Name of the University: University of Groningen, Netherlands
Names of the student:
Exchange semester:
Sunil Vaswani, Yana Antonenko
Fall 2011 and spring 2012
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
1. The school and its surroundings
Established in 1614, the university has several faculty buildings
scattered throughout the city and has a campus area called
‘Zernike’ - 6 km from the city center.
The academy building (main building), harmony building (law
and language studies) and central library are located in city
center however our faculty of economics and business (FEB) is
at Duisenberg building – Zernike.
It takes about 15 minutes to cycle to Zernike from the center
and a lot of interesting modern architecture is at display.
Duisenberg Building
Academy Building
Science Building
2. Current faculty divisions and special areas.
The University of Groningen is organized in nine faculties that offer courses in the fields of Humanities and Social
Sciences, Life Sciences, and Sciences and Technology. Each faculty offers Bachelor's, Master's, PhD courses.
Faculty of Arts
Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Faculty of Economics and Business
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Philosophy
Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies
University Medical Center Groningen (Medical Sciences)
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Faculty of Spatial Sciences
Humanities and Social Sciences
Life Sciences / Sciences and Technology
FEB faculty has programs in many areas such as Finance, Marketing Management, Marketing Research, HRM
etc. FEB is especially renowned for its Marketing Research program, which is taught by many internationally
recognized professors of this field.
3. Number of students
There are currently approximately 26000 students at all levels at the University of Groningen. Every year, around 3000
exchange students from over 100 countries visit Groningen on exchange. Though relatively less foreign students
pursue their full courses here, it is common for German students to attend the psychology studies in Groningen.
4. Study structure
The three years Bachelor degree structure was introduced in 2003. Then, if the students do not have the right
combination of subjects or need higher grades to attend the Master, it is offered a pre-Master year, which build
knowledge in important fields, such as research. There after the student have the opportunity to attend master, which
are one year. The Marketing Department also offer a possibility to take both the major in Marketing Management and
Marketing Research, given two majors over one and a half year of studies. Be aware the structure of the Marketing
Master will change in September 2012. It will become a separate master, instead of a major under the Master of
Science in Business Administration. This will lead to changes or double degree too. The grading system is from 1 to
10 (highest). 5.5 are pas, and 9 and 10 are rarely awarded (University brochure).
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Information before you left
The deadline for internal online application process at BI was end of January 2011. We were informed of our selection
by the international office within 10 days and had until end of February to confirm. However the confirmation of the
host university and the final offer was received in end of April. There was a meeting during the spring were we got the
information package regarding Double Degree and administrative details like need for filling a learning agreement etc.
were explained to us. International Office at BI has a dedicated staff for handling Double Degree programs making it
easy, when experiencing problems.
Visa Procedure and travel experiences
Only non-EU students require a visa when studying in the Netherlands. It takes 2 to 3 months for the visa process
hence it is advised to fill in the form as soon as possible The forms to be filled were sent to us by the admin
representative at University of Groningen along with the final offer. All communication with the university is through
her. The International student desk (ISD) of the university applies for the visa and there are no charges to be paid by
the student. One is however supposed to deposit 10000 Euros with the university as a proof of living expense funds.
There are strict rules regarding the photograph to be submitted along with the form. Japan Photo shop at
Hegdehaugsveien is the only authorized photographer and it costs around 200 Kr. After sending the form to the
admin representative, it takes about a month for the ISD to check and verifies the forms and submits them to the
consulate. Once with the consulate, it takes 6 weeks for the visa to materialize. This will happen around end July –
early August. Depending on where you will be during the summer, it needs to be indicated on your form, where you
would like to collect your Visa from. The Scandinavian pick up location is Stockholm. So if you are staying back in
Norway for the summer, you would need to go to Sweden for 2 days. You will get an email from the embassy directly.
This is entry visa into the Netherlands, your residence permit and municipal registration as a resident of Groningen is
done when you arrive in the city. Information about this was handed out during introduction week. However one
requires an apostle/legalized birth certificate from the home country, so arrange for it well in time.
There are two airlines plying from Oslo to Amsterdam viz. SAS and Norwegian, if booked early SAS can cost around
500 NOK, which is comparable to Norwegian as one can carry an extra bag. The train station is under the Amsterdam
Schiphol airport, there is a train that goes directly to Groningen, taking 2.5 hours (23 Euros).
Academic Calendar
The introduction week started for international students on 1st of September. We had three different events, welcoming
all international students of the university, introduction of faculty of economics and business and introduction of
masters of marketing. The semester started 5th of September and the last day of classes is on January 19, when the
exam period starts. The second semester starts in February and end in mid-July. Each semester is broken into two
periods of 8 weeks followed by exam period of 2 weeks. The first exam period is November followed by January, April
and July.
Reception
The administration was well prepared for my arrival. I also met with academic coordinator for the course who had
arranged for an information meet for the international students. Any questions I had were answered quickly and I got
all the information necessary.
Erasmus students Network (ESN) had a one week program for international students of all faculty, the Dutch students
participated as mentors. The introduction weeks consisted mainly of parties, giving a good opportunity for the people
who wanted that.
Housing
I found housing through the housing office of the university. There are 8 international student houses to choose from.
The rent depends on the quality and size. The range is 281 – 375 Euros. The private market is comparable but since
there are few apartments compared to number of students, it is difficult to find something suitable. Starting late trying
to find housing is not recommended. Housing office is a safe bet. (www.housingoffice.nl)
There are also plenty of private housing advertisements websites and companies offering help in finding
accommodation. One of the mostly used is kamernet.nl (equivalent to hybel.no, but is not free of charge). It can be a
good idea to try to find private housing through dutch students who are going on exchange themselves. There are
several groups in Facebook related to University of Groningen and Groningen as it is, and you can post your notice
there.
