegian one in some ways. The
Danes really like to work in groups, and we were always assigned some sort of cases
in each lecture that we would have to solve as a group.
Most of the lectures lasted for about 2 hours and 45 minutes, and the breaks given
depended on the professor. Sometimes we would sit for an hour and a half without a
break, something that would seem a little long at times.The workload was also about
the same, and it was expected that we had read the assigned curriculum before each
lecture.
The grading scale at CBS does not follow the same structure as BI. We were graded
on a scale from 12 to -3, where 12 is similar to a Norwegian A+.
Course materials
On our CBS Learn account (similar to It´s Learning), the lecture overviews provided
us with the necessary literature we needed to purchase. All of the books were
available at the CBS Library, which was located at Solbjergs Plads.
In some courses the curriculum also included reading articles in PDF format that was
published on the CBS Learn course page.
Exams
All of the exams were based on the course materials and lectures.
I had two individual exam papers and two group exam papers. The group assignments
also included a 20-minute oral exam. For my individual papers, I was evaluated
through my final exam. The group evaluation consisted of the written assignment and
an individual oral exam.
Library and technology
The facilities at CBS were very nice. The library at Solbjergs Plads had 4 floors, with
a large variety of different books we could loan for one month at a time. There were
large reading rooms in each building on campus, and I was able to book a study seat
through the CBS website. Each student could book a seat for 40 hours per week.
Description of courses
Course code &
Master/
name
Bachelor
Corporate Strategy
Bachelor
Exam form
Prerequisites
Approved as
Comments
15 page group
None
Elective
A very good
assignment
course, with
and 20 minute
the ability to
oral exam
learn from
other
students
through
group work.
Social Media
Bachelor
Management
15 page
None
Elective
A very
individual
exciting
written
course, but
assignment
not a very
good
professor.
Event and Festival
Bachelor
Management
10 page group
None
Elective
A very
assignment
innovative
and 20 minute
and fun
oral exam
course. I
definitely
recommend
it.
Creative Industries
Bachelor
10 page
None
Elective
An
individual
interesting
written
course, but
assignment
very difficult
due to the
course
literature.
The overall experience
I am very happy that I chose to study at Copenhagen Business School. Copenhagen is
an amazing city, with a relaxed and exciting culture. The exchange period enabled me
to meet people from all over the world and make friends for a lifetime. I also gave me
an insight to how other business schools function, and motivated me to research the
master possibilities at CBS. I highly recommend that other students apply to CBS for
their exchange period, especially those who picture themselves working in
Scandinavia. Even though it is close to Norway and has a similar culture, it is a city
with many opportunities.