Student report
Name of university: Fudan School of Management
Exchange semester: Fall/spring, 2014
I.
Practical information
Before leaving Norway
I received an email from Fudan in May with information regarding the application
process.
Applying for visa
I applied for visa in July at the Chinese embassy at Vinderen in Oslo. The application
process was very easy as Fudan had provided me with all necessary papers in the
welcoming package. When you apply for the visa you apply for single entry which means
that you can’t leave China during your stay and come back. You can however apply for
en extra entry or multiple entries once you arrive in China. You will receive information
about the procedure from Fudan when you arrive in Shanghai. The cost of the visa was
NOK 500. The visa was ready one week after I applied for it.
Travel
I travelled with Qatar airways to Shanghai, which is highly recommendable as it is
usually the cheapest airline to Asia, and at the same time holds a high standard. There
was one stop over in Doha, which is an easy transfer. The cost of the ticket to Shanghai
was about NOK 4000, and the ticket home from Singapore to Norway was about NOK
6000. I highly recommend to buy a round trip even if you don’t know yet from which
location you will depart from as it is much cheaper to change the date and departure
location for your return ticket than to buy two individual tickets like I did. With Qatar
airways you are allowed to bring 30 kg and 8 kg carry on.
Housing
The school provides housing on campus, but I was recommended not to stay there as the
dorms are of poor quality. I contacted two Scandinavian girls who were searching for
room mates on Facebook a couple of months prior to my arrival in Shanghai, of whom
one of them already lived in Shanghai. This was very beneficial as she contacted the real
estate agent and went to see several apartments. Our agent was very decent and honest.
His name is Peter and works for Homeland Real Estate. We were very pleased with our
apartment, which was located in Laoximen, which is very central and close to popular
areas like French Concession, Xintiandi and People’s Square. The school is located
approximately 20 minutes with metro from the city centre and then a 15 minutes walk
from the station. The metro station closest to the school is on line 10, so I would
recommend if you decide to live in the city to look for areas close to metro line 10, as the
transfers in Shanghai can be very long and busy and this can add considerably to the
travel time. Be aware that most landlords demand that you sign a one-year contract.
This means that you will have to find new tenants yourself to take over the contract
when you leave. This is not always easy as the new semester begins in February, and
therefore not many students are looking for apartments in December/January. However,
apartments with shorter contracts have often times higher rent.
Costs
I paid 4.300 RMB a month for my room (RMB is of approximately the same value as
NOK). This was a master bedroom with its own bathroom in a very attractive area, so
you could easily find nice apartments with lower rent. We had to pay a deposit of three
months rent, which is usual in Shanghai. The general price level in Shanghai is low. You
can expect to pay 40-60 RMB for a meal and 30 RMB for a beer at a good restaurant. You
can also have really tasty Chinese meals for around 7 RMB at the many street food
kitchens around in Shanghai, but you should consider that the hygiene level is not good,
so there is a certain health risk associated with eating this food. Buying food in the
supermarket is also not expensive. Beware that you are dependent on bottled water to
drink and to cook as the tap water is not healthy. Luckily this is very cheap and you will
find bottles in the supermarket for 2 RMB for 1.5 litres. Stay updated on
smartshanghai.com for deals on restaurants and nightlife. Transportation in Shanghai is
very cheap. A trip with the metro costs 3 RMB for travels inside of the city centre and for
a taxi ride it costs approximately 20 RMB for travels inside of the city centre and 40 RMB
to school.
Culture and language
Knowing some Chinese is very beneficial as most of the locals don’t speak any English.
You should be able to give simple directions to the taxi driver and learn to say your
address so you know that you can get home even if your cell phone runs out of battery. I
recommend you to download the Smartshanghai app where you can find useful
information about restaurants, nightlife, sightseeing and culture and which provides you
with the addresses to these places in Chinese so you can show the driver.
The local students in your class will speak English fairly well, and professors and faculty
members are all fluent in English, so this shouldn’t cause any difficulties.
I deliberately chose courses that ran during the first part of the semester, so my last
course ended by the beginning of December, which gave me plenty of time to travel by
the end of my semester. We travelled to Beijing by the fast train, which takes
approximately 5 hours, and to the South of China by plane, which takes approximately 4
hours. We went to the cities Guilin and Yangshuo ,which are both beautiful and offer
breathtaking nature and authentic Chinese culture. We also went to the tropical island
Hainan for a relaxing beach vacation by the end. If you apply for a second entry you can
go to Hong Kong and Macau as well, which is highly recommendable.
II.
ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Exchange students from BI go to Fudan School of Management, which is a relatively
small not crowded building compared to what we are used to from BI. The Fudan
campus, however is gigantic, and it takes well up to 30 minutes or more to walk from
one part of campus to the other. Fudan is a very prestigious school in China.
Course registration
The course registration opened on August 2nd at 9 am Beijing time. I got all the courses I
wanted because I woke up during the night to attend the bidding, but I know other
Europeans who waited until the morning only to find that their favourite courses had
filled up. The course registration ended on August 10th.
Academic calendar
I arrived on September 1st. Then I had two weeks to get prepared and get to know the
city before the semester started on September 11th. I deliberately selected courses that
ran through the first part of the semester, so my last day of class was on December 4th.
Around October 1st there is a Chinese national holiday, Golden week, which is a good
time to leave the city for a week as there are no lectures in this period.
Arrival
Unfortunately I did not have the chance to attend the orientation day due to illness, but
the other students that did were highly satisfied with this day, were you get to know the
school and the other student, and finish the day with a gala dinner. Fudan also offers a
buddy program, which is highly recommended to sign up for as the native buddies can
give you helpful guidance on how to survive in this very foreign culture.
The international office
The international office at Fudan is very good. The people working there are very
helpful, and quick to respond to inquiries.
Social activities
The relationship between the exchange students was very good. There was no problem
for me to travel to Shanghai alone because I met with the rest of the class on the second
day and remained close friends with them throughout the semester. I recommend to get
in contact with your class before you arrive in Shanghai by mail or Facebook. We also
got to know the local people in our classes, which were very open, welcoming and
interested in getting to know us.
III.
Academics
In the classroom
It is expected of the students to participate in class. The teaching style is informal, and it
is allowed to interrupt the professor to ask questions during the lecture. There were no
exams for the courses that I attended at Fudan. We were assessed continuously during
the semester for participation in class and various projects, presentations and so on. In
all courses there were group works that accounted for some of the grade. Attendance
was mandatory, and you were only allowed to be absent for 30% of the semester in each
class before you would fail the class.
Exams
There were no final exams in any of the courses. The grades were partly based on your
participation in the courses, group projects, assignments and presentations. In order to
solve these tasks properly and get a good grade it was important to show understanding
and the ability to reflect upon the matters discussed in class and in the reading material.
Descriptions of courses
Course code and
Master/
name
bachelor
International
Master
Business
Exam form
Comments
30% case
Very interesting
solution/presentation in
course, highly
groups and 70% final
intensive over 4
individual assignment
days.
Collaboration
between BI and
Fudan.
Norwegian
professor.
Negotiation
Master
Grade based on participation in
Very fun and
class, group project and
practical course
presentation and individual
with negotiation
assignment.
practice in every
lecture.
Valuation and Value
Creation in Business
Master
Grade based on participation in
One of my
class, individual project with
favourite courses
presentation and group project
at Fudan. Very
with presentation.
interesting. Good
professor who
encouraged good
disussions.
Luxury brand
Master
building
Grade based on participation in
Course a bit
class, individual assignment
unstructured. The
and group project with several
grading process
presentations.
not transparent
enough. Not
sufficient
feedback during
the course. A bit
superficial.
Asia Business
Master
Insights
Grade based on participation in
What I liked
class and group project with
about this course
presentation and hand in
was that we
assignment.
visited different
companies every
lecture, and got to
learn a lot about
business practice
in China. A bit
unstructured.
Final comment
My exchange semester in Shanghai was incredible, and I’m so happy I chose this
location. I have had so much fun and so many valuable experiences. I got to know a
culture which is so different and foreign, but which I learnt to love so much. From a
career perspective I think it will become even more important for companies in the
future to have knowledge of the Chinese consumer, and that applicants with insight into
the Chinese culture will be appreciated.