Name of the University: Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien – Vienna University of Economics and
Business
Exchange semester: Fall 2015 (bachelor)
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Both of us had thought about how nice a semester abroad would be since the start of our bachelor,
but we didn´t really consider it at first. There were a lot of practical issues such as; where are we
going to live? What will happen to our job when we get back? Is the schools abroad any good? But
then we participated in one of the meetings that the International Office at BI provides for the ones
who are interested in a semester abroad, and it turned out to not be as complicated as we had
anticipated. We decided to apply, and since then we have received all the necessary information
from the International Office. If we had a question we could either call or email them, and they
would gladly help us. This made us feel safe as we had someone to walk us through all of the
important steps.
When we arrived in Vienna, we were met at the airport by our “buddy”. She was a local student
from WU, who voluntarily helped us with all the practical issues. First of all, you do not need a Visa
to live in Austria. You are only going to stay in Austria for roughly four months and will therefore
only need to fill out a “Meldezettle”. The “Meldezettel” will be handed out to you at the first
information session at school, which took place the secound day of our arrival. You have to fill this
out and get it stamped and signed at the registration service center within three days of your arrival.
If the information session at school is a little bit later for you, you can always just go to the
international office at school in Vienna or just go to the registration service center for help.
We booked the tickets early as it can sometimes be a bit pricy to travel from Norway to Austria. I
would recommend you to get a roundtrip instead of a one way ticket, because they are about the
same price. When we booked the flight, we did not know when our exams were going to take place,
so we had to gamble. However, most of the classes end before Christmas, and you get to choose
those yourselves anyways. We therefore did not choose any courses that took place in January.
At our university there is no campus, however we only live a 7 minutes walk from the university. In
Austria there are apartments designed for exchange students, they are called “OeAd-Housing
Vienna”. There are many of these buildings just in Vienna, but we chose the one closest to WU,
which is called “Molkereistrasse”. We wew two BI-students sharing one apartment in the building.
We had each our separate room with a desk, a bed and a closet, and we shared bathroom and
kitchen. The kitchen does not have an oven and only two hotplates. This kept the cooking to a
minimum. The pans was horrible, so we would strongly recommend a trip to IKEA. Also, there
was no vacum cleaner available. However, there was cleaners who cleaned our apartment every two
weeks. Right next to the building, there is a grocery store called “Billa”, which is everywhere in
Austria.
There is a house technician available to help if a light bulb needs to be switched or if the wifi does
not work, but he does not have very flexible office hours. It is about three times a week for half an
hour. But it is possible to send him an email, where he usually very quickly applies. There is a
laundry room in the basement, it costs 2 euro for a wash, and the dryer is free. There are many
exchange students and not so many washing machines, but amazingly enough there have not been
many times that we would have to wait for a machine to be finished.
The rent is a fixed cost of 470 euro a month per person, so this is not so different from what you
would pay in Norway. However, the food here is in general cheaper. We have been able to avoid any
pricy study books this semester. We have only had to buy two books, which were together about 20
euro. The rest of the syllabus were posted online in PowerPoint presentations. When we first came
here we both bought a semester ticket, approximately 70 euro. You can use this ticket for all forms
of public transport within Vienna. Even though we walk to school, we have benefited from this
deal. We often go to town or events and we get there by using the undergrounds. Therefore would
we strongly recommend getting one of these student tickets.
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
NOK 4324
NOK 200
NOK 1000
NOK 161
NOK
The university is really big with about 30 000 students. The courses which are optional for
exchange students is not optional for local students, so you will not attend any classes with
Austrians. The professors at the school are mostly from Austria themselves, but their English is of
course very good, and they make an effort to understand you the best they can.
The semester did not start until October, but we came to Vienna in the beginning of September. We
did this so that we could attend a pre-semester German course, which lasted for about three weeks.
It was an intensive course, where we got to learn the basics. This allowed us to make some friends
before the school started, which was very nice. Even though the majority of Austrian speak English,
they might sometimes prefer to speak German, so if you know a couple of sentences or words, it is
easy to pick up on what they are trying to say.
