GUIDELINES FOR WRITING THE STUDENT REPORT
Name of the University: Stellenbosch University
Names of the students: Monica Paulsen and Marthe Myren Leistad
Exchange semester: Fall 2011
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
The school and its surroundings:
The University of Stellenbosch (USB) is a public research university. USB’s main campus is
situated in Stellenbosch (1hour outside of Cape Town), and the MBA department “Bellville
Park Campus” has its own location in the suburb of Cape Town Bellville (25 km outside of
Cape Town and 35 km from Stellenbosch). Bellville Park Campus is close to the main access
routes, the Cape Town international airport, shopping malls, cinema, restaurants, sport
facilities and the winelands. According to the QS World University Ranking 2011/12, USB
ranked in the 401-450 category in the world. In terms of this ranking USB is 3rd in South
Africa (and in Africa).
Current faculty divisions and special areas:
The MBA offers a learning experience, which focuses on the unique challenges of South
Africa and Africa while also taking international practice into account. The MBA will equip
participants with theory as well as real-world management and leadership competence.
USB is one of the top providers of MBA degrees, Master degrees and PhD programme, and
executive education in South Africa. USB is the only business school in South Africa with the
two international accreditation: EQUIS and AMBA.
Students:
In total 28 193 students was enrolled at USB in 2011. The number of post-graduate students
in 2011 was namely 10 043, witch represents 35.6% of all students. When it comes to the
number of exchange students at the MBA program they normally take in 15 students in total
every semester. BI have only sent one student before us in 2008.
Study structure:
The MBA has a full-time structure, and runs over two years. Students attend classes over a
period of 11 months and finish their research reports in the next year.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Information before you left
We received our first information packet form the university shortly after we got our
exchange offers in the beginning of Mars. The international student office provided us with
good and solid information, and they responded quickly to any additional questions we had.
Visa Procedure and travel experiences
Since you are staying more than 3 months within South Africa you will need to apply for a
temporary resident permit. You find the application here:
http://www.saemboslo.no/Consular22.htm. Download and fill out these forms: Application
for temporary residence permit (BI 1738), Medical Certificate (for your doctor to sign) and
Radiological Report (for your x-ray). The following documents need to be attached to the
application:
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Approx. cost:
Temporary visa permit
Application form
A medical report
A radiological report
Police clearance
2 Passport photos
Passport and copy of passport
Official letter of admission
from USB
Proof of medical cover
Proof of sufficient funds
Letter of nomination
Airplane ticket
Make an appointment with your doctor so that
he can fill out the form.
You need an x-ray of your lungs due to the
possibility of tuberculosis
If you are an Norwegian citizen: download from
politiet.no and send the form to your home
police district
Passport must be valid for no less than 30 days
after expiry of the visa.
You will receive this from the USB International
office.
ANSA
This must be a letter from Lanekassen informing
that will receive student founding during your
stay.
This is provided by BI International office
You need to have booked airplane ticket before
applying for the visa. The length on the visa will
depend on your return date. If you don’t know
when to return arrange a generous return date
with your travel agent that have the possibility to
be changed.
NOK 200
NOK 900
New passport
cost NOK 450
Between NOK
7000-1000
The price of the visa is around NOK 500. We did not experience any problems when applying
for the visa since we had all the required documentation with us to the embassy.
We ordered our ticket through Kilroy and paid extra to have the possibility of changing our
return date and return location. We paid NOK 10 000 for the ticket, but family and friends
that have visited us have paid between NOK 7000-9000.
These following company’s travels to Cape Town:
- British airways
- South African Airways
- KLM
- Turkish Airlines (normally the cheapest)
- Qatar Airlines (through Dubai)
If you want to travel within South Africa, check out these companies:
- http://www.flymango.com/
- https://www.1time.aero/
- https://www.kulula.com/
- British airways
- South African Airways (SAA)
If you want to fly to countries next to South Africa, these can be considered;
- http://www.airnamibia.com.na/
- https://www.airbotswana.co.bw/
During our stay in South Africa we travelled by plain to Durban and Johannesburg by using
local cheap companies (1time, kulula and flyMango). These can be compared to “Norwegian”
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in Norway, and are absolutely recommendable. In addition we used Air Botswana when
travelling home from our trip around Botswana.
