Student Report MDI Fall 2009
Exchange University: Management Development Institute
Student names:
Kathrine Lerkerød Aarvold
Ida Sørum Klokkerhaug
Exchange semester:
Fall 2009
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Management Development Institute, MDI, is situated in Gurgaon close to the capital of India;
Delhi. The campus is a small green lung in the busy business centrum. Gurgaon is one of the
fastest growing areas of India, and is home to sky scraping headquarters of many of the
biggest companies in the country and lots of shopping malls. The city it self consists of no city
centrum, but many smaller sectors with centralized market areas.
In the fall semester of 2009 there was approximately 50 exchange students enrolled in the
post graduate program, 200 students in total.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Information before you left
Before leaving Norway we received a sheet of facts from MDI. This contained information like
address, important e-mail addresses and price of housing. The school also wanted us to send
an e-mail with our arrival date, in order to provide us with rooms and a buddy to show us
around the campus. They also offered to have a student to come and meet us at the airport to
make sure that we found the way to the campus.
Visa Procedure and travel experiences
To go to India you need to obtain an Indian visa. This must be done in the Indian embassy in
Oslo before your departure. The school demand that you have a student visa when you
arrive, and to make this visa verifiable you need to obtain a residence permit, which is done at
the Foreign Registration Office in Gurgaon. The students from the IRC helped us get this. But
note that the residence permit must be applied for within 14 days after arrival in India, or else
you have to pay a fine (though this is fairly small).
Academic Calendar
We attended the 5th semester at MDI (which equals the 3rd semester of masters at BI). The
term started on the 31st of August and ended with our last exam which was held on the 27th of
November. The classes go on until one week prior to the exam period. All the exams are
usually held in one week. There is also a week of mid-term exams; all held in one week and
for us it was in mid-October.
Reception
Arriving at the school we were met by one of the members of the IRC who helped us settle in
at the hostel room assigned for us. We were assigned one Indian buddy each who showed us
around campus and informed us about the university and the rules on campus. The student
from the IRC also helped us in applying for the residence permit and some other students
guided us to the Foreign Relations Office.
Housing
Every student attending MDI is required to stay at campus. There are several hostels at the
campus, each for different programs. The students attending PGPM (the program students
from BI attend) are supposed to stay at the PGPM hostel where girls and boys are settled in
separate wings. At the hostel two students share a room and there is a common bathroom for
the whole floor.
There is also another hostel where you share room with one other student and you have your
own private bathroom. The rooms here are newer and much more nice than the ones in the
PGPM hostel. This hostel is normally not for the students going on exchange, but we were
lucky and got to stay there because the other hostel was full when we arrived. We were
informed that we would have to change rooms as soon as there was vacancy at the other
hostel, but luckily we never heard anything from the manager of the hostel, Mr. Kundu. We
also paid the same price for staying in this room as the others staying in the rooms with
shared bathrooms.
Costs
India is cheap compared to Norway. Though there are places where the prices are pretty
much the same as here, you will most likely find that your student loan will get you a lot more
in India.
The most important expenses on exchange are the rent, books, food and travel expenses.
The monthly rent for a room at the campus was 4575 RS which is equivalent to approximately
600NOK. The books for each course were provided by the school for a small course
registration fee which was 500RS (ca. 70NOK) pr course. We had to take four courses which
of three provided books, so the total amount spent on books were 1500RS (ca. 210NOK).
The food expenses were also fairly small. At campus you are provided with three meals a day
at the mess for 3000RS pr month. But as we often travelled out of campus we did not have to
pay the whole amount each month. The manager of the mess held a diary of our meals where
we signed each time we had food there. At the end of the month we paid according to the
times we had eaten there. Outside of campus you can eat for almost any price you want. But
mostly it is much cheaper than prices here.
The only expensive travel cost we paid during our stay was the tickets to go there. Travelling
in India is incredible cheap, both by bus, train and plane. To get around in Gurgaon there is
shared auto-rickshaws that cost 5RS to get you to the malls. There are also cycle-rickshaws
that cost around 20RS to go to the nearest market place.
The International Office
The international relations office (IRC) at MDI is run by students. They assign Indian buddies
for the exchange students, make sure they get the residence permit in order and assists with
additional information during the semester. Also if we had any questions or problems they
would help us get them sorted out. The IRC was very helpful and always making sure that
everything was alright with us.
Exchange promotion
We had the chance to promote exchange to BI at one occasion. The students of the IRC held
a small get together in the mess where possible outgoing exchange students could come and
ask us questions about our school and country. Other than that we offered the students to
approach us when ever if they had any questions, which some of them did.
Social Activities
As an exchange student at MDI you will stand out and often be approached by fellow Indian
students curious to learn about you and where you are from. Though the Indian students are
friendly and great company they often miss out on social events outside the campus. Among
us exchange students we really had a great time as we travelled a whole lot during the
semester together. Also during the weekdays when we were in Gurgaon we spent a lot of
time outside the campus together with other exchange students.
At the university there are many different groups and events that you can attend. These are
held by the students them self. There were also some parties at campus in connection to the
different events that was worth going to, to experience the student life at campus.
Culture and Language
Both the students and the faculty members spoke fluently English, although their
pronunciation is heavily influenced by Hindi and may be hard to understand in the beginning.
The culture in India is completely different then in Norway. You must learn that things take
time in India and asking for something might require you to repeat the same question three or
four times. And the answer you get will most likely not be no, since Indians is reluctant to use
the word, even though the thing you ask for is impossible to get. But this only shows the
Indian spirit of always trying to help newcomers in their country.
Cultural and Social Effects from the Exchange Experience
The experience you get from trying to understand and to some degree integrate with the very
different Indian culture is truly a unique experience. Almost everything is done or handled in a
different way. First of all you really learn to become patient and that a smile and positive
attitude will get you that much further. Second as a westerner one will be amazed by how
much attention you will receive, both positive and negative, but all in all Indians love
foreigners and are possible the most accommodating and helpful people in the world. Given
that India is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing emerging economies and that the
culture and way of doing business is so vastly different from what we are used to, it will
probably be a huge advantage to have been on exchange in India if one wants a career either
in India or in a company doing business with India. Even if the intention is not to have a
career related to India, one will benefit hugely in the sense of being able to adapt to different
cultures and to become more flexible.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
The Teaching situation
The courses are thought in English, but sometimes (especially in the beginning) it is hard to
understand everything. Their way of speaking English is heavily influenced by their native
language (mostly Hindi) and in addition to this they speak very fast. Also the way of teaching
and conducting the lectures are done in a very different way than in Norway. It takes some
time to get used to the different systems. Most of the students come from an engineering
background, so they are excellent when it comes to technical and mathematical issues and
some of the courses are maybe because of this more technically oriented. Otherwise there
was a good mix of both theoretical and practical orientation in the courses and depending on
the course there was extensive use of cases, group work and pure lectures. The Indian
students are generally very active in class, and the use of raising a hand is less used than in
a typical Norwegian school. You are required to address the teachers by Sir or Ma’am, but
the teachers are very approachable and usually there is a good relationship between the
teachers and the students. Given that we where on exchange and had fewer subjects than
the average Indian student, the workload was not too heavy.
Required Literature
All the literature was provided by the school against a small fee for each course and the
English kept a fairly similar level as the literature we will typically read at BI. However the
reading amount to each course was maybe a bit less than at BI. The exams are typically
based on a mix of both the literature and the lectures.
Exams
In the classes we took there was only written exams, one mid-term and one end-term exam
both about two hours long. In addition there where several quizzes, presentations and
assignments during the semester, but also here there were huge differences from a typical
Norwegian school. They normally share the workload in the sense that only one or two out of
a group of five-six will do the assignments given each time.
Other
At campus they have both a library and a computer centre, both open until late night. At the
computer centre there are a lot of available computers and internet access. All the
communication between teachers and students goes either trough email (they have the same
email system as BI and they expect you to check it on a regular basis) or through the word of
mouth from other students.
Description of Courses
Course name:
PGP-HR:
Compensation
Management
Prereq.
Exam
Major at BI
Approved as
None
Written
Finance and Strategy
Elective
Teambuilding for
High Performance
None
Written
Finance and Strategy
Elective
Mergers and
Acquisitions
None
Written
Finance and Strategy
Elective
PGPM:
Business Marketing
None
Written
Finance and strategy
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Elective
Any other experiences:
All in all the exchange to India was one of the best experiences of our lives. We only had
classes from Monday to Wednesday, which allowed us to do a lot of travelling. India is an
incredible country to travel in, its cheap, everyone is ready to help you, the culture and the
people are amazing and you will get truly unique and fantastic experiences. Also you will
most likely end up with friendships lasting for a lifetime both with Indians and other exchange
students.
Names and e-mails:
For any further questions, don’t hesitate to contact either of us:
Kathrine Lerkerød Aarvold
tac_kathrine@hotmail.com
Mob: 48108823
Ida Sørum Klokkerhaug
idask@hotmail.com
Mob: 98656057