One thing that we have noticed while our semester abroad, is that Austrians do not tend to be very
pleasant. They are not directly rude; however, they are not so very polite either. We noticed this
especially when we were our eating or in grocery stores.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
The school is unlike anything we have ever seen. It is huge, with so many different buildings,
restaurants, cafes, bookstore and a grocery store at campus. There is a cafe called “Anker” outside
school, two restaurants “Nykke” and “Das Campus” and a “Spar”. There is also a cafe inside one of
the buildings, which is also nice. As mentioned, there are many buildings, and you get to have a
different classroom and a different building for almost every class, which can be quite confusing at
first. However, there are signs everywhere, which will lead you in the right direction, and there are
arrows at the ground. Do not worry, you will not get lost.
The university is only a few years old and it is built in a modern structure. It has a huge library and
a fancy canteen called “Mensa”. There are different stands where you can get pizza at one stand,
salad at one, or snitzel at another. You top up your student card with cash, and use this as payment.
It is quite quick and effective. Most of our classes are in the evening, around 17:00 or even 18:30
and unfortunately Mensa closes at 15:00, so we have not had the chance to eat there as often as we
would have liked.
You get to choose the courses you want, the only requirement is that you have 30 ECTS, one
strategic course and one finance course (for bachelor students at “økonomi og administrasjon”). The
university offers a broad range of courses for the international students, the only thing you have to
worry about is that you meet the above requirements and that they do not overlap. Attendance is
part of the grade, so you are only allowed to miss about one session. We started off with a couple of
courses at the beginning of October, but when November came a long, we suddenly had all 5
courses at once. The study structure is not the same as in Norway; the grade is dependent on
attendance, presentations, pitch, participation in class and exams. It depends on the course, not all
the courses have an exam, but one of our course had four exams. They really expect you to
participate and be able to present and pitch your ideas at the spot, so you have to pay 100%
attention in class at all times.
Course registration
The course registration is done online. WU will give you all the information as well as a log in for
their website, they have also made a video on how to register, so it is fairly easy. The only difficulty
is that the courses fill up within seconds, so you have to be really fast. You might not get all the
courses you want, so you would need to have some backups. We registered for about two extra
courses just to be sure, but fortunately, we got to have almost every course we wanted. The
registration took place in August, and you were able to drop or change courses before the course has
taken place. Many professors do not allow you to drop the course once the course has started, but
that depends on the professor off course. The international office at WU will help you with the add
and drop process if necessary.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
01.09.2015
06.10.2015
17.12.2015
Continuously
Arrival
We first arrived in the beginning of September, which left us a month to get settled before the
school started. We entered the pre-semester German course and got oriented in the city. There is
program called “orientation program”, where you get to go on “adventures” in Austria with a group,
so it is kind of like a guide tour for three weeks. We did not participate in this program, but we have
talked to people who did, and they are pleased with their choice. It is also a great way to get to
know people in the beginning. We also did some travelling to Prague and Bratislava. Bratislava is
only an hour away with bus, and it is rather cheap, about 15 euro for a roundtrip. We travelled by
bus. The bus company is called “flixbus”, and you can easily book tickets online.
The International Office
The university has an international office in the fourth floor of the library center. You are provided
with your own coordinator, and they always have their door open for you. You could also always
send them an email, and they responded quite quickly.
Promoting BI and Norway
The school offers a “Global Day” where you get to represent your home university for students who
consider going abroad. Unfortunately, we were not able to attend, due to classes interfering.
Social activities
As mentioned earlier, there were no native students in our classes. This goes for all the
arrangements made for the exchange students as well, and made it hard to reach the native students.
We had a buddy from Austria, who were also a student at WU, so we got to meet some native
students through her.