We travelled to see Mozambique, Swaziland, Namibia and Botswana. All countries can be
recommended, and are all different from each other.
Visiting a local tribe on one of Mozambique’s beautiful islands; Survivor Island.
Academic Calendar
The MBA-year is divided up in the following four terms (2011):
Term 1: 18 January – 4 April
Term 2: 11 April – 22 June
Term 3: 18 July – 16 September
Term 4: 19 September – 24 November
For BI students term one and two will be the same as the spring semester in Norway, and term
three and four will almost be the same as the fall semester.
Since the official Orientation program started on the 13 of July, the school recommends that
we should arrive in Cape Town no later than the 11 of July in order to finalize
accommodation and car rentals before classes started on the 18 of July. The orientation
program consisted of both practical information and social events, and was carried out
between the 13 of July until the 16 of July.
Moreover, the examination period was scatter throughout the term since the students were
assessed on a continuous basis.
Reception
We experienced a very professional, hospital and personal reception by the USB. In addition
to the official orientation program, the administration and faculty invited us to several social
events with our professors and new classmates.
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Housing
As the MBA department is not situated in Stellenbosch all the exchange students decided to
live in Cape Town city center, which we would recommend. There are some areas in Cape
Town you should not live in because of safety. Good areas to live in are: Green Point, Sea
Point, Gardens, Fresney, Bantry Bay, Clifton and Camps Bay. We were advised to find an
apartment with 24 hour security, drive-in garage and not to live on the first floor.
We lived in Sea Point and found the apartment by using the South African “Finn.no” called
Gumtree.co.za. We ended up renting an apartment through “Accommodation warehouse”
(website: forrent.co.za). You can expect to pay per person between ZAR 3000 and 5000 for
housing a month, in addition comes electricity and Internet costs. Many of the exchange
students rented a bigger house to share with swimming pool and ocean view. They also paid
between ZAR 3000-5000 per person.
If you need a place to stay for the first days we recommend Bellevista Lodge, which is
situated at the campus, or Sunflower Backpackers in Cape Town. If you are looking for other
backpackers, check out: backpackingsouthafrica.co.za.
USB will send you general information on housing suggestions as well before traveling to
South Africa. There is no permanent housing (dorms) at the student’s disposal at the Bellville
Park Campus.
Here are some pictures from outside and inside our apartment:
Car and public transportation
Since the USB is 25km from Cape Town city center, a car is a must! Public transportation is
close to zero, and not recommendable. Driving by care from Sea Point to the school takes
about 30 minutes, and you are most of the time driving on the highway. Many of the drivers
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in SA do not have a driver’s license nor hold any kind of third part insurance. When renting a
car, make sure that you have insurance included and additional third party insurance. We
rented a car from July to end of November through a company recommended to us by the
USB: TravelCape Car rental (http://www.renta-vw.co.za). The person we were in contact with
was Adele, phone number +27 219497266, email: adele@travelcape.co.za. If she does not
answer, contact the boss: leon@renta-vw.co.za (Leon de Kock). Many students have used his
cars before. The company is cheap and reliable, especially because they replace broken cars
within 24 hours. Our rental car was a VW Polo Playa, and we paid ZAR 120 per day
(insurance included). It is not recommended to buy a car because of the short time you will
live in Cape Town, and it will be difficult to sell it in the end.
Costs
These are the most important cost per month:
- Apartment:
ZAR 3000-5000
- Car:
ZAR 3600-4000
- Food:
ZAR 2500-4000
- Telephone and Internet:
ZAR 500-800
- Books (onetime buy):
ZAR 750-1500
The International Office
There is an international office at the campus for the MBA students in Bellville. Cailin
Human, the exchange Student Coordinator, was responsible for us as the incoming exchange
students. Her office is at the Bellville Park Campus. We received all relevant and necessary
information from her before we arrived to Cape Town. Cailin Human, and hear collogue
Gabrielle Chanelle met us at USB on our first day and stayed with us through the orientation
program.
