Student Report
Name of the University: Corvinus University of Budapest
Exchange semester: Fall 2015
Before leaving Norway
I received the first email from Corvinus in April with some practical information. They keep
you updated about course registration and even send out e-mails with apartments for rent
and events that is happening in the beginning of the semester. The international office at BI
also provides a lot of information and you can ask them basically anything.
Applying for a visa (if applicable)
If you pass the boarder within 90 days, you don’t have to apply for a visa. There are a lot of
trips arranged by the university so this will probably not be a problem. If you decide to stay
in the country, I know the visa applying process can be difficult, and it takes a long time, so
my advice is to take a trip to one of the many interesting countries around Hungary.
Travel
I travelled with Norwegian directly to Budapest; the flight is only 2 hours and cost about 40
Euros if you book early. My tandem partner met me at the airport to help me with my
luggage and we took a taxi from the airport. Taxi to the city centre cost approximately
20euros, or you can travel with public transport, which is basically free.
Housing
The university does not provide housing, but you will not have a problem finding a place to
live. I found my apartment from a Hungarian website, but I think using the Facebook pages is
the best idea. There is both the Norwegian organization ANSA and several Erasmus-groups. I
know a lot of people came to Budapest without an apartment, but managed to find a place
to stay within a couple of days. I recommend living in district 5, 6 or 7. I lived in district 6 and
I think it is by far the best place, very close to the most popular bars, shopping and good
restaurants. Its not very close to the university, but the public transport is really good and
cheap so its no problem getting to school.
Costs
Rent
3000 NOK
Books
1000
Food
1500 NOK
Transport
120 NOK
Other
1500 NOK
Rent in Budapest is usually around 200-300 euros per month if you live with one or two
people. If you want to live alone the prices range from 400-500 Euro. Groceries are really
cheap, so you can live very cheap here if you decide to cook yourself. We ate out usually
around once a day, and dinner in a restaurant is usually around 2500-3000 forints (60-90
NOK). At the university we had to buy books for some courses, but usually you can use the
PowerPoint slides and copies that the professor provides. Public transport is really cheap,
and really good. Because I lived to central and close to all the popular clubs, I can count on
one hand how many times I took a taxi here. Uber is also really big here, and cost next to
nothing.
Culture and language
When you are on exchange you surround yourself with so many international students that
you will experience a mix of different cultures rather than the Hungarian culture. You will
experience language difficulties in everyday-life such as at the supermarket etc. because
there are a lot of Hungarians that don’t speak English, but at the university and with fellow
students it is no problem. Hungary is not so different from Norway in many ways, so getting
used to living here went really smooth. You will though experience that a lot of things is not
as efficient here, for example you will not get a “plastic card” student ID, but an A4 page you
have to carry around all the time, and also renew in the middle of the semester.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Please describe:
The school is located in the city centre of Pest, right next to the Danube River. There are two
main buildings right next to each other, one old and one new building. The old building is
very big and beautiful, but you will most likely have most of your classes in the new building,
which looks more like BI. The international office and your department are located in the old
building, while the library is in the new building. Wherever you decide to live in the city, the
university is easily accessible by public transport; there is both a metro line and two trams
that stops right outside.
One negative thing about the campus is that the Wi-Fi is really bad. It works fine in the
library, but in the classrooms and other places in the buildings it almost does not work at all.
Therefore we usually studied at cafes close to campus rather than at school.
Course registration
Corvinus started sending me e-mails in April with information on how and when to register
courses. They also send you log-ins to the different systems they use at the university.
When and how did you register for courses?
Through Neptune on June 3rd at 10:00am. You have to be ready and refresh the page
constantly right before 10am because thousands of students are registering their courses at
the same time. I was refreshing but I still couldn’t get one of my mandatory courses, and I
also had to choose other elective courses than I had planned. This is apparently very
common, and the international office at BI was well aware of this, but they assured me that
it always worked out. Still, I had to deal with this during the two first weeks of school, and
after several trips to the international office at Corvinus, arguing with the professor and
sending in a form stating that the course is compulsory for my exchange, they finally gave
me the course. In other words, it works out, but its not easy and you have to be very
persistent.
During the first week of the semester, you have the add & drop period, where you can
attend different classes and change your schedule. Almost everyone I have talked to, and
including myself changed a lot of my courses during this week, so the courses you choose
during the first registration is not always the courses you end up with.
When did the add/drop period end?
20th of september
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
August 25th
First day of the semester:
14th of September
Last day of classes:
11th of December
Examination period:
14 – 19 December
Any special events/holidays:
23. October
Other:
Arrival
Our semester was delayed one week because of a big conference taking place in the city.
