Student Report
Name of the University: Nottingham Trent University
Exchange semester: Spring 2015
I am a second year student at BI Norwegian Business School and I went on an exchange
at Nottingham Trent University during the spring term of 2015. Nottingham is a city
with a population of approximately 300,000 inhabitants from which 60,000 are
students. The city is located in the county of Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands of
England. Nottingham has a lot to offer for students both when it comes to the activities
during the day as well as nightlife.
We got some information about the exchange and our opportunities from International
Office at BI. The first information I got was during my first days at BI through different
brochures. Throughout the year there have been arranged meetings where we got more
detailed information. We were introduced to places where we could go, criteria to be
allowed to go abroad and things that we needed to do before going.
I found general information about the university and courses available through the
university’s website. After the application procedure was finished I was also emailed by
the university with other practical information and suggestions for accommodation,
which was very helpful with planning my journey to the Nottingham and my stay there. I
also got a very detailed information about how to register and enrol as a student
through their student portal. If you have any problems with any sorts of stuff regarding
your exchange the International Relations Office at NTU are happy to help.
My journey to Nottingham went from Oslo Airport to Gardermoen to Manchester Airport
with Norwegian Airlines. It was the most suitable way for me to get there as it was both
pretty cheap and fast. The journey itself took about six hours in total from leaving the
airport in Oslo. It took two hours by plane and then about four hours by train including
one change and some waiting. You can also get to Nottingham by taking the plane to
either Gatwick, Heathrow or Birmingham depending on your own criteria according to
travelling time and price. I enjoyed using the railway during my stay in England as the
connections between the cities are pretty good. In case you feel confused or lost, people
in England are generally happy to help so do not be afraid to ask. I arrived to
Nottingham three days before the start of term on Friday 23rd January.
There are a lot of opportunities regarding accommodation in Nottingham and we got
some tips about popular accommodations for students through an email form school. I
lived at Gill Street Residence which belongs to the university and is located just 4
minutes walk from the Nottingham Business School and 7 minutes away from the City
Centre. I paid £200 in deposit and £133 per week for my room. I had my own bathroom
and I shared kitchen with five British girls which I found very comforting. The room was
of a perfect size for one person. However, you need to have your own kitchenware. I felt
safe during my stay there as the whole area was monitored. There are guards on the
residency that make sure everything is all right at all times. Nonetheless the area is
surrendered with the fence and you need a code to the gate in order to get there. If
something is wrong with the room the help would have been provided the same day or
day after as the maintenance staff is there every day to take care of the problems that
may occur. Washing machines and dryers are available in the building that I lived in and
it costs £2 per wash and £1 per drying.
The food and activities in UK are much cheaper compared to Norway. I made most of the
food by myself but also visited some of the local restaurants during my stay there. My
favourite place to buy food was Tesco Metro at the Victoria Centre as the selection was
pretty good and the food was fresh. There are also more local grocery stores like Tesco
Express and Sainsbury’s but those are a bit more expensive. There is a lot to choose
between and everyone will find something they will like. The nightlife and pubs in
England are great and I will surely miss that a lot.
When it comes to clothing everyone can find something for themselves as you can find
both really cheap alternatives like Primark and expensive like Boss. I wished the
shopping opportunities were better but if you are not too picky I am sure you will be
satisfied with the stores you get. In terms of books two out of three books I needed for
my courses were provided by the university and the last one I ordered from internet and
saved about £150.
When it comes to travelling, prices can depend on the transportation used and when you
buy the tickets. I prefer to buy tickets as soon as possible in order to get lowest prices
and those can vary from £9-£30 one way. In addition, there are also societies at school
and independent firms or groups that arrange trips which may be even cheaper.
Nottingham Trent University with approximately 28,000 students is one of the two
universities located in Nottingham and consist of three campuses: City, Clifton and
Brackenhurst. Nottingham Business School is one of the nine departments at the
Nottingham Trent University and is located at the City campus close to the city centre.
I got information about the courses I could choose between through email and all you
need to do is to reply to the email you got. I was able to choose between only six
different courses but two of them I already had so the list of courses was minimized to
only four which I found quite annoying. The courses I chose was Economics of
International Banking, International Business and Communication and Management
Accounting for Decision Making. All of the courses were very instructive and I am happy
to have taken those even though there was not much to choose between. All courses had
2 hours lectures and 2 hours seminars where topics introduced on lectures where
discussed to more details.
Economics of International Banking was a course that was focused on introducing
different banking systems, financial innovations, importance of the financial crisis,
regulatory bodies and central banks. In the first lecture I think that course was most
interesting as I never had any banking courses back home but it was also a bit
challenging as everything I learned was new to me. The first day of the course was
mainly general information about the course and examination. The examination was
divided between an oral presentation and a written exam. The presentation did count
for 30 per cent of the total mark and the written exam for 70 per cent and took place on
28th May. In my opinion the overall workload at the NTU was less compared to BI. In
addition the class attendance was noted but it was not published in any kind of way as it
is only used in order to monitor if those who attend all seminars get better marks
compared to those who do not.
International Business and Communication focused on the relations between businesses
and countries, types of relationships and other factors that are relevant to take into
consideration while doing international business. It was an interesting course and I
would recommend it for someone who is interested in international business but it may
also be relevant for others. This course was assessed through a written exams that
accounted for 100 per cent of the course and was held on 2nd June. In order to prepare
for the exams students needed to learn the theory from six topics (out of ten) that were
told to be relevant on the examination. In my opinion you do not even need the book for
this course as everything that you need to know is given in the lecture and seminar
slides provided. There were also two quizzes during the semester but these were not
assessed.
Through Management Accounting for Decision Making I learned different techniques
useful for a firm to make a decision regarding for example sales or expanding. I like this
type of courses where you have to do some calculations as well as knowing the theory
on which the calculations are based and how to interpret the results you get. I absolutely
would recommend this course. The examination consisted of a three hours written exam
where you choose four out of six questions and was held on 5th June and I would say that
all the information that we got during the lectures and seminars was highly relevant for
what was required of us on the exam.
The introduction week started on 26th January and during that time we got information
about the school system at the university, marking system and other practical
information about the facilities available to our use. There was only one common
arrangement called “Wine and Cheese Evening” for all of the exchange students where
we got to know each other a little bit better but I wished there was more. Otherwise, we
tried to arrange everything on our own which went pretty well too.
Course code & name
Master/
Exam form
Prerequisites
Bachelor
ECON22165:
Bachelor
Approved
Comments
as
Oral
None
Elective
The course
Economics of
presentation
was mainly
International Banking
after two
theoretical
months and 3-
with some
hour written
practical
exam at the end
calculations.
of the semester
INTB20520:
International Business
and Communication
Bachelor
3-hour written
exam
None
Elective
The course
was
theoretical.
ACCA20600:
Management
Bachelor
3-hour written
exam
None
Elective
The course
was both
Accounting for
theoretical
Decision Making
and practical.
Nottingham Business School has modern and bright facilities. The city campus library is
well equipped with new computers and books that are relevant for the departments
held at the city campus. However, to find a place to sit in the library after 10 o’clock may
be a challenge as a lot of students go there at that time. In addition, there is also lack of
silent rooms which was quite annoying for me as I like to study in quiet environment.
To sum it up I would say that Nottingham is a great city for a student that wants to have
a lot of fun, but the university was not as good as I thought it would be. I hope that
everyone who has an opportunity to go abroad takes it as you are given the chance to
learn about other cultures and get better understanding for people and their needs. I
met some of the greatest and most inspiring people in my entire life during my exchange
and it is definitely an experience I won’t be able to forget. The main reason for my
exchange in England was to improve my English