General information about the school
Umeå is a rather small city in the far north of Sweden with approximately 120.000 inhabitants of
whom a lot of students. The city is divided into two parts by a river. On the west side of the river, the
city centre is located, which has a shopping area and some restaurants and bars. The university
campus and the three main student districts are located on the other side of the river. The campus
has a really nice atmosphere and is build around a small lake. The buildings are all rather new and
very bright, since they use a lot of big windows. They have their reason doing this, it can become
quite dark in Umeå. Students often bring their own food/leftovers from last evening and warm up
their meal in one of the many microwaves located on the campus. The ones who do not do this,
either go and get a warm meal at the cafeteria, which is really good, or go to one of the student
unions (NH is the best) and get their meal over there. The university itself is recognized for its faculty
of biochemical’s. It therefore is also the biggest faculty and a lot of foreign students especially come
to Umea to research there. Since I am an economics student I really don’t know that much about it
but it looked like it was pretty amazing. The economic faculty was rather small compared to the
biochemical department, though it was the fastest growing faculty and graded as one of the best in
Sweden. I really enjoyed the structure of following courses subsequently, instead of all at ones. It
really gets you going into more detail and I learned a lot over there. Besides this, the courses
incorporated a lot of group work, and by saying a lot, I really mean a lot. Every week we had
deadlines for group assignments and, although this may have been a little bit too much, I enjoyed it
and it helped me a lot in understanding the theories and such.
Besides all the courses, the university organized a lot for the exchange students and we never ever
had to be bored. We started off with the buddy program, which can be considered the same as the
Top-week in Tilburg. You got to know so many people. We were with 450 exchange students in the
fall semester and therefore a lot of different nationalities from all over the world. However, from
those 450 students, more than 200 (220) were German, so it might seem better than it actually was.
Since Umea itself was located next to a big lake, we often went there to make a fire and grill some
sausages and such. This was really awesome, and even though the water was already pretty cold in
September, we also had our late night swims over there. Wood can be found pre-chopped and for
free which is really handy since you do not have to bring your own wood there. During the winter,
the lake was ,obviously, frozen and you could go there ice skating or playing ice-hockey with your
friends
Practical Information
I received the pre arrival information a month after I was selected to go to Umea. They posted me a
welcome package in which all the necessary documents and information on what I needed to do was
included. This was very clear for me. After my arrival in Umea, I arrived at 10.00 pm and was aware
of the fact that I should take a bus to the university campus. Arrived at the campus we searched for
the international housing office whom welcomed us and brought us to our rooms after explaining us
properly what was expected from us and what I could expect from them. No problems occurred. In
the first few weeks the university organized an introduction program in which I got to learn a lot of
people. We did several activities every week and they also organized trip around Umea. Within this
program the exchange students were divided into groups of approximately 15 people and we had 5
mentors who were Swedish students at the university.
My room was placed in one of the corridors in Alidhem, the biggest student district. It was on the
fourth floor, which was just added to the building. This was very convenient since everything was still
new and very clean. I booked my room at the local housing corporation ‘Bostaden’. Housing was just
perfect, since the location and the room itself couldn’t be better. How to do this was explained very
clear in the welcome package.
Sweden is known for being slightly more expensive than here in Holland, and this fact became actual
truth visiting the grocery store the first time. On average costs of living are 20%-30% higher, with an
exception of the alcohol which is way more expensive than here. In order to finance this I used my
savings account . To summarize my expenses; Housing (340), food (250), transport (bought a bike for
90 euro’s), books (50) & miscellaneous (200).
Furthermore, I would recommend going to Umea at the two given dates of going there which is one
weekend. This way you have a few days for yourself to settle and meet your corridor mates, after
which the introduction begins. My semester ended pretty late (17 january), be sure you do not have
any resits after this date! I had no breaks during the semester besides the Christmas break.
Examination was always after 6 weeks of classes where after the next course started.
As mentioned before, there is an international office which is responsible for all incoming students.
You can always drop by and they are very helpful and friendly.
There were a few times I was able to represent Holland and therefore the university of Tilburg. For
example the world food market. This was a lot of fun.
