Student Report
Name of the University: VU University
Exchange semester: Fall 2014
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
The year before I went to Amsterdam, I was considering taking a exchange semester to get
som new experiences and new impulses. The first thing I did was to pick up a brochure at BI,
which contained all the necessary information that I needed to consider before applying. I also
used @BI to look at different destinations and schools, and what they offered. After making
the final decision about leaving, there was many unanswered questions and things felt chaotic
since it was so many things to do for the application. But during the spring semester I got a lot
of follow up information on e-mail, and I also had a couple of meetings with the Exchange
student office at BI. After that I was led step by step trough the process with different
deadlines.
Applying for a visa (if applicable)
Since I was exchanging to the Netherlands I did not need a visa.
Travel to the Netherlands
Fortunatly for me, the Netherlands is only 1,5 houer flight from Norway, so the travel was
very easy. There are usually several departers every day from Norway to the Netherlands.
When arriving to Schophol airport in Amsterdam, it can first seem chaotic since it is one of
the biggest airports in Europe. But when you get to the trains, there is trains going to
Amsterdam centeral station (in the middle of Amsterdam) every five-ten minutes. The train
ride takes only 15-20 minutes, and costs around 5 EURO. It is also Information desks
everywere at the airport, so if things get difficult you can just ask.
Housing in Amsterdam
Originaly VU Amsterdam is suppost to offer student housing to all exchange student. But I
was informed that there was queues because of large demands, and they had to prioritice the
students that came from countries far away. I also had some troubles regarding my application
for student housing. I did not receive a email with the application forms, and after several
emails back and forth over several weeks I finally got the form. The problem was that by that
time, the deadline had already passed. I asked if this would have any consequenses for me
since I had informed them that I did not receve the application forms a month before the
deadline, and I was told that I would be down prioritised because of this. The whole thing
ended with me being on the waiting list, and I saw it necessary to dinf accommodation on my
own. I used the servie AirBnB to find a shared apartment I could move in to my whole stay.
But this is very expensive, so I pay a lot more than I would do if I was offered student
housing. I am not getting any support from the school, so I finance my accomadation my self.
Costs during the stay
My costs of course vary from month to month, but in general I use around the same as I do in
Norway. Food and drinks are cheaper here, but other things, like buplic transport, is the same.
I use my byke to travel almoust everywere, so therefore the transports costs are low.
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
NOK 5000
NOK 1000
NOK 3000
NOK 100
NOK 3000
Culture and language in Amsterdam
The great thing about the Netherlands is that the people here are great in speaking English. I
have not yet met anyone who do not (even old people). So it is very easy to have
conversations, and get any help you might need during the stay. All of the workers on the
faculty (from teachers to employees in the café), and also the students are great English
speakers. At the Business and Economics faculty, almoust all of the lectures and exams is in
English also for the dutch students.
To experience the city of Amsterdam and its culture is very easy. The city is very unique, and
only a bike ride trough the city center will give you a glims of what it has to offer. In the
introductions weeks all the exchange students was introduced to a service called iAmsterdam,
which is a city portal where you can fint information about what to do and how to do it. It is
also to recommend to get some dutch friends, to really represent the dutch culture. VU
Amsterdam has an arrangement called Buddy, where you sign up and get a dutch student as
your “mentor”. This is a good way to get started if you don’t have any friends from the
Netherlands.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Vrije Universiteit is a university in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The university is located
around 20 minutes from the city center. The school is one of two universities in Amsterdam.
It was founded in 1880, and has around 25.000 students and 2.250 staff members. The
university contains 12 faculties;
- Arts
- Dentistry/ACTA
- Economics and Business Administration
- Eart and Life Sciences
- Human Movement Sciences
- Law
- Medicine
- Philosophy
- Psychology and Education
- Sciences
- Social Sciences
- Theology
A semester consist of three periods, where you in the two first periods take two courses (6
european student points for each), and in the third period take one course. In total this will
leave you with 30 student points per semester.
The course I wanted to take, I signed up for before trough a link I received on my email
before 1th august. This was a very easy form, and the international office at VU arranged the
other things after this, like for example register for exams. This process was very easy. The
add/drop period ends two weeks before a new period start, and this you will be reminded of
by e-mail.
Academic calendar
I arrived in Amsterdam 17th august, two days after the introduction week for exchange
students had started. The first week is a week full with activities both academic and social,
and I recommend to participate strongly. This is a great chance to meet people in the same
situations, and get new friends. Also you will get a lot of useful information regarding how to
study at the VU which helps clarify things before the classes starts. The classes starts the first
week of September, and the examinations is at the end of each period. The semester is
finished in the end of January/start of February.
Arrival
The introductions weeks goes over two weeks, and has different activities as lectures, games,
dinners and festivals. The goal with this is of course to gather the exchange students so they
can meet other students, and learn more about how things work at the VU. I thought the
introductions weeks was very helpful and I got a lot of questions answered. I also met people
that I now consider my friends. The introduction weeks mostly found place at school, and in
the city center.
