Student Report
Name of the University: Nova School of Business and Economics
Exchange semester: Fall, 2014
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
A welcome package with information about the school, Erasmus and about Portugal and
Lisbon in general was sent by email in July. Updated course descriptions was only availiable
after arrival. This led to some communication issues regarding the Learning Agreement, as it
had to be changed multiple times and thus also confirmed multiple times by BI and the Host
University.
Travel
Sas, Norwegian and TAP Portugal are all flying direct between Oslo and Lisbon in summer.
There are less flights availiable in the winter season, but TAP Portugal flies all year around.
The airport in Lisbon is very closeby the city, so one can easily take a taxi or use the metro
system.
Housing
We think it is possible to at least get some helpful information about housing through the Host
University. We asked for information through the Norwegian ANSA Portugal website, and
got lots of useful tip and information. We ended up using a website called “Lisbon
Apartments”, which normally forwards private apartments for short term rent. We sent an
email and got several suggestions for apartments which could be rented out for longer. They
were very helpful, and we ended up in a very nice apartment. Be careful when choosing to use
rental companies, as there excists several (especially some of the Portugese student ones)
which do not give you what they promised.
Costs
Rent
Books
Food
2500 – 4000 NOK per month,
depending on if you want to share or
not. We spent approximately 8000
NOK in montly rent in total for a
three bedroom apartment with
balconies and 120 square metres
0. Most of the teachers are using
comprehensive power point slides,
and if necessary are books often
availiable online. Research papers
are also often replacing the standard
school books.
You can have a good meal at a
restaurant for 10 to 20 euros.
The cafeterias at school are very
cheap, and a meal costs about 1-5
euros. We spent about 250 euros a
month in grocery shopping, but this
Transport
Other
can easily be halfed if one is living a
proper student life 
A monthly student card for the
public transport system costs about
30 euros a month. Single tickets
costs between 1,25 and 1,80 euros.
Taxi is cheap!
Clothes have in general the same
price level as in Norway. However,
if the big clothing chains operate
with different price levels for
different countries, you can be sure
Portugal has the cheapest price and
Norway the most expensive! (for
instance is Zara Portugal way
cheaper than in Norway)
Culture and language
In general did people speak surprisingely well English. Both students and staff were fluent at
the University, the same at larger restaurants and stores. However taxi drivers or smaller
shops normally did not speak much English, but they are still very helpful, so language is
rarely an issue.
You can experience a lot of the culture only by visiting Lisbon and the areas aroud which you
can reach by the local trains. There are also good transport opportunities if you want to go
further as the Algarve Coast or Porto. Several student organizations in Lisbon also arrange
many cheap student trips to different places in Portugal.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Please describe:
The Nova School of Business and Economics (Nova SBE) is a well-recognized Portugese
Business School, located in the central parts of Lisbon. It is the faculty of economic and
management and sciences of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. It is a member of CEMS, and
is one of 59 Triple Crown business schools worild wide. Nova SBE has approximately 2100
students, and offers specializations in economics and management at a bachelor level, and
economics, finance, management and a special CEMS master, at master level.
Course registration
Course registration is done online on a first served first get basis. You get aceess to the course
schedule and course descriptions approximately a week before, and you are self responsible
for making sure no courses clash. The enrollment for bachelor is in mid-august, and for
master in the end of august. The add-drop period is approximately two weeks after the courses
have started.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
End-August
First Thursday in
September
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
Mid-december
The courses can either
be half-semester
courses or full
semester courses. The
first half-semester
courses have exams in
the end of October,
and the rest has exams
from mid-december
and until Christmas.
(Bachelor has exams
in January)
Any special events/holidays:
Other:
Arrival
The introduction week was a bit of a caos. The introduction meeting only contained
information we already had, and it turned out that we should have signed up for introduction
week activities already during the summer. In Lisbon there are two big student organizations
organising parties and events for all international studens in the city. This means that you
meet a lot of people, but you miss the “class-feeling” and you do not know who goes to your
school.
The International Office
We received a lot of information during the summer, and they also responded quickly to
questions.
Promoting BI and Norway
None. Not an option 
Social activities
The courses have a lot of group works, which give you the opportunity to get to know native
students well. There are also a lot of international students taking their complete masters
degree at Nova SBE. The native students also arranged many events and parties where all the
international students also were invited. The school has many sports teams and student
unions one could join.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The classes are the same size as at the master level at BI. Participation is important, and the
Portguese students love discussions. Prensetations, group works and cases are very common.
Teachers are in general quite informal, and speaks English very well.
Each course does in general have several hand-ins and presentations in addition to the exam,
which makes the work load quite heavy. However, some courses are a lot easier than others,
so be careful when choosing your subjects.
Course materials
Powerpoint slides are the most common, in addition to reasearh papers and cases. Additional
books are availiable online.
Exams
Exams do in general count for between 20-50 % of the total grade. The grades are based on
points between 1-20, where 10 is required to pass. Each course had its own rules for whether
all parts of the course had to be passed individually, or if the average point counted as a total.
The exam was supposed to cover the whole course, but as the exam is only 1,5 hours, some
exams was very specific about specific topics/lectures.
Except from the exam, participation, presentations, groups works and hand-ins counted. You
must also probably write a blog post or two during your semester..
Library and technology
The school is old, and so is the library! There are few places for studying, and circumstances
are not optimal (bad reading light, cold rooms etc)
The school has several computer rooms, but we never used them as we brought our own
computers. The classrooms often lack power outlets, so make sure you have a good battery if
you like to write on your computer during lectures.
Description of courses
Course code & name
Master/
Bachelor
Master
Exam form
2334 Global HRM
Master
Final exam 1,5
hours
HRM courses
Elective
2177 Public Finance
Master
Final exam 1,5
hours
Elective
2166 The economics
of Agriculture and the
Environment
2351 Pricing
Strategies
Master
Final exam 1,5
hours
Intermediate
courses in
economics
Knowledge of
basic
economics
Master
Final exam 1,5
hours
2176 Development
economics
Master
Final Exam 1,5
hours
2356 Suistainable
International Business
Prerequisites
Final exam 1,5
hours.
Approved
as
Elective
Also group
work and 2
hand-ins
Group work
and
presentation
Problemsets,
blogs, critical
review
Elective
Elective
Knowledge of
basic
economics/stat
istics
Comments
Elective
On a final note, how will you sum up the exchange experience?
Group work,
presentation,
participation,
cases
Two handins, group
work and
presentation
We had a great semester, and will definitely recommend Portugal for other future exchange
students! It’s a very international environment, and lots of fun activities to do! However be
prepared for heavy workloads at school, so choose your courses carefully!
If you want to become a surfer, Portugal is the place to be. However, Porto may be a better
choice, as the beach is even closer 