STUDENT REPORT
ESCE International Business School
Fall 2015
PRACTICAL INFORAMTION
Before departure
I received information from the exchange university through email before I
arrived. They sent me information about the different classes they offered, when
classes started and what information I needed to provide before arriving in Paris
etc. I communicated with them through email, but it often took awhile before they
replied.
Travel
To get to Paris I just booked a plane ticket with SAS and ordered a taxi
through them to get from the airport to where I was going to live. To schedule my
flight back to Norway was a little more difficult because we received the dates of the
final exams very late.
Housing
I lived at “Maison de Norvege” which is an international student dorm funded
by the governments of Norway and France. The house is located at “Cite
Universitaire” which is a large student campus housing all different nationality,
“Maison de Norvege” houses about 50% Norwegian students and 50% from other
nationality. The standard was okay: small rooms furnished with the essentials
including a sink and a mirror, kitchen and bathrooms are shared with the others on
the floor.
The exchange university provided us with information about different
housing possibilities (including Maison de Norvege), and they did offer to apply for
us, but for an extra cost (800 euro for Maison de Norvege/cite universitaire). I
would recommend applying on your own as it is going to be a lot less expensive and
the procedure is fairly simple.
Cost
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Cell phone
Gym membership
Other
4750 NOK
0 NOK (free ebooks provided by
university)
2000 NOK
700 NOK
200 NOK
250 NOK
2000 NOK
Cultural and Language
The cultural differences were not a problem, but the language differences
could be a problem from time to time. Our teachers where fluent in English and was
easy to communicate with, but communicating administration with the
administration was sometimes a problem, even though they understood English,
sometimes I felt that they did not understand my questions and concerns when
emailing them and answered to something completely different or just parts of my
questions. Generally the French are not very good in English so when going to
stores/bank/mobile operator etc. I found it hard to communicate with the people
working there.
THE SCHOOL
The campus is located in the 15th arrondissement close to the Eiffel Tower.
There are many exchange students from all over the world that attend the school
and therefore they offer many international classes. The classes were small with
around 30-40 people in each class and grades based on “continuous assessments”
(homework, tests and presentation during the semester) as well as a midterms and
final exams for some classes.
Course registration
We registered for classes the week before classes started. The whole process
was a mess, to say the least, the system for registration did not work well and I
ended up with only one of the eight classes that I had registered for. The
administration was not very helpful and understanding when it came to fixing my
schedule, but after about 3 weeks it worked out and I got the schedule that I needed.
I have been informed that this was a one-time incident as they had some problems
with the new administration. The add/drop period was originally one week after
classes started, but it was postponed due to the schedule issue that a lot of student
faced.
Academic calendar
Arrival date
First day of the semester
Last day of classes
Examination period
Special events/holidays
Other
20th of August
31st of August
19th of December
Week 48 to week 51
Week 44 and 11th of November
Orientation days: 25th and 26th of
August
Arrival
There were held two days of orientation before classes started giving us
different information about the school and living in Paris. There were also some
activities arranged by the school for exchange students (not many).
The international office
We did receive information about the school from the international office,
but often this information came late and/or was not sufficient.
Promoting BI and Norway
There was held an event where the exchange students could promote their
own university, unfortunately I had school this day from 8-17 so I was not able to go
to this.
Social activities
As far as I know there were no activities (except one before school started)
for exchange students hosted by the exchange university. However there was some
kind of student exchange club with French native students, but it was introduced to
us so late in the semester that I do not think that it was relevant for people to join in
at that time.
The French native students did not seem very interested in getting to know
the exchange student, and most of the classes I attended only had international
students anyways so that there wasn’t really a platform for getting to know anyone
else.
ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The teaching style was very different from BI. The classes was small with
around 30-40 students in each class, we had to work in groups on different projects
and presentations as well as having individual tests, exams and homework.
The workload was approximately the same as at BI, but you have to work on
it all through the semester, compared to BI where the heaviest workload is during
the exam period. The level was different for each class, some were easier than
others, and some classes had midterms and final exams, others did not.
Course material
We used ebooks for some classes, but mostly only slides and articles
provided by the professors.
Exams
Tests and exams where based on this material and what the teacher had said
in class which sometimes made it difficult to study for exams.
Grades was evaluated by:
- Final exams
-
Mid-term exams
In-class quizzes throughout semester
Small assignments and papers
Presentations
Group work
Class attendance
Library and technology
The school does not provide a library for its students, instead they have
“media centers” where you can sit down and study, but these were often crowded
and quite noisy. The school also gives you access to computer rooms and printing
facilities.
Description of courses
Course code
and name
1051 Strategic
Management
Master/bachelo
r
Master (4th
year)
French
language
course
Exam
form
2 hour
writte
n
exam
None
Prerequisite
s
None
Approve
d as
Strategy
class
Comments
Based on
level
Elective
You will
have to do
a test
before
arrival to
see which
level you
are in
(mandator
y class)
Learning
about
different
cultural
differences
1484 Intercultural
persuasive
communicatio
n
1442 Current
Economic
Issues
Bachelor
None
None
Elective
Bachelor
None
Elective
1275
International
corporate
finance
Bachelor
None
Finance
class
1075 Portfolio
and bond
management
Master (4th
year)
None
Finance
class
1164 Case
Studies
Bachelor
2 hour
writte
n
exam
1,5
hour
writte
n
exam
2 hour
writte
n
exam
1 hour
writte
n
exam
None
Elective
Solving
problems
that
companies
have faced
before
1056
International
Business
Negotiation
Master (4th
year)
2 hour
writte
n
exam
None
Elective
Final note
Despite some administration issues I had a great time abroad, I got to learn
about the French culture and language, experiencing life in Paris and make new
friends from all over the world. My semester abroad gave me an opportunity to
experience going to a school in a different country, learn about culture differences
from all over the world as well as learn about my own culture and myself.