Exchange promotion
Since the students at the MBA program and all students at Bellville Park Campus cannot
exchange to Norway, we did not promote exchange to BI.
Social Activities
- The age of the MBA students ranks from 26 to 50. This means that some of the students
are more interested in social engagements than others (E.g.: those with family normally
are not that socially). But overall all the MBA students was very warm and welcome and
we felt a part of the class.
- Since we were only 15 exchange students it was easy to get to know all of them and easy
to arrange social activities together. But of course clicks was made and since a group of 6
students shared one house and another group of 5 students shared a house they were more
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-
-
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social together. But overall, all exchange students was really friendly and social. The
nationalities present was: Germany, France, Canada, Finland, Norway and United Arab
Emirates.
Since the department we attended was of a small size, there were no student organizations
that we could attend. But, at the main Campus in Stellenbosch there are various student
organization to attend and exchange students are very much welcome.
The first week of school is introduction week only for the exchange students. We had
time to get to know each other socially during activities and dinner. USB also took us to
the main campus in Stellenbosch. During the semester there were no special activities
only for exchange students. Instead we were integrated with the class and all activities
they attended we were invited to.
The school is much smaller than BI making it more intimate, which we liked. The
students, professors and the administration were very kind to us.
Picture of all exchange students attending a wine festival in Franshoeck
Culture and Language
Language:
As a student you will be a part of the English speaking MBA, and all courses will be in
English. Many of the professors are born in South Africa and will have an Africans-English
accent. In the beginning this can be a little bit challenging to get used to. Some of the
professors are international. As an exchange student you do not need to provide any minimum
English requirements, like IELTS test or the TOEFEL test. As a born South African student,
the most spoken langue is Afrikaans and the second most used is English. But all students are
very comfortable speaking English.
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Culture and country:
As the semester is different in SA than in Norway we had a lot of time to explore the country
and the culture. Travelling by car or by air is the best. We have visited all of Cape Town
surroundings and driven down the famous Garden Route. A safari trip to Durban with our
family, and a visit to the Kruger Park with study friends were fantastic. We also had time for
an 8 days car trip from Johannesburg through Swaziland and into Mozambique, exploring
their culture and fine beaches. A 22 hour buss drive to the capital of Namibia, Windhoek and
one week of exploring the Namibian desert is recommendable. Last but not least a one week
“wild camping” safari in Botswana is something we will newer forget. Looking back we have
really explored and seen so much of what Africa has to offer.
These are different buss companies to travel with within South Africa and from South Africa
to neighbor countries (E.g.: Botswana, Namibia):
- Intercape: www.intercape.co.za
- Translux: www.translux.co.za
Travel guides: We strongly recommend using lonely planet when traveling in Africa.
- Lonely Planet: South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland
- Lonely Planet: Botswana and Namibia
Cultural and Social Effects from the Exchange Experience
Before travelling to South Africa none of us has ever visited the African continent before and
our knowledge was scarce. By living there and exploring the culture and the people our
knowledge has grown and our viewpoints changed. By going on exchange you are moving
out of our comfort zone, which is important and hopefully will change the way we approach
people in the future.
We think and hope that selecting an African country for our exchange period will give us an
competitive advantage since Africa is a country that are exploring there future business
opportunities at the moment. In addition, South Africa is seen as the “gateway” to Africa. By
exploring and feeling the culture and business we believe that this has given us a different
viewpoint on Africa and South Africa and their business.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
The Teaching situation
All the courses were taught in English. Since this is a MBA, the program had a stronger focus
on linking theory with practical business examples from the students or the lectures prior
work experience. All thought USB also had a high academic standard; they didn’t focus so
much on articles and also less focus on renaming theory. Instead they focused primarily on
the application of knowledge and in-sight to business problems. Moreover, the professors
used a mix of lectures, cases, group work, web-based assessments of pre-reading multiplechoice questions, business visits, written exams and presentations in our learning process.
