Student Report
Name of the University: Aston University
Exchange semester: Fall 2015
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
At the end of February 2015 I received an email from BI Norwegian Business School where
they offered me a place at Aston University. In late March, Aston University sent me the first
email where they confirmed this. It took a while before I received further information as the
semester starts in late September, and you therefore do not have to hurry with the application
process. When I received more information (in the end of the summer) the information was
very clear and they provided us with a lot of help. I also got an e-mentor which is a current
student at Aston from another country. This was very helpful.
Applying for a visa (if applicable)
As a student from Norway you do not have to apply for Visa.
Travel
As far as I know, there are no direct flights from to Birmingham from Norway. It is possible
to travel to London and then take the train to Birmingham. However, I found out that the
easiest way to travel was with SAS and then transfer in Copenhagen. SAS provide cheaper
tickets for students and they also take care of your luggage when transferring in Copenhagen,
so this was not a problem at all. When I arrived in Birmingham I ordered a taxi to my flat due
to my heavy luggage. Later I found out that Aston University provide us with transport from
the airport to campus or other flats for free. This is a good opportunity I definitely would have
taken advantage of if I knew!
Housing
Fall 2015 was the first year Aston University did not offer accommodation for exchange
students. At least not for students studying there only for one term. I found it very difficult to
find accommodation, especially since private campuses often offer accommodation for
students who study in Birmingham minimum one year. The university provided us with a list
where we could find private accommodation offered for one semester. These accommodations
quickly became full, so I highly recommend starting applying for accommodation as early as
possible. I ended up in a private flat which also is an option, but quite hard to find online. I
travelled to Birmingham in the summer holidays to see the flat, and everything ended up ok. It
was 5 minutes with the bus to the city centre and just a 5-minute walk to the university.
Costs
1 GBP were nearly 13 NOK while I lived in the UK. I paid around 5000 NOK, or 380 GBP
per month for rent, including Internet etc. I did not pay anything for books as you can borrow
books from the library whenever you need them, and the professors also provided us with a
lot of articles and journals. Although it was more expensive to live in the UK than before
because of the currency, food was cheaper than in Norway. In contrast, transport is quite
expensive. You can either buy a student bus pass from West Midlands Travels for 150 GBP
(1950 NOK), or you can buy one each month for 60 GBP (780 NOK). I bought one each
month because the period of the student bus pass was from August to December which was
not exactly the period of the semester at Aston. Other costs depend on how much you want to
go out with friends and how much you want to travel.
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
NOK 5.000
NOK 0
NOK 1.800
NOK 780
NOK 2000
Culture and language
At first, I experienced that the accent in Birmingham was quite different from the British
language I was used to and they talked really fast, but after a few weeks I got used to it. I did
not really have any language barriers after this. The university had some events in the
beginning of the semester where we could experience the British culture and other cultures as
well. It was a completely new built train station in the city centre where it was trains going
anywhere in the UK. If you book tickets early, you can find cheap tickets to London,
Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh etc. I highly recommend travelling as there are a lot of nice
places to visit. The university also had events where they travelled around to cities in the UK,
and the tickets was cheap and the trips very fun.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Aston University is a big university with around 10.000 students. There are students with 127
different nationalities which is amazing! The university is very old, but everything inside is
new and the classrooms are good. In a separate building they have a library, it is also three
different campus villages, a building with the student union, a sport centre and a football
pitch. Aston University is ranked in the top 20 by Times Higher Education. I am very thankful
for the great university facilities Aston offered.
Course registration
I registered for courses before leaving Norway by using Learning Agreement, an agreement
between BI and Aston. It was very simple and they provided us with good help. I got all my
courses confirmed without any problems.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
Any special events/holidays:
Other:
13. September
28. September
18. December
11-23 January
Aston Aspires Week 2-6 November
Arrival
I arrived in Birmingham at the 13th of September. International Welcome Week started the
14th of September. It was a lot of events where international students gathered together during
the week, such as quiz, pub-crawl, tours around campus and to the supermarket, karaoke etc.
It was a lot of fun! This week is really important as you meet students in the same position as
yourself and it is easy to make friends. The week after, Fresher’s begin. This is a week when
new students at the university and current students as well come together in different events. I
recommend attending the introduction weeks.
The International Office
The international office at Aston was very helpful and was always helping me if I had some
questions. They always informed me about things I needed to know.