Costs
Housing and Food are the main recurring costs. Food is 40 % cheaper than Norway. There are one-time costs like
buying a second hand bike (50 Euro), sports center membership (52 Euro yearly) and one month rent as deposit.
Going out and other social activities are approximately 10 Euros per outing.
The International Office
The international student desk is located in the city center. The services of this office is not needed apart from the first
week, while getting residence permits and taking the mandatory tuberculosis test for non EU students. For all other
queries the admin representative is the single contact point at Zernike.
Exchange promotion
Unlike BI, there has been no dedicated exchange fair for Master students yet. However we promote the double degree
with BI when interacting with classmates.
Social Activities
In Groningen there are many international students, while there are few international students attending the master in
marketing. In a class of total 120, there were around 10 international students. The Dutch students are friendly and
open-minded and I work with three Dutch students for my group work. The relationship between the international
students was also good, but I did not have that much contact with them, since my class mainly consisted of Dutch
students.
There is a student union for the Marketing students, MARUG. Most of the events organized by MARUG were in Dutch,
However the master wing of MARUG, the MMT has 3 events in English and they also organize social gatherings once
a month in a bar. ESN also organizes get together regularly.
Culture and Language
Everyone in the Netherlands speak English fluently, so communicating in English is not a problem. However the Dutch
prefer the Dutch language, so be aware that it takes some effort to socialize. There are great opportunities experience
the country, with friends or ESN trips. One can get a travel card (OV-chipkart) for 40 Euros a year and get 50%
discount for all train travels within Netherlands (www.ns.nl)
Cultural and Social Effects from the Exchange Experience
I do believe that going on a Double Degree will positively affect my career. I now have exposure of Asia, Central
Europe and Scandinavia plus two Master degrees which will influence my future possibilities. When living with
students from 50 nationalities in an international student house, you start appreciating the cultural differences and
evolve as a person.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
The Teaching situation
The courses are in English. The level of English is good for most of the professor. The teaching is a balance between
theoretical and practical teaching. The courses had two hours of lectures each week where the focus was on the
theoretical aspect. In addition to this there were two hours of tutorial were we did assignments and the professors
were present to help The relationship between faculty and students were excellent. The faculty was very helpful and
the professors had an open door policy. The relationship between the students was good, everyone contributing to a
good learning environment. The workload is well structured, with almost an assignment every week as there are many
assignment is each course (4 per 10 ECTS), but in total, it is compared to BI.
The course structure is undergoing a change and this will have impact on the number of courses and ECTS ,
assignments, exams for the next group of Double Degree students. But overall content wise I don’t see much of a
change. For example model building which is a 10 ECTS course currently will be broken into Market Model and
Customer Models and will be 5 ECTS each. Market Intelligence (Research) is the departments forte and it’s a good
learning experience.
Required Literature
The required literature consists of articles from good academic journals, as well as text books. The lecture slides and
professor notes are other sources of information.
Exams
The exams are written and have duration of three hours. They are held at the university unlike BI. Three of my exams
this semester are open book. The exams are from January 26 to February 8, so I haven’t experienced the knowledge
level. This will be covered in the appendix written in June 2011.
Other
Most of the students use the computers at the university, hence it can be difficult to find free computer at times. There
is a central university library in the academy building and individual faculty libraries in the respective buildings. The
students can use any library. The library is well equipped.
Description of Courses
Course name:
EBM803A10
Advanced
Market
Research
EBM831A10
Marketing
Model
Building
EBM880A05
Retail
Marketing
EBM819A10
Field Course
Marketing
EBM899A05
Marketing
Leadership
EBM86A30
Master Thesis
EBM881A05
Market
Research:
Practice
Prereq.
Basic
courses
in
marketing
and
marketing
research,
such
as
Specialization
Course
Marketing
(bachelor)
Basic
courses
in
marketing
and
marketing
research
such
as
Specialization
Course
Marketing.
None
Exam
Written
(open book)
Major at BI
Strategic
Marketing
Management
Approved as
Common
(compulsory for
double degree)
Comments:
Difficult, but
very
practical
and useful.
A
good
follow-up to
basic
course
at
BI.
Written
(Open book)
Strategic
Marketing
Management
Common
(compulsory for
double degree)
Difficult, but
very
practical
and useful,
challenging
course
Written
Strategic
Marketing
Management
Elective
None
Written
(open book)
Common
(recommended)
Students
must
have
successfully
completed
the
Fieldcourse
Marketing,
with a grade
higher than or
equal to 7.
-
Oral exam
Strategic
Marketing
Management
Strategic
Marketing
Management
Covers
specific
retail
marketing
concepts.
Very
theoretical
with lots of
articles on
retail, with
only
one
out of three
practical
assignment.
Interesting,
up-to-date
course.
Starts
February
2012.
Basis
courses
marketing
and
marketing
-
Strategic
Marketing
Management
Strategic
Marketing
Management
Common
(compulsory for
double degree)
Elective
in
-
Common
(compulsory for
double degree)
Starts
February
2012.
Starts
February
2012.
EBM808A05
Business
Marketing
research
such
as
Specialization
Course
Marketing.
None
Written
Strategic
Marketing
Management
Elective
Starts
February
2012.
Any other experiences:
There are also courses outside the regular curriculum, which you can openly follow. They are about the Netherlands,
Dutch language and history of the country. You have exam for them and assignments, but you can also just attend the
classes for yourself, since course credits for them cannot be reimbursed in BI.
Names and e-mails:
Sunil Vaswani, e-mail: s.vaswani@student.rug.nl
sunil.vaswani@student.bi.no
Yana Antonenko, e-mail: yana.antonenko@gmail.com