Student Report
VU – Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (Det frie universitetet)
Exchange semester: Fall 2015, Bachelor
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
In late February I received an offer from the international office at BI. The university
contacted me by mail in April and I had to give them an answer within two days. So check
your mail often and have the documents ready (Learning agreement, courses you want to
choose, your grades with the stamp from BI, copy of the passport).
Applying for a visa (if applicable)
You do not have to apply for visa. But when you arrive you have to register at the
municipality. This was very easy and done at the arrival days. Just remember to bring a copy
of passport and contract from your housing supplier.
Travel
Flight with the SAS youth ticket. Really cheap – 400 kr.
Housing
I signed up for the housing provided by the university, but they did not have enough capacity
to give me housing at the campus. But they found another place for me to stay and I also got
the housing fee back. I stayed at two different student hotels.
The Student Hotel – Wibautstraat 129
https://www.thestudenthotel.com
- High standard, new in 2015, many students, but expensive around 800 euros
- 25 minutes with bike to VU, 15 minutes with metro which is 2 minutes walk to school
- Grocery store across the street
- 15 minutes in to the city centre with bike
Hotel Jansen – Valschermkade 19
http://hoteljansen.nl
- Also high standard but a different style, new in 2015, many students, nice and young
staff, 715 euros per month and then you have a fridge and bathroom in your room. 18
m2.
- 10 minutes with bike to VU
- 20 minutes with bike to the city centre, but then you bike through the beautifull
VondelPark so it feels like 10 minutes.
- Grocery store - 5 minutes with bike
The housing that the school provides can cost around 400 euros a month. It is not so easy to
find a place to stay in Amsterdam so I will recommend to sign up for the housing!
Costs
The books here cost from 40-80 euros each. The food is cheaper. I bought a bike for 190
euros, but it is very possible to get a bike for 90 euros.
Culture and language
They had a buddy program which was very nice. She invited me to a lot of things which made
it easier to experience their culture. The German students speak very well English.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
The school is located outside of the city centre. They have different faculties: law, medicine,
humanities, sciences, social sciences, theology, economics and business, behavioural and
movement sciences and dentistry. This means that you meet a lot of different students in the
arrival week and where you live.
Course registration
I registered my courses in the summer and when I got there I could change it until the 3rd of
September.
Academic calendar
You have a week off before the exams and some days after until the new week start.
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
15th of August
1st of September
17th of December
Arrival
The introduction week was very fun. This is a very good opportunity to get to know other
students. I have to say this is important.
The International Office
They helped me if I needed to and also responded quickly to emails.
Promoting BI and Norway
There was an event were everyone brought food from their homecountry. This was nice!
Social activities
In the introduction weekend you get to know other exchange students and some dutch
students. Also in the class you meet the German students.
The ESN organized very many events and activities. I also heard that it was possible to
become a member of different sport teams.
In Vondelpark there is also happening a lot of stuff. Yoga, training etc. that you can
participate in.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
We had regular lectures, tutorials and response class. The tutorials consisted of working with
a project and then we could ask the teacher for advice. In the response class the teacher went
trough exercises and we could respond/ask questions if we wanted to.
I will say that there is definitely more assignments and presentations here than compared to
BI. And they also have a lot more interaction in the classroom compared to BI. It’s the same
amount of lectures than at BI.
Course materials
The course material consisted of books and articles. All the slides they used in the lectures
were posted at the blackboard (same as itslearning).
Exams
The exam was based on the course material and also detailed when there was a multiple
choice exam. But the slides were very detailed as well so they gave me a good pinpoint.
Library and technology
They have a library and multiple computer rooms.
Description of courses
I thought it was not so easy to know how the exam was going to be. In two of the courses we
had to present every other week and the teacher gave us really helpful and detailed feedback.
This made it easier to know what to expect for the report. The international office enrolled us
for the exams.
Course code & name
Business Information
Systems
Consumer Behavior
Master/
Bachelor
Bachelor
Exam form
Bachelor
100% MC
40% report
60% written
exam with MC
and 5 open
questions
Prerequ Approved as
isites
elective
elective
Comments
Here we worked
in groups and
made an app.
Interesting. They
choose the four
best groups and
they got to go a
German bank
presenting it and
got a 0.5 added to
the grade. This
was a great
experience.
This was okay, if
you are interested
you should
choose it. Much
theory.
Organizational
Perspectives and
Dynamics
E-business and ITindustry
Bachelor
100% MC
Elective
Bachelor
40% exam
60% report
elective
International
economics
Bachelor
100% written
exam with open
questions
Macro
and
micro
This course was
very interesting
and the teacher
was very good at
his job!
elective
All these courses was approved as a package so I got the strategy part accepted.
Sum up your experience
Amsterdam is a very beautiful city with a lot to experience. They have very many good
restaurants and they have different kind of enviroments around the city that is fun to explore.
It is so nice and easy to bike around. The Netherlands is very flat so that’s one of the reasons
why it is so easy. And the bikes have their own lane so it is not dangerous! You can also sense
that the Dutch people are extremely open to new people and everyone can be themselves.
I also feel that I have learned a lot and this will help me in the future.