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.