The university also organized a lot of social activities. Trips to an elk farm, Lapland, ice hockey games,
pub crawls, international dinners, etc. There was some activity practically every week. Besides this
there were the student nations whom organized parties, which were a lot of fun. Though, I do not
think it would be that much fun to join these nations, at least not for a 6 month period. There was no
such thing as IESN for instance, which was a pity. However I did meet a lot if Swedish students. One
of my corridor mates was a Swedish guy of the same age. I did spend some time with him and his
Swedish friends as well. Nevertheless I had the most contact with other exchange students. With
them I traveled to Norway, Lapland, Finland, Stockholm and some other natural reserves.
I didn’t experience a culture shock in any way, what so ever. Sweden is very much a like Holland, so I
really didn’t expect to have one. I didn’t learn that much on the Dutch culture, however I now know
that people outside Holland and Belgium find ‘Sinterklaas’ a very strange tradition. Besides this I
really got to learn the Swedes and their culture. They are very kind and helpful people, however they
are or can be very shy and introvert. They will never predominate any situation and will always stay
kind. Something really interesting about the Swedes is their rejection of the differences between
man and woman and they try to diminish this difference as much as possible. Especially in the
workplace and management of cooperations. Another interesting thing is that they are really proud
of their country, especially their history and their economic situation in which they can provide for all
the people living in Sweden. There is also a difference in culture between the people of the south
and of the north. At least, that is what the Swedes themselves say. People in the south are
considered to be more arrogant. I did not necessary notice it myself, but I kind of think to know what
they mean. Something I really regret I did not do during my exchange was following a language
course in Swedish. I applied for it, but since there were 450 exchange students and only 200 available
places for the language course I unfortunately was not able to participate.
For my own personal development I think I changed the way on how to look at people and to neglect
prejudices. Reflecting on the influence of my exchange on my future career, I would say that it not
only definitely contributed to me as a person bus also to the knowledge I gained from studying in a
different way and adapting to such as a system. The people I met during my exchange learned me to
act less negative. In some I seem to be negative, when I actually don’t mean to. I tried to improve
that and I guess it kind of worked for me.
Academic information
Courses at Umea University are offered in Swedish and English. I did not follow any course in Swedish
though. I chose to follow the following courses; change and entrepreneurship in organizations,
entrepreneurial financial management & organizational design. I chose the first two courses because
I was really interested in the entrepreneurial side of business and found this aspect in these courses.
The last course, organizational design, was more or less a course which in my opinion was the best of
the rest. There were not that much other options for the last quarter of the semester. I would
definitely recommend the first two courses. They were really interesting and the professor was really
good. In comparison with the UvT I would say that UmU is of the same academic level. Though, UmU
incorporates more practical cases and group work which was very interesting in my opinion. Besides
this, I think that the system of courses following up after each other instead of at the same time is a
real blessing. Teaching style was primarily theoretical though. Admiring to experience was the
relationship between teachers/professors and students. They are very close and you can go to their
office anytime you want. For example I had lunch with two professors a couple of times. Overall I
have to say I am really positive about the academic level of UmU and am glad I studied there for one
semester.
For my courses I had three take-home exams and one regular exam.
The library was always accessible during the week. During the weekends you were able to register
yourself for a special card which enabled you to go there in the weekends as well. I am not quite sure
if the computers in the library were also public. I must say I never saw non-student looking people
sitting behind one of the desktops.
Change and entrepreneurship in organizations
- Minimum of 70 ECTS following UmU’s rules
- 2 Take Home Exams (15 ECTS)
- Strategtic management
- Approved as common
Entrepreneurial Financial Management
- Minimum of 70 ECTS following UmU’s rules
- Written exam
- Finance
- Approved as common
Organizational Design
- Minimum of 70 ECTS following UmU’s rules
- Take Home Exam
- Organizational Behavior
- Approved as common
I would definitely and without any doubt always recommend an exchange to anyone. This is
something you must do. The total experience is something so unique. You get to learn so many new
people an you enjoy a whole other culture. It is amazing! Besides this I would recommend UmU, but
than in the spring semester. Fall semester turns out pretty dark and missing midnight summer is
something I really consider as a huge reason going back there, only for that national celebration.
Sweden is a really beautiful country and if you can enjoy nature you should definitely go there.
Before going on exchange I would like to mention that students should already explore on what kind
of trips/vacations they are going to be able to make. I regret I did not do that. In the end I should
have done more trips around Scandinavia.