Student Report - IESEG School of Management, Campus Paris Exchange semester: Fall 2014 Applying When I decided that France and Paris was the place I wanted to go, the International Office at BI was very helpful with suggesting which school I should choose. I learned quickly that I should only contact the international office at BI in Oslo, because nobody at my campus had the information necessary. The international office helped all along the way applying for the school, with the application and learning agreements etc. When the application was sent the offer from IESEG came very fast. Travel I travelled by plane to Paris, ordered tickets early so the prices was not too bad. I would recommend to fly to the airports Charles De Gaulle or Orly Airport, these are the closest to the city. Charles De Gaulle has great train-connections to the city. I was lucky because the buddy that was assigned to me came to pick me up at the airport. The train and metro stations can be very confusing for a first time traveller to Paris, so I was very glad he helped. Housing Before I left for Paris, I got information and help in good time. The university offers to help you find housing, which is great. I was very quick when they asked if someone needed housing, therefore, I had many alternatives to choose from, and I got a decent place to live very fast to a decent price. The only thing you have to remember is that in France a twobedroom apartment is not the same as a two-bedroom apartment anywhere else. I was going to share a two-bedroom apartment with a nice girl from Australia, but when I arrived, I soon discovered that my “room” was the living room, sleeping on a sofabed. The only “walls” was see-through walls you put up and fold away as you please. There was little privacy. Costs Rent 550 Euros Shared a two-bedroom apartment with another international student. Books - Most of the materials you need is published online. Books are borrowed from the library. Food 300-400 Euros Depends if you cook at home or go out. We went out a lot to eat at charming cafés. Transport 30-40 Euros Transport in Paris is very expensive, but I was lucky to live in a walking distance from the school so the only thing I paid for was the metro to the centre of Paris. Other - A lot of museums and touristattractions are free for students under the age of 26 and from the EU. Paris is quite expensive so it’s good to save some money for adventures. Culture and Language/ Social activities The French have a very distinct culture, and you can tell the differences very quickly. It’s not easy to successfully merge in to their culture. The French can really live up to their own stereotypes. But the culture between the international students was great, everyone connected well. It’s definitely more difficult to connect with the French students. When working with French students at school, there are clear differences in teamwork. The French students did as little as possible and only halfway done, they mostly didn’t invite to working together on assignments, they could suddenly just hand in something without talking to any other students in the group. They also mostly spoke French during class, even if the class was in English, which makes it difficult for a non-French speaker to follow. In general they did not show much respect to the teacher because they would not stop talking during lectures. I also experienced difficulty with reaching the faculty. Most of them were nice and forthcoming and wanted to help, but some were not, and you have to expect everything to take a lot of time, and for there to be chaos. They are also very strict on students being on time, but they have no problem with being very late themselves. As an exchange student, we could join some of the groups, activities and clubs at the school. Mostly we arranged many activities ourselves. School The school was very nice, modern and up to date. There is a small cafeteria, but most of us went to the closest grocery stores to get lunch, because the cafeteria does not have much to offer. There is a huge shopping mall right next to the school with many choices in cafés etc. The only problem concerning the school is that there are no grouprooms to do schoolwork. The library is open at times so you can study by yourself. The location of the school is amazing, it is in the centre of business-mekka of Paris, and it is inside a huge modern copy of the l’arc de triomphe. It has a great view over the Champs Elysée and the original l’arc de triomphe, and it is a great view in itself. Course registration I registered for courses when I sent the application for the exchange, so in the spring before the exchange semester. Regarding the course registration, the school seemed to have some issues, because when we arrived we had to register for courses again, and then they had a very different course catalogue we could choose courses. Then they gave us a few days to register, which was too short, bearing in mind that this was during the induction-week with so much going on. After registering there was a period where we could change courses if the timetables were crashing, which most of them did. I only had four of my original fourteen classes that I registered. There was so much stress and chaos around the course registration. I would recommend to have a back-up plan with different courses and hand in extra courses for BI to approve. This will save you time and energy in the add and drop period. Academic calendar Arrival date: 24th August 2014 First day of the semester: 25th August 2014 Last day of classes: 22nd December Examination period: Every friday Any special events/holidays: One midsemester break in November Other: Arrival The introduction week was very exciting with a lot of events for all the international students, during the day at school and in the evening. Social gatherings so we could get to know each other. However, here again I would like to characterize the entire week as chaotically organized. The International office was always very fast in responding to my inquires, and I felt like I got a lot of good information beforehand, and help during my stay in Paris. Promoting BI and Norway The French classes organized a day where we could represent our country by making some food that all the students shared. Students from other countries did the same. We also got an assignment where we were going to talk about a special dish from our country in French, which was fun, and quite challenging. During the first week, we were three BI students that got together to work on a project together. One person from BI Bergen, me from BI Stavanger and another girl from BI Oslo. We did a group presentation together, and afterwards we were known as the BI crew. In the classroom and Course materials During the fall semester, we had a new course every week that gave 2ECTS. A normal week would look like this: Lectures and group work from Monday to Thursday, 08:10-12:30, with two ten minute breaks in between. We usually had a group presentation on Thursdays and finished the week with an exam on Friday morning. Since we had a new course every week, that means we had a new professor every week. Some of the professors worked at IESEG and some of them were flown in to do guest lectures. That meant you could have many different types of teaching styles. In my experience, the workload was considerably larger, due to new courses every week and new exams every week, but the level of quality that they expected was not as high as at BI. This was frustrating in the beginning, because then the workload was even heavier than necessary, but it resulted in good grades. In only one of my classes, we needed to use a book, and we could borrow the book in the library. Otherwise, all the course material was online. PowerPoints and online articles was used a lot, and the quality of the material was high. Exams and grades The exams were based on both lectures and course materials. Some were multiple choice exams (MCQ), some were essays, and some where group work that was to be handed in and evaluated. Every class was different, some evaluated based on only the exam, others on group work, presentations, attendance, assignments, tests and participation. It was all up to each professor. Library The facilities was like sitting in a cold gym hall, and the books were locked away and they rarely had people manning the books. Description of courses Course code & name Master/ Exam form Bachelor Prerequisit es Approve d as Comments FININ-EI02UE FINANCIAL MANAGEMEN T Bachelor 2 hour written exam None Elective Very basic, equivalent of «finans 1» at first grade in BI. HRMMAEI11UE STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE Master 2 hour written exam None Elective Work in class and room for discussion. MANAGEMEN T Master HRMMAFI01UE MANAGING STAFF FLOWS: AN INTEGRATED HRM APPROACH 2 hour written exam plus group project None Elective Interesting course. Had a lot of classdiscussions. IBEMA-EI69UE Master NETWORKS, CROWDS & MARKETS 2 hour written exam, presentation, and 3 tests None Elective Interesting class. IBEMA-FI65UE Master ECONOMICS OF THE WELFARE STATE:PENSIO N SYSTEMS & REFORMS IN THE EU 2 hour exam and presentation None Elective Boring class, too much focus on our own presentation of a country IBEMA-FI66UE Master EMERGING MARKETS AND COUNTRY RISK EVALUATION 2 hour exam and presentation None Elective Interesting class that’s relevant and focused on todays situation in the world. LANINOE01UF FRANCAIS DEBUTANT 1 Bachelor Group project, 2 hour MCQ, participation in class and tests. None Languag e Learned a lot of French during a short period, was a fun class. LANINOE15UF BIEN PRONONCER LE FRANCAIS Bachelor Oral test and presentation None Languag e Worked on oral presentation of French, helped a lot with the understanding. Will recommend if you want to learn French. NEGIN-EI01UE Bachelor INTERNATION AL PURCHASING Group presentation None Elective Very practical and fun. Bachelor STRB3CE01UE FUNDAMENTA LS OF STRATEGY 3 MCQ:s during the semester None Elective Quite a lot of work but also 4 ECTS. Had troubles with this course because I ended up in a group with uninterested French students. Teacher was not willing to let me switch groups. Final exam OPSMACI01UE CHANGE MANAGEMEN T Master Big group report and 2 hour written exam None Elective Very interesting, and a lot of work. Glad I took it. OPSMAEI64UE INTERNATION AL TRADE OPERATIONS Master Group assignment None Elective Half was presentations from the professor and half projectwork with teacher for assistance. Interesting. OPSMAEI67UE BUSINESS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMEN T Master Group assignment None Elective Same professor as the above, international trade operations, had the same build up. Very theoretical. OPSMAEI70UE INTERNATION AL ENTERPRISE PROJECT Master Projects throughout the week and exam None Elective Interesting class. MANAGEMEN T Final words Overall, I would recommend going on exchange, it is an amazing experience and you get to meet so many amazing and interesting people. Going to France was quite challenging and not very easy, due to the extremely bureaucratic ways, and very different cultural values. The school took up most of the time so there was rarely any time for anything else during the weekdays. But Paris is an amazing city and should be on everyone’s to do list.