Student Report
University of Amsterdam (UvA)
Exchange semester: Fall 2013
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Going on exchange to Amsterdam is very fuss-free and there is honestly not that much
work required compared to some other destinations.
Before leaving Norway
Before leaving there are some things you need to attend to, but the UvA follows you
closely and you receive reminder emails for everything that needs to be done. It is
especially important to choose subjects and sign up for an apartment. Remember to
register for intro week (fadderuke).
Applying for a visa
You do not need to apply for a visa or get special insurances when going to Amsterdam.
Travel
You can easily get cheap flights to Amsterdam Schiphol and the airport is just outside
the city center. If you purchase SAS youth fair the tickets can be as cheap as 450-500
NOK.
Housing
The UvA have deals with some short-stay companies, which means you apply through
UvA for housing from DeKey, for instants. You only choose how much you want to pay
and they let you know what type of room or apartment that will get you. You do not get
to choose the building or location, but you can request to live with a friend. You do risk
being placed in a location far outside the city center. When choosing the next most
expensive type of room or the most expensive all the Norwegians this year got placed in
a central building with large rooms that we were all happy with. Especially because we
had large balconies in the shared facilities apartments and the location was definitely
one of the best you could get. Living with shared facilities was not a problem. One
kitchen for four people and two people per bathroom. The apartment included furniture
and a duvet, pillow and bedding and some cleaning supplies. And whatever the previous
tenants had left in the kitchen (cutlery, plates, glasses, pots, pans). One drawback was
that DeKey had not cleaned all the rooms before we moved in and it took them three
weeks to send someone. The cheaper apartments had shared bedrooms or two showers
and one kitchen for sixteen people. They seemed fine with it, but I chose to pay more to
get a better apartment.
Costs
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
NOK 3800
NOK 1000
NOK NOK 800
NOK -
Everything is a little cheaper in the Netherlands than they are in Norway. From what I
understood my rent was a little cheaper then the other people in the building because
my room was smaller, which was fine. You will need to buy a bike for transport; you do
this at bike shops or Waterlooplein (a flee market). Only two of my five subjects
required books.
Culture and language
There is not that much of a culture shock going to Amsterdam. It is a liberal European
city with many international influences. People there speak very good English and
learning Dutch is more for fun.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
The UvA is an old academic institution with faculties and buildings spread around the
entire city. You have to remember this when choosing subjects, having two lectures or
workgroups right after each other will usually not work out.
Course registration
They use a block system at UvA and BI students are not eligible for the last block of the
fall semester so you have to cram all the subjects into the two first blocks. The credit
system is a little different there so you’ll have to take five courses instead of four. You
register for courses during summer break online and then you can still register for
courses for the 2nd block during the 1st block, but you should just register as early as
possible as it is first come, first serve and workgroups can fill up fast. Spend some time
choosing your courses and research them well.
Academic calendar
You should arrive on a date when you can go straight to the DeKey office to pick up your
key. They set up special dates and times for students to make it easy. They will have a
huge tent and a whole process for you to go through. They also schedule busses from the
airport to the office and from there to the different buildings. When you arrive on these
dates you will have intro week and some more vacation before school starts the first
week of September. You have three weeks of lectures then a midterm week and then
three more weeks of school before exam week and that is the first block and this is
repeated for block 2. Final exams will be the week before Christmas and then the school
year is over since you will not be attending the 3rd block.
The international office
Each faculty have there own international office. It is easy to approach the faculty of
economics and business’ international office and if it is not open you can go to student
desk in the same building
Social activities
You get to know many international students through intro week and also from living in
student building. In the lectures and workgroups you also get to know new people. It can
be smart during intro week to try and find people taking the same courses and that are
registered for the same workgroups as you because there is a lot of group work. You are
usually expected to form your own groups. There are not that many social activities with
the school but ISN, the international student network arrange many gatherings, parties,
trips etc. through the semester.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
Each subject usually consists of a lecture and a workgroup a week of two hours each. In
some classes and lecturers you are expected to participate a lot and in others you are
expected to just listen and ask the occasional question. The sizes of the groups, formality
and what they want form students differ from subject to subject so you just have to
listen to what they say and keep yourself updated on Blackboard and the course
catalogue. Some workgroups are mandatory and failing to show up may result in not
being eligible to take the exam, but usually having a reason and asking for extra work is
fine if you miss some.
Course material
Again this depends on the subject, the material can just be the slides. It can also be books
and articles and in some what is orally conveyed to the class will be on the exam.
Exam
You will usually not have a database of old exams like at BI so you should try and grill
the lecturers and tutors to know what you are supposed to study for as the exams can be
very different. They are often multiple choice or more like pop quizzes from high school
or middle school. It might be more difficult to know what they want from the students
then what you are used to. The exams seem to me to be taken less seriously by UvA as it
was less information on what was allowed and not, and the exam contained many
spelling mistakes, layout mishaps and the lectures sometimes had to explain many of the
questions during the exam and drop some questions that they got a lot of complaints
about.
Grades
The final grade will consist of midterm, exam, group work, individual paper and bonus
points for attendance, sometimes just a few of these and sometimes all. The scale they
use is from 1-10 where 5.5-6 is pass, depending on the subject. Everything lower than
this is fail, and “no one” gets a 10 (sort of like a 6 in middle school) and an 8 is
considered a very good grade. To pass you usually have to get 2/3 (or about 67%) right
on an exam. Re-sits (kont) are at the start of January for block 1 and for block 2 during
summer break. I don’t know if they do lean to rounding the exchange students up rather
than down, but I do know that exchange students did fail their courses, so make sure to
do enough work to get a passing grade and read the course catalogue as requirements
for passing can vary from course to course.
Description of courses
Course code &
name
Strategic
Management
Master/
Bachelor
Bachelor
Information
Bachelor
Grade
Midterm, exam
and bonus
point for group
work
Midterm,
Prerequisite
s
None
Approved
as
Strategi
Comment
s
Okay
course
None
Interaktiv
I would
Management
Economics of
markets and
organizations
CSR
Bachelor
Entrepreneurship
and Innovation
Bachelor
Bachelor
individual
paper, group
paper and
group
presentation
Midterm, exam,
bonus point for
group work
Exam, group
presentation
and paper
Exam two
group
presentations
and a group
paper
markedsfø
ring
personally
not
recommen
d this
course
Good
course
Microeconom
ics amongst
others
None
Elective
Elective
Good
course
None
Elective
Okay
course