Experience Report
E-mail: l.klomp@tilburguniversity.edu
Study Program: Human Resource Studies & Economic Psychology
Exchange semester: Spring
Academic year: 2014-2015
Host University: Boğaziҫi University
Country: Turkey (Istanbul)
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Boğaziҫi University has a beautiful campus. The area around the university is relatively calm and green.
Especially the south campus is gorgeous. When you are a student of the management department most
of your classes will be at the south campus. During the ten minute walk down the hill to this part of the
university you will have a great view on the Bosphorus. The south campus also has quite some grass
where people hang around when the weather is nice. The north campus is more recently build than the
south campus and is more modern. Personally I liked the south campus a lot. On both south and north
campus is a cafeteria and some nice spots to get a coffee or a snack.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Information before you left
About a week before arrival I received an email containing information on the first 3 days. There was
some information on the registration day, a campus map, a small list of documents that we had to take
with us and a presentation morning. The email explained that we would get more information during the
presentation.
Visa procedure
During the previously mentioned presentation we got more information on the visa procedure. It turned
out to be a quite complex process. It would not be of any help if I would explain the whole process in
this report, because apparently it changes a lot and the documents you need depends on who will evaluate
your application. What I recommend it to go together with another exchange student, then at least you
will wonder around the city with someone else and hopefully enjoy its beauty while trying to find all
the right buildings. A final note on this: it is allowed to travel to Turkey with your ID card, but it is not
possible to get a visa with it. You have to bring a passport!
Orientation/Introduction activities
During the registration day I found out about the upcoming introduction week. ESN had organized a
whole week filled with activities and party for all the new exchange students. This was a great
opportunity to quickly meet lots of new people at the very beginning of the semester. You also had the
opportunity to sign up for a buddy.
Housing
The university offers housing on campus. However, I chose not to sign up for it. Personally I wanted to
live in a typical Turkish area, so I searched for housing myself. Through craigslist (facebook can also
be very helpful) I found an apartment located between the campus and the city center (Mecidiyeköy). I
lived with three other exchange students which was a great experience. In my opinion it was a great
choice not to live on campus. The campus area is a good area to live in as well. A lot of international
students live around campus, university is close by and the area is relatively calm. However, I believe I
experienced the city in a better way than the students who lived on/nearby campus. For example, each
day I had to travel a bit to get to the university. Making my way to university by walking though the
crowded streets of my area, greeting the locals from the grocery store and the döner restaurant, squeezing
myself into the overly crowded bus/metro and seeing crazy, funny, extraordinary and remarkable things
everyday on this little trip made me feel to be a part of the city. I don’t think I would have had this same
experience when living close by the university.
Living Costs
Life in Istanbul can be quite cheap. Especially the food is not expensive at all. The university offers the
possibility to have very cheap meals in the cafeteria: breakfast 1 TL, lunch 1,5 TL, dinner 1,5 TL. Also
books are not expensive because there are copy stores in which they copy the text books. When you
search for a room beforehand make sure you don’t overpay. For my room I paid 1000 TL a month. I
was very happy with my room and the area in which it was located, however I realized later that it was
a bit much for the normal rent standards. Each month I bought 200 travel credits for 77 TL, which was
enough for me to travel around the city the whole month. Most money I spend on going out and
travelling.
Academic Calendar
The suggested arrival date was January 26th. The registration days and presentation morning were
scheduled January 28th, 29th, and 30th. After this the introduction week started and lasted till February
8th. The 9th was our first day of class. During the semester we had a week spring break. Midterm were
scheduled throughout the whole semester. The finals where, in contrary to the midterms, all planned
within two weeks and ended May 31h.
The International Office
Boğaziҫi University has in international office. You can just walk into their office when you have any
questions and they will try to help. In general their help is sufficient, except for the visa procedure. In
my opinion they could be more helpful with that.
Social Activities
Boğaziҫi University offers a lot of social activities. They have a lot of different clubs you can join, for
example hiking, rugby, fitness. Next to this they also organize other activities such as sports day, music
concerts and festivals. There is also an ESN group which organizes activities for all the international
students. Besides this there are also some student organizations that organize parties for students in
Istanbul. These organization also organize trips to other parts of Turkey. To conclude, if you don’t like
to plan stuff yourself, there are more than enough organized social activities that you can join.
Culture and Language
What was quite a surprise to me is that not a lot of people can speak English. Here in the Netherlands it
is pretty normal to be able to speak (at least some) English. In Turkey a lot of people cannot speak any
English. Boğaziҫi University is considered a really good university in Turkey, partially because all the
students and teachers know English. It was a surprise to me that even young people and some students
from other universities cannot speak English. The people in Turkey are definitely less punctual then the
Dutch. The Turkish people are very friendly and welcoming.
Personal Development
During my exchange semester I really feel that I developed myself. The city is so big and you will get
dragged into it quite fast. This will force you to let you of your Dutch punctuality really quick. Looking
back this was something I enjoyed to do. Just let go and get carried away by the flow of the city. No
need to check beforehand what time the bus is coming, because you’ll never know when it will show
up. If you show up half an hour late for class, they don’t even expect you to apologize because it is
considered quite normal. An exchange period will also make you more open minded and I judge people
less quickly now.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
Academic level at a host university
The academic level at Boğaziҫi was not that high. The courses were, compared to Tilburg University,
not difficult. The workload is less heavy and the content is not too complex. All the courses where taught
in English. Below you can find a table with the courses that I followed during my exchange semester.
At the beginning of the semester you have to pick your courses and make sure that everything fits into
your schedule. This means that sometimes you will pick one course over another just because it fits into
the puzzle. However, looking back I was satisfied with all my courses. I would especially recommend
to pick business ethics. The teacher is a very interesting, intelligent woman who will teach you to think
outside of the box and take other perspectives.
Courses
Course
Grading
ECTS
Turkish for foreigners
2 midterms, final
6
Business ethics
Participation, paper, presentation, final exam
6
Human behavior in
Group assignments during class, debate, final
6
Strategic management
Short quizzes in class, business plan assignment
6
Global and international
Homework assignments, midterm, group paper,
6
management
presentation
organizations
Other
Library and its resources are easily accessible. There are some public computers, but not so many. I
preferred to bring my own laptop, because their keyboards are a bit different due to extra/other letters
in their alphabet.
Tips for the future students
I would definitely recommend an exchange period at Boğaziҫi University in Istanbul. In general I
believe an exchange period is a great experience no matter where you go. It is a great opportunity to
develop yourself and meet people from all over the world. For me Istanbul was a good choice. I loved
to live in this chaotic, huge, vibrant, diverse and impressive city. I’d like to end this report with a
quote that seemed to reappear throughout my whole exchange semester and it is probably one of the
best ways to describe the city and how I felt about it: ‘Some people call it chaos, we call it home’
A picture is worth a thousand words
The stunning view on the Bosphorus when walking down to the south campus
Sulemaniye Mosque on a lovely, sunny day