In Vienna there is a program called “Erasmus Buddy Network” which organizes trips, club nights,
dinners, wine tasting, dance classes and so on for exchange students. This is a great way to meet
other exchange students and we would recommend to participate at the dinners arranged, especially
at the beginning. They arrange club-nights two times a week; Mondays and Wednesdays, where you
get free entrance and coupons for free drinks. This goes on every Monday and Wednesday
throughout the semester, and you get coupons continuously in the mail. For the trips you would
need to sign up in advance. You get the chance to go to places like Munich, Berlin, Prague, a
weekend of skiing and other destinations for a fairly good price.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The teaching style here is a bit different from what we are used to at BI. In Vienna the classes are
much smaller, about 30 people in each class. This allows the teaching style to be much more
practical and also contribution from students are encouraged. This depends on the courses you have
chosen, but for instance we have a class called “Risk Management and Insurance”, here it is very
theoretical and students do not give much input during class. In contrast we have a class called
“Negotiation Management” where we actively have to negotiate with class mates and give
presentations on the spot. In general all of our classes are a good mixture of practical and
theoretical, where we actively have to participate. This makes the lectures more informal where we
can have a discussion openly with the teacher.
In total we would say that the work load is about the same as we are used to at BI. However, the
semester is shorter here, which makes it more intense. The semester in Vienna does not start until
October, so this makes the workload seem more since it is over a shorter period. Some classes only
last a couple of weeks, which is different from what we are used to. A lecture in one subject can last
for 8 hours over four days, and have an exam at the end of the week. The level is about the same as
in Norway. We have also participated in two master courses, which were alright.
Course materials
For most of our courses we have only used online articles, PowerPoint presentations and a website
to build a business for our entrepreneurship class. We have only had to buy two books this semester;
a German language book for 5 euros, and a pocket book for 14 euros. Everything else has been
provided to us online similar to It’s Learning.
Exams
If the professor has not had the time to go through any materials, it will not end up on the exam, so
the exams are based on lectures. The courses are evaluated based on attendance, participation,
presentations, essays, mid terms, exams, and quizzes throughout the course.
Library and technology
The university has a huge library which is over four floors. There is also a computer room where
you can print documents if needed.
Description of courses
Course code & name
#0267: German
business
communcation A1:
Master/
Bachelor
Bachelor
Exam form
Prerequisites
2-hour written
and oral exam.
None
Approved
as
Elective
Comments
This course
is rather
practical,
where you
have to
participate
by talking
German in
class. If you
want to
learn some
#1269: Risk
management and
Insurance
Bachelor
4 exams: 1 hour
each.
None
Elective
#1357:
Entrepreneurship
camp!
Bachelor
Mid term
presentation, final
presentation, and
website.
None
Elective
#1318: Negotiation
Managment
Master
Presentation,
essay, 2 hour
written exam.
None
Elective
basic
phrases and
talk German
on the
beginner
level this
will suit you
perfect.
The course
was very
T´theoretica
l. You get to
learn a lot
about
insurance
and how to
handle the
risk. If you
are
interested in
this, this
course is
perfect for
you!
In this class
we get to
learn how to
start our
own
business! It
is
challenging
to come up
with a good
business
idea which
will work in
real life.
This is a
great
experience.
This course
was quite
intensive,
only four
days, with 8
hour
sessions.
However,
we learned a
lot about
salary
negotiation,
and got to
act the
learnings
#0492: Strategic
Management
Master
Presentation,
participation,
essay.
Basic strategic
knowledge.
Elective
out
immediatley
. Very
practical
class.
In this class
we walked
through well
known cases
such as
«G.E.» and
highlighted
their
strategy.
You get to
discuss
openly in
class, and
you have to
come well
prepeared
for each
session.
We both found the exchange semester as a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we are glad we
embraced this opportunity. The structure of the classes have definitely pushed us outside our
comfort zone. We will take this experience with us into our careers. Having experienced another
culture have made us more aware of the cultural differences and how to act accordingly. We are
very happy with our exchange, and would definitely recommend this to everyone!