Student Report
Name of the University: ITESM. Tec de Monterrey, Mexico
Exchange semester: Fall, 2015
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
I started reciving information from TEC in April about the information of the cources
and school.
Applying for a visa (if applicable)
You do not need a visa if you are staying in Mexico for more than 180 days, so I did
not have to apply for anything before going. There is only a form that has to be filled
out when you boarder into Mexico, but you will get information about this before you
leave.
Travel
I travelled to Mexico from Stavanger, with one stop in Frankfurt and one in Miami,
USA.
Housing
I and five other students from my school got an apartment in Villas Tec. This is where
most of the international students live. There are two organisations helping
international students to find housing, make social event, pick up at the airport etc.
They get in contact with you early through Facebook. We got one “big sister/brother”
each, who helped us answering questions, picking us up at the airport and showing us
around when we arrived.
Costs
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
NOK 2250
NOK 80
NOK 2000
NOK 200
NOK
Other expences was money that were spent on traveling and experiences/activities.
Culture and language
- Did you have any language problems with the faculty or other students?
The students at Tec speak English, and are easy to communicate with. But outside the
school there is very few people who can speak English.
- How were the possibilities to experience the country and the culture?
Monterrey is a were wealthy city in Mexico, and you might not experience the culture
as good as in other cities in the country. I recommend you to travel and experience
more of mexico while you are there! But if you do some research you can find
restaurants, places and bars/clubs that is very Mexican, in Monterrey aswell.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Please describe:
The campus is very big with several big buildings, restaurants, green areas and other
stores. You wil find animals, like deer, peacocks, ducks and others wandering around
on the campus area.
The classes are small, we were around 30 students in my classes. Attendance is
required and there is a lot of work throughout the semester. This is different hand-in
homeworks, presentations, projects and partial exams. The classes are 3 hours once a
week, or 1,5 hour twice a week.
Course registration
The cource registration happened online before leaving Norway. This was a simple
process, were you choose what class you wanted. But you need to make your own schedule,
so think about when you want to have class and not. We wanted to have the Friday off, so we
had the possibility to travel in the weekends. So we did not choose any classes on this day.
The add period is two weeks, but you are able to drop classes for a longer periode. You can
not registrer for more than 30 ECTS credits.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
Any special events/holidays:
Other:
Aug. 1, 2015
Mandatory orientation: Aug. 3-7, 2015
Classes begin: Aug. 10, 2015
Nov. 19, 2015
Nov. 23 – Des 3, 2015
Sep. 16 and Nov.16, holidays
Arrival
I did not commit to this week. But the introduction week was for all of the students in
TEC, and therefore mostly on Spanish. It were program at school, around-trip in the city etc.
The International Office
The International Office gave us a lot of information before leaving Norway, and
during the stay in Mexico. They were very friendly, and helped us working out the
schedule the way we wanted. If we had any questions, they were glad to help.
Social activities
- How was the relationship with native students and that among exchange students?
There are a organisation arranging events and travels for international students. This
organisation is run by national students, or earlier national students. Through this we
got the opportunity to get to know both international students and national ones. The
classes at school was mixed with both internationals and national, so this was also a
possibility to get to know people. I did get some good friends during my stay, both
internationals and nationals.
- Are there any special activities, student organisations, and gatherings for exchange
students?
Those two organisations (International Student Embassay and Integrate) arranged
several events and travles and bigger parties during the stay. This was something we
participated on almost every time, and it was very fun!
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The teaching style depended on the professor. We normaly had to participate and
discuss things in class. This makes a closer relation between students and professor. It is
important that you are on time, and participate in most of the classes. Some teacher gives you
homework for the next class, others liked to do this in the class, together.
The level at TEC is a lot lower than BI. On the other hand will the workload be much bigger
than BI. We had six cources instead of four, and had hand-in homeworks, projects, group
work and so on in every class. So it was a lot to do all the time during the stay.
Course materials
Most of the teachers used Powerpoint presentations in tha class, some used online
articles. In the Spanish class we used an online book.
Exams
- Was the exam based on the course materials or on the lectures?
The exams were based mostly on what we did in class, but some also based on
presentations and homeworks.
Library and technology
- I did not use the library while I was there, but I’ve heared it was okey. Tec also had
another building with library in one floor, computer lab in another, and two floors with
tables and sitting groups for doing projects and work with school. There were several
computer places, but I only used the other one.
Description of courses
Please list below all the courses you took while on exchange. Your comments are useful for
BI and for future exchange students, include information on the qacadmic level, challenges,
relevance to your studies, if the course was practical/theoretical, any enrolment issues, etc.
Course code & name
Master/
Bachelor
Bachelor
Exam form
Prerequisites
Final
assignment
None
Approved
as
Elective
H11007 Spanish 1A
Bachelor
Written, oral
None
Elective
NI3029 Doing
business in
Latinamerica
Bachelor
Final project
with
presentation
None
Elective
H1011 Introduction to
Mexican culture
Comments
Big
assigments,
and
unstructured
fun and easy
course, but
did not learn
that much
A lot to do,
big projects,
very history
focused
F22016 Project
valuation and
financing
AD1005 Management
and business model
innovation
Bachelor
Written
None
Elective
Bachelor
Written
None
Elective
NI3031 International
business project
Bachelor
Final project
None
Elective
Very basic
with a kind
teacher
Fun course
with a lot of
activities in
class, very
kind teacher
Only project,
the teacher
was very
helpful and
kind
On a final note, how will you sum up the exchange experience?
-
-
I do not feel that the courses I had will help me academically. However, some of them
were helpful in order to understand the culture I was in, aswell as others. We learned a
lot of how you should be doing business in different countries, considering the
different cultures.
Culturally and socially, the exchange has been a great semester! I have met a lot of
nice people from all over the world, as well as Mexican friends I always can come
back to visit whenever I want to. When it comes to future career possibilities, I think
the most important aspect is that I have lived in another culture for a long period, and
have learned how to adjust to a new invironment and function. I have also learned som
helpful Spanish sentences and words, which can come in handy.