During that week the student organization ESN arranged an introduction week where we
went to a different bar every night. We also attended the Norwegian introduction week
arranged by ANSA, which was a lot of fun, and where you get to know other Norwegians that
study in the city. Throughout the whole semester ESN arranges a lot of cultural events and a
lot of them takes place during the first weeks where you can go on guided tours to the
parliament or to the “mountain” on the Buda side where you can see the beautiful view of
the Pest side of the Danube.
The International Office
The International Office sent out e-mails every week with news about trips arranged by the
school etc. But I really didn’t need their help throughout the semester with anything else.
Promoting BI and Norway
There was an international exchange fair, where we could promote BI to students who
considered a semester abroad. Unfortunately I could not attend, but two of my friends did,
and they got sent t-shirts and folders from BI.
Social activities
The school arrange a lot of social activities such as parties, outside cinema and a formal ball,
but I was mostly socialising with the Norwegian exchange students from BI, and other
international friends we got in our classes.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
Each course has a lecture and a seminar, a total of 3 hours for each course every week. The
lecture is usually the teacher going through new material while the seminar is more
practical. Each class is only 20-30 students, and you are evaluated on your attendance in
class, so it’s very different from BI. You really get to know your professor and your fellow
students, and in many of the lectures we had discussions where you are expected to
participate.
The workload is very different from BI, and many of the professors give you homework and
readings for each class that you have to do. In addition, almost all courses have group work
that usually includes a group presentation and a written report that you have to do in
addition to the mid-term and final exam. So even though the final exam counts for less of
your final grade than at BI, you will have to work really hard throughout the whole semester,
and at the end I really missed the way it works at BI.
Course materials
In most courses it’s enough to use the power-point presentation the teacher provides while
in other courses the teacher require you to buy the book. There is also a copy shop right next
to the university where you can copy the whole book from the library, which is a cheaper
option than buying it.
Exams
For every course, you can earn a maximum of 100 points. The mid-term exam and final exam
usually counts for 40-60% of your final grade. You have all the exams in one week, and don’t
be surprised if you have 2 exams in one day, and you literally have to run from one exam to
the other. The exams are a lot less formal than at BI, and are usually done during the last
class, and you might have the seminar after. The good thing about this is that the semester is
divided in two, and you have half of the syllabus for the mid-term and the other half for your
final exam. Therefore there is less content in the exam, but the level of stress is extreme.
An example of how the course was evaluated:
40 % Written Final exam
30 % Mid-term exam
20 % Group project and presentation
10 % Class attendance
Library and technology
The library is located in the new building, and provides everything that a library should.
Description of courses:
Course code & name
Master/
Exam form
Bachelor
Corporate Finance
Bachelor
Prerequ
Approved as
Comments
Mandatory
This course is similar
as finance
to the finance
isites
90 min
written exam
None
courses we do at BI
during our first year,
but challenging
because of the
language. The
teacher is strict, but
very good.
Homework for every
class and also a
group project where
you have to submit a
report and do a
presentation.
Decision Techniques
Bachelor
90 min
None
written exam
Mandatory
The teacher is a bit
as Strategy
boring, and the
content of the
course seems
useless. The exams
were also a lot
harder then what
the teacher led it to
be in the classes.
Chinese companies &
Bachelor
business strategy
Oral group-
None
Elective
presentation
The teacher in this
course is really
unique. He is very
funny, has a lot of
knowledge, and the
course is very
practical. Also a very
easy course with no
mid-term or written
exam, only a
presentation.
Environmental
Bachelor
management
90 min
None
Elective
written exam
A very interesting
course with a good
teacher. The only
downside with this
course is that you
have to submit a
long report at the
end of the semester
Human Resource
management
Bachelor
90 min
written exam
None
Elective
A very strict, but
good teacher. A lot
of reading in this
course, but no group
presentation. You
have assigned
reading for every
class, and he will
check that you did it.
Very interesting
content, my
favourite course this
semester.
On a final note, how will you sum up the exchange experience?
This is probably the most interesting four months of my life, and I really think everyone should do a
semester abroad. You really get to know yourself and learn how to adapt to a new environment.
Budapest is really one of the coolest cities I’ve ever been to, and the nightlife is ten times better than
in Norway. The cheap prices on everything from food to activities made it possible for us to do
basically whatever we wanted and not having to consider the price. We were also able to travel to
the countries around Hungary, and most of the students here travelled during the weekend.
On the other hand, the adaption to the school system here was extremely difficult for me, and if you
decide to go in exchange, whether it is in Budapest or anywhere else, you have to be prepared to do
a lot of school work, and a lot of presentations. But I think the learning outcome is far more than
theoretical, you learn to work in groups with five other people with different nationalities, and my
English has improved drastically. I did a 90 minutes presentation in English, and wasn’t even nervous.
I recommend Budapest with all my heart, and I know I will return many times in the future.