Student Report
Name of the University: Bocconi University
Exchange semester: Fall 2015
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
All information about documents, registration and housing was provided by Bocconi
International office through the emails. Information meeting organized by BI
International office were also useful.
Applying for a visa (if applicable)
If you have Norwegian residence permit you don’t need to apply fro visa. At the same
time even if you have a Norwegian residence card you still have to apply for an Italian
one as far as you are staying in Italy for more than 90 days.
In the first two weeks Bocconi organizes sessions to provide detailed guidance on the
application process. The permit card costs approximately 150 euro and additional
service fee of 30 euro.
From my personal experience I can say that it is possible to stay in Italy with a
Norwegian residence permit only. It will take apptoximately two months for Italian
public office to make a permit card so you will probably receive it 1-2 month before the
end of yor exchange. I concluded that it didn’t worth the money and the efforts.
However, one should keep in mind that according to legislations you are obliged to
make a card as was mentioned earlier.
Travel
There are many different options to get to Milan. The best is SAS as it has direct flights
and special Youth tickets. There are three airports in Milan. The closest is Linate; from
there you can take a public bus or taxi. Two other airports (Bergamo and Malpensa) are
not that close, you will need to take a train or bus express. I arrived at Maplensa, took
Malpensa Express to get to Milan Central Station and then used metro to get to my place.
Housing
It can be rather hard to find a housing solution in Milan. One can apply for one of the
Bocconi dormintories. For me it didn’t work because of a big number of students
applying. Keep in mind that to get a room there one needs to fill in the online form and
pay the deposit of 400 euro max within 2 hours after the application is opened.
Otherwise you will end up in the waiting list with no guarantee to get a roon upon
arrival. The price for university accommodation is appr. 600 euro. Be aware that some
of the dormitories are pretty far away from university and you are not allowed to host
your friends and family.
In case if you don’t get a place or you prefer private housing you can rent a flat (the
price for one room is appr. the same - 600 euro). The most appropriate places to search
are: fb groups for exchange students, other student residences in Milano and AirBnb.
Be careful with the owners and intermediaries: never pay deposits in advance and
always require guarantees (copy of contract). In my case, two owners of the flat
‘suddenly change their mind’ after we agreed on the contract. Finally, I found a nice flat
with a long-term contract through AirBnb. The general rule in both cases is to apply as
soon as possible in order to get a place or the best price/quality flat.
Costs (montly)
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
6200 NOK
100 NOK
2000 NOK
200 NOK
2000 NOK
Culture and language
In Bocconi there were no language problems at all. All professors, students and staff
spoke a decent English. Day-to-day communication outside the school (at
stores/restaurants/streets) can be done with the combination of English, some Italian
words and gestures . However, to be able to handle non-trivial situations one is
supposed to have some basic understanding of Italian. Bocconi offers crash and followup courses that most of my friends were satisfied with.
Travelling experience
In Bocconi you have two alternatives: attending or non-attending studying. In both cases
you can find enough time for travelling as there are a lot of nice places to visit nearby
Milan. Travelling in Italy is pretty cheap and comfortable. You can rent a car, take a
train or use Blablacar which is is gaining more and more popularity. The most popular
destinations not far from Milan are Turin, Verona, Venice, Como Lake, Bologna,
Genoa.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Course registration
Student login and password for eLearning Bocconi system is sent to in late July (similar
to our at.bi.no). The course registration started two weeks before the start of the
semester. To register for the course one needs to use eLearning system. The registration
goes on the first-come-first-served basis, so it’s better to sign–up in advance. We had
one week for add/drop period after the beginning of the courses (till 15th of September).
Keep in mind that you receive the schedule for your exam perion only after add/drop
period. I had to deal with multiple overlaps during the midterm period. I had 3 midterms
at the same time on the same date! Honestly, I have no suggestions how one can solve
this problem before it occurs.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
Any special events/holidays:
Other:
4th of September
7th of September
11th of December
7- 18 December
Language course starts on 28th of August
Arrival
University introduction week was organized by Inernational office and ESN (Erasmus
Student network) Bocconi. You could find any help at the Information desk in the Lion
building. There were a couple of meetings where we got general information about the
university and student experiences in Italy. Moreover, Bocconi provided interesting
tours for incoming students: city tours, fashion tours and football tours. The price for
them were just 5, so all tickets were sold in the first days. The week finished with an
open-wine tasting for all new students.
The International Office
International Office at Bocconi was very friendly. However they didn’t help me to
solve my problem with overlaps. Overall, the organizational level at Bocconi is lower
than the one at BI.
Social activities
The most popular organization for exchange students is ESN Bocconi. They organize a
lot of trips, parties and events every week. I recommend one to get in touch with them:
it is easy way to make new friends and socialize.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
In Bocconi you can choose to be either attenting or non-attending student. If you go
with the latter option you do not attend classes but only take the final exam.
Teaching approach was slightly different from the one at BI. Classes implied more
students’ participation and discussion. Most of professors tried to not to limit the
discussion to the book material. Workload differs depending on the courses you choose.
Management courses are said to be easier than finance ones.
Course materials
I purchased only one book (for Credit risk management class). PowerPoint slides and
articles provided at eLearining should be enough to keep up with the material. To get
better understanding class attendance is highly recommended.
Exams
All exams were based on the course materials. Grades at Bocconi are expressed in
thirties (X/30). The minimum requirement is 18/30 (60%) to pass any exam. There are
two exam sessions: in December (SS) only for exchange students and in January (S)
for the regular and exchange students. You have to sign up for the exam via eLearning
system least 4 working days before the exam date. Midterms at Bocconi are optional.
This means that you can skip the midterm but then the final exam will cover all the
material that was studied during the course, Otherwise, the final exam will test you
knowledge only of the second part of the course.
o Final exam: written exams; duration 1- 2 hours; not as comprehensive as at BI.
o Mid-term exam: written exams; duration 1- 2 hours; not as comprehensive as
at BI.
o Group work: optional froup assignments that can give additional points, no
peer evaluation
Library and technology
The facilities are less comfortable compared to BI. Nevertheless, you can use individual
and group rooms, computer labs etc. The main problem is that library is always
overcrowded. Sometimes it is impossible to find a studying spot after 11 a.m. This is
the reason why a lot of student prefer to study at home.
Description of courses
Course name
Level/
Approved as/
Prerequisites
Venture
capital and
valuation
Master/
Elective/
None
International
finace
Credit risk
management
Master/
Elective/
None
Master/
Elective/
None
Exam form
Written exam 100%
(optional midterm)
Written exam 100%
(optional midterm)
Written exam 100%
(no optional midterm,
Comments
The first part of the course was about
different valuation methods and was quite
basic. Midterm consisted of 6 multiple
choice quenstions and 2 exercises that
involved some computation. The second
part considered venture capital industry
form the perspective of different investors
(angels, VC funds etc.). It involved more
interesting reading and study materials.
However, the professor for this part was
very unstructured. Overall, this course is
very popular among exchange students
because it is supposed to be easy. I can be
a good option to balance out the harder
courses you might be willing to take.
Grade: 3/5
This is a required course for International
management class. It consists of 4 parts:
theory of investment banking and
regulatory perspective, corporate
valuation, typical deals (M&A, IPO,
LBO), corporate restrucuting. It is a very
useful course to systemize your
knowledge as it gives you a great
overview of the world of finance.
However, don’t expecte to much technical
details being explained. Professors are
very enthusiastic. In addition, there should
be a lot of very interesting guest speakers.
In my year we had a head of Italian
Goldman Sachs, executive director of
Juventus FC and others.
The workload is significant as well as the
material covered on the exam so I
recommend to take midterm for this
course.
Grade:4/5
Very well structured course with a
particular focus on the development and
application of rating-based credit models.
It also covers basic theory related to credit
risk management including the portfolio
optional group
assignment – max 3
points)
Fixed income
(advanced
methods)
Master/
Elective/
Stochastic
calculus
Written exam 100%
(optional midterm,
optional group
assignment – max 3
points)
perspective and some basics of SPSS.
Professor De Laurentis is a highly
knowledgable expert within the industry.
He is also very clear in his explanations.
Even though the group assignment is
optional I highly recommend you take it.
Grade:5/5
Math-heavy course! Do not be scared by
stochastics calculus prerequisite though.
One can catch up on this within a couple
of weeks. The course very interesting,
practically oriented and quite hard. The
second part is taught by Massimo Morini
who is the head of Fixed income in Intesa
Sao Paolo, one of the biggest banks in
Europe. This is the most relevant part
where continuous time fixed income
models and other instruments employed in
the industry are explained in detail. I
recommend this course to understand
whether you want a career of quantitative
analyst involved in trading at big
institutional banks.
Grade: 5/5
I enjoyed my time in Italy and would strongly recommend Bocconi Univeristy as an exchange
destination. You will have a chance to study in one of the best business schools in Europe,
completely change the environment (Italy is so different from Norway ), make new friends
and, of course, try delicious Italian food.