Social activities
Aston University have a big student union with a lot of different societies. It is many different
sports societies, societies related to school, societies who did volunteering and so on. I joined
Aston women’s football team, which I really liked. I met so many nice people, both from the
UK and other places in the world. We travelled around and played matches. It is so fun to do
social things; I had such a good time!
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
We had 4 of the modules in small classrooms and 2 modules in a large hall called “The Great
Hall”. The teaching style was very good, especially in the smaller classrooms. The professors
used PowerPoint. We had workshops in some of the modules as well where we had cases and
practical exercises. The level of the modules was quite similar to BI. However, we had to
conduct 6 modules and that is more than at BI.
Course materials
The professors used PowerPoint and provided us with a lot of articles and journals to each
lecture. In the modules where we had calculations etc. we got tutorials each week. We also
had books in each module but normally we could borrow them in the library.
Exams
The exams were based on content provided in course materials and the content in lectures. In
one of the modules it was a group assignment that was weighted 30% and a final exam
weighted 70%. In all of the other modules there was final exams weighted 100%. One of them
was an individual assignment while the rest was written exams. Class attendance was not
compulsory but encouraged.
Library and technology
The library facilities were good. The library is a separate building with 4 floors. Ground floor
consists of a big space with tables, computers, a help desk, Starbucks etc. At first floor they
have group tables and the staff also provide help in different areas, e.g. maths. Second floor
have space for group work and computers, and third floor is a quiet area with individual study
spaces. You can borrow all books needed for modules and computers are available for rent.
The staff is very helpful.
Description of courses
Course code & name
BF224 Strategic
Finance
BH2287 Developing
Creativity at Work
Master/
Bachelor
Bachelor
Exam form
Bachelor
Group
Assignment +
1-hour
individual exam
2-hour multiple
choice exam
Prerequ Approved
isites
as
None
Elective
None
Elective
Comments
This module gives
a good overview
of the basics in
strategic finance.
I used a lot of
what I had
learned from
before and used it
to learn new
content. The
exam consisted of
50 questions from
different topic. A
very interesting
module.
Developing
Creativity at
Work is a module
where
organizational
psychology is
used to describe
how creativity can
occur at work. We
were divided into
groups of four
and had an
assignment of
2000 words. My
group was from 4
different countries
and it was very
interesting to
work with people
from different
cultures. In the
end we had an
individual
assignment. The
professor was
really good and
we had some fun
lectures.
BH3319 Theory and
Practice of Leadership
Bachelor
Individual
Assignment
None
Elective
Theory and
Practice of
Leadership is also
an organizational
psychology
module. The
exam was an
individual
assignment
(essay) of 2500
words, where we
described our
ideal leader using
4 different
leadership
theories. It was
great to have
some practice in
writing such a big
assignment and
learning how to
use references.
BH3319 Global
Working
Bachelor
2-hour exam
None
Elective
Global Working
was the most
interesting
module I had
during this
semester. The
content was very
exciting. Aspects
of different
cultures and how
to negotiate with
people from
different cultures
and countries are
critical for
international
business and
something that
was great to learn
about.
BN2216 Operations
Management
Bachelor
1:30 hours
multiple choice
exam
None
Elective
BS2232 Business
Policy
Bachelor
1:30 hours
multiple choice
exam
None
Elective
Operations
Management was
a module with a
lot of content. The
exam was
multiple choice
with open book. It
was a lot to read
but the content
was OK. Very
useful to learn
how to effectively
manage
operations.
Business Policy
was a funny
module. We had a
professor from
Portugal who was
very good. We
played “Kahoot”
in the lectures and
the content was
interesting.
To sum up, there has been one of the most exiting months of my life. You get to know so
many people from different places of the world. It was loads of fun events such as
International Welcome Week and Fresher’s, the Christmas market in the city centre,
Halloween, lots of funny events in the university’s own bar and so on. The city centre is
interesting with good shopping facilities, restaurants and bars and it is located just 5 minutes
from the university. Aston University is a great school with good professors and very good
facilities. Joining the Women’s Football Team was the funniest experience with so many
wonderful moments. I am so thankful for all the people I have met, the cultural experiences
and the language improvement during the semester. I recommend studying abroad if you have
the chance, I will bear the memories in mind for the rest of my life.