The friendly relationships between the students in the classroom contributed to a very good
learning environment. The professors were also very friendly and they practiced an open door
policy, which made it easy to stop by their office and ask questions. Furthermore, the
workload varied very throughout the term, but in general we would say that the workload was
a bit less than what we experienced at BI the first year of our Master degree.
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Required Literature
All the literature of the MBA programmer is presented in English. The literature consisted of
both books and articles, but the focus was mainly on books and lecture slides. Furthermore,
tests and exams focused primarily on the application of knowledge and in-sight to business
problems. Hence, most tests are open-book and require the analysis of problems or cases.
Therefor the exams are mostly based on what has been covered and discussed in the lectures.
Exams
Each module had a minimum number of assessments based on the number of credits for that
module. The final performance mark therefore included; online assessments, class tests, group
work, individual and group assignments, class participation and presentations. To pass the
exams you had to have a god understanding of the literature, and even much better
understanding and in-sight of business problems and solutions.
Other
The USB Bellville park campus has an own library with a variety of books, computers and
databases that we were able to access. Moreover, the library staff was also very knowledgably
and helpful. The Internet in South Africa is under development, since the current Internet is
very limited and expensive. This situation resulted in that we were informed that all the
students at the campus had to pay for the amount of MB and GB used. We all got an account
where we could monitor our usage and the cost associated with it. Since all the exchange
students used the Internet moderately we didn’t have to pay for the Internet in the end.
Furthermore, the IT platform Webstudies and our USB e-mail was used to distribute
information. Moreover, plagiarism is a huge focus area. This resulted in that we had to deliver
in our assignments through the IT platform “Turn it in”, which controlled the document for
plagiarism.
Description of Courses
The courses we took at USB:
Course name:
Prereq.
Exam
Major at BI Approved as
(Common/elective/extra)
Information Management
None
Written school exam Marketing
Common
Business Environment
None
Written hand in
Marketing
Common
Internet Marketing
None
Written hand in
Marketing
Elective
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Both the common courses took place in the third semester from 18 July – 16 September:
1. Operations & Information Management
About this module: What knowledge, resources and methods are required to ensure the
smooth and efficient running of a competitive business. This course focuses on the
management of an operation and one of its key resources: information.
What we learn: Competition and operations management of global organisations; demand
management; order fulfillment process; volume and variety; e-commerce and the impact on
operations, technology and productivity; operations and information quality; the global supply
chain and information; the information resource; managing information technology to deliver
strategy; enterprise systems; managerial decision-making and knowledge management;
information strategies; technology challenges and future trends.
All thought this course contained other topics than what we had learned before at BI we
would characterize this course as relevant and very interesting for our academic carrier. This
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course had a mixture between a practical and theoretical focus. Since some of the topics
where new and different from what we had learned prior (e.g. IT), this topics was more
difficult to understand and learn.
2. Business Environment
About this module: This module explores the international, regulatory, societal and ethical
environments in which we do business. It examines the different dimensions that are required
to create and maintain a viable business model within different contexts.
What you will learn: Identify the management challenges for modern organisations brought
about by the international, regulatory, societal and ethical environment within which they
operate; understand that different dimensions are required to create and maintain a viable
business model within this environment.
This course had a stronger theoretical focus than the Operations & Information Management
course. We were also more familiar with some of the topics thought other previous business
courses that we were enrolled in at BI before we left.
3. Electives
All the elective courses were thought in the electives week between the 12 to the 19 of
November. In this period a variety of professors from other well-known schools around the
world came to USB to lecture these elective courses. The school offered a list of 14 different
electives, which we could choose from. We both choose the elective course Internet
Marketing, which was a very interesting, relevant and practical course we enjoyed to learn
more about. The written exam in this course is to be handed in the 15th of January 2012.
We did not have any school between the 16th of September to the 12th of November, and we
finished our semester the 19th of November 2011.
Names and e-mails:
Monica Paulsen: monica.paulsen@gmail.com
Master: Strategic Marketing Management 2010-2013
Marthe Myren Leistad: marthe.leistad@gmail.com
Master: Strategic Marketing Management 2010-2013
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