STUDENT REPORT
Name of the University: EM Strasbourg Business School
Names of the students: Eirik Dønjar and André Stene
Exchange semester: Third semester
Fall, 2011
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
1. The school is located approximately 10 minutes outside the city center,
with trams patrolling the area at any given time. The area surrounding the
school is urban, with cafes, bakeries and sports facilities. The school itself
is quite old, but possesses the facilities necessary for a successful student
exchange.
2. There are two faculties located in the Business School building. In addition
to the Business School, in agreement with BI, there is an economic faculty.
We took courses at the economic faculty as well, for to satisfy
recommendations from BI.
3. There are approximately 2000 students at the EM Strasbourg Business
School, included exchange students from different parts of the world.
4. Some of the courses are finished early in the semester, while others last
the whole semester.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Information before you left
 We are quite happy with the information form the University before we left;
it was also easy to get answers if we wondered about something.
Visa Procedure and travel experiences
 We did not encounter any difficulties in traveling to and from Strasbourg.
Visa is quite expensive in withdrawals from ATMs, but it is cheap to pay by
card in most stores.
Academic Calendar
 We arrived at Strasbourg 01. September and the introductory week started
07. September.
 The first day of the semester was 14. September.
 The last day of classes was 05. December.
 The examination period was from 05 – 15 December.
Reception
 The reception at the school was messy, with poor procedures and mixed
messages. The school has a potential for improvement. It was difficult to
get the information needed, at least at reasonable time.
Housing
 We early applied for housing, but did not get it. So, we traveled to
Strasbourg a week before the introductory week and asked the school
about housing. They recommended us for a house just beside the school.
We were lucky and got it, while other students used some time before they
could find something.
Costs
 It is quite cheap to live in France, with low housing and food expenses. We
did not buy any books, when notes from the presentations were the basis
for the different exams.
The International Office
 The Business School has an understaffed international office, but they try
as best as they can to help you. They were also flexible towards the
course portfolio, when they helped use get the courses needed.
Exchange promotion
 We attended two events for to promote our home university, a smart way
to get in touch with people.
Social Activities
 There were a lot of events one could participate in for to meet people,
varying from parties to sport events.
Culture and Language
 Most of the students speak English, while almost all of the locals only
speak French. There are possibilities to experience the culture, but then
one should master French.
Cultural and Social Effects from the Exchange Experience
 We think the exchange is positive with regard to the CV, when future
employers see that we were willing to go the “extra mile”. In a cultural point
of view the exchange stay has given us some new preferences and
experiences.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
The Teaching situation
After arriving to the school and participated during the “Registration and
Information” day, each student will be given a student card/number. During
this session, information regarding the course selection/registration will be
given. At the day of course selection (usually the week after the registration
day) all students signs up for their courses online. Courses which where
scheduled before the semester begins may not be available for selection. Our
experience with the school in these situations is that they have been
incredibly flexible and helpful, providing assistance in finding other relevant
courses.
Students at the EM Business School in Strasbourg have the opportunity to
study entirely in English, and a variety of the courses offered are taught in
English. The School also offers courses in French for beginners. For people
how have studied French for a longer period of time, it is possible to
participate in solely French taught courses.
The teachers at the school often use presentations, group work and case
studies as the basis in their course portfolio, in addition to lectures.
Compared to BI, the courses are less theoretical and more practical in the
sense that less time is spent on theories, and more time is spent on applying
a few theories in different cases from the business life.
Since each course only gives 3 ECTS Credits, we where dependent on
participating in eight courses. With two or more presentations in each course,
some essays, working papers etc., which often is time consuming, the
workload is at least the same as for BI, sometimes more. However, some
courses are module based, and are finished after an intensive week or two.
The school holds many Erasmus students and students from all over the
world, which yields a variety of nationalities within the classroom. Working in
groups, which are mandatory in most courses at the school, the environment
for developing close acquaintances in the classroom absolutely exists.
Required Literature
The literature needed in each courses is being presented in the lectures or
handed out as notes. This forms the basis of the literature used. Relevant
articles could be used, but these are either handed out or available online.
The different exams are based on the lectures and notes handed out by the
teacher.
Exams
Written exams, presentations, term papers (both individual and group work)
where the exam types which was used. Participation in lectures and studying
the notes handed out gives a good basis for passing the different exams.
Other
EM Strasbourg Business School has a three storey library with volumes
mainly dealing with the subjects of Economics and Management. When
studying for your exams you will be able to find exams of the past years to
give you an idea of what you can expect for your exam.
The library is open from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm from Monday to Friday and from
8:00 am to 6:00 pm on Saturdays. The school is closed on Sundays.
There are three main computer rooms at the school, and these are open for
students. Some courses are also taught in these computer rooms, working
together and following the instructions from the teacher. The only difficulty
experienced with regards to IT and computers, is that the computer programs
are only available in French.
Description of Courses
Please list all the courses you are taking in the form below:
 Name and code of the course
 Prerequisites, if any
 Exam form
 Comments: Relevance, Difficult/easy, Practical/theoretical, Enrolment
problems
Example:
Course name:
Exam
Approved as
Innovation and Economics of knowledge Written
Common
Economics of invention patents
Written
Common
European Integration Essay
Written
Common
Decision making and Business Intell.
Written
Elective
IFRS Principles
Written
Common
European Integration
Written
Common
Control and Auditing
Written
Elective
Business and corporate strategy
Written/presentation Common
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Names and e-mails:
Eirik Dønjar
edonjar@hotmail.no