The International Office
I got my first information email from the international office just after I received my
acception lether. After that I regulary received useful emails trough the spring and summer
before I left Norway. After arrival, the international office was part of the introduction weeks
by having a presentation about who they were, where we could find them and what they could
help with. They left the impression that they would like to help us with everything they can. I
have visited their desck several times, with questions and papers they needed to sign.
Social activities at the VU
The social activities has been amazing. It is natural that you get to know a lot of exchange
students from other countries, since you meet them in the introductions weeks and everyone is
in the same situation. You will also get to meet dutch people when the classes start, and the
courses often has assignments that you need to collaborate with other students. I know that
there is different organizations that builds up on the social life at school, but I have not
engaged in them since I have met so many on my own.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The teaching style was very similar to the practice at BI. The teachers usually summarized the
learning objects, and supplied examples from the real world. Every course also included
several guest lectures with experts on the subjects or people from big firms. Usually there was
also some mini-group assignments in each lecture where we had to sit together and solve a
problem, and shortly present to the rest of the class. We also were devided in different groups
where we had to prepear bigger presentations of cases. All in all I think the teching style was
both practical and theoretical. The different teachers was open for questions from the students
during the lectures, so it was very informal.
When it comes to the level and workload it was more intence than at BI because the courses
was based on periods of 1,5 months. So I really had to work hard to get things done to each
class. Since the workload was pretty much the same as at BI, I had to to everything in 1,5
month instead of 5-6 months.
Course materials
Every course contained at least one book, and usually around 10 articles. The articles was
eather posted on the student surver online or we had to find it our selves on the internet. Every
teacher also made Powerpoints available before each class, which contained the main subjects
we needed to learn for the exam. In some courses the level of the material was more advanced
than others, but some courses also had very learning-friendly literature. Everything was in
English.
Exams
The exams was based on both the course materials and the lectures. But since we did not have
much time from the course started until the exam, the teachers gave us exam questions that
they had been talking about in class. So when preparing for the exam I used the powerpoints
as a basis for what I needed to know.
How was the course evaluated (include all that apply)?
o Final exam (written and home assignment)
o Small assignments and papers
o Presentations
o Group work
o Class attendance
o Class participation
Library and technology
All the faculties included liberaries and study spaces on each floor, both for group work and
for working alone in silence. Every floor also contained computer facilities. I had everything I
needed at my faculty.
Description of courses
Please list below all the courses you took while on exchange. Your comments are useful for
BI and for future exchange students, include information on the qacadmic level, challenges,
relevance to your studies, if the course was practical/theoretical, any enrolment issues, etc.
Course code & name
Strategy &
Environment 2.1 IBA
Master/
Bachelor
Bachelor
Exam form
Prerequisites
3- houer written
multiple choise
exam + an
written group
assignment.
None
Approved
as
Elective
Comments
This course
could had
required
some
previous
knowledge,
since the
other
people that
Business Information
Systems 2.1 IBA
Bachelor
3- houer written
multiple choise
and open
question exam +
an written group
assignment.
None
Elective
Organizational Design
2.2 IBA
Bachelor
3- houer written
multiple choise
exam + an
written group
assignment.
None
Elective
Culture and
Citizenship
Bachelor
Take at home
exam over 8
days.
None
Elective
Introduction to
Environmental
Sciences
Bachelor
3-houer multiple
choise and open
questions exam,
group
None
Elective
followed
the class
had related
courses in
forhand. A
theoretical
course.
This course
was good
because the
teachers
taught it as
we did not
have any
previous
knowledge.
A
theoretical
course.
This was
the most
interesting
and fun
course I
took on my
exchange,
its plicable
to every
business no
mather
what they
do. A
theoretical
course
This was an
interesting
course, but
a little outdated
learning
technique
from the
teacher- no
powerpoint
or activity
at our
sudent
server. This
was a very
theoretical
course.
This was a
interesting
course, and
also easy to
presentations,
group
assignment,
group evaluation
on other
students
presentations
and
assignments.
handle
since it is a
introductio
n course.
But it
would be
good to
have some
previous
knowledge,
since they
expected us
to know a
lot of
basics that
they did not
cover in
class. We
had a lot of
miniassignment
s which
made it a
more
practical
course.
On a final note, how will you sum up the exchange experience?
My academic experiences is that I have had a huge learning curve since it have been so
intense. It also was a good practice to just focus on two courses at the time, since it gave my a
deeper understanding and focus.
On a more general note I now have experienced things that I will treasure for the rest of my
life, I have met new friends from all over the world, and I have learned to speak and write
English much better then before. In the future I think it looks great on a job application that I
have been on exchange, since it says something about me as a person that I have challenged
myself by traveling alone to another country. I also think by exchanging to another culture
gives you an insight that makes you more reflected and interrestin as a person. I feel that by
jumping on this oportunitie I have challenged my social skills in a good way. Because it is a
challenge to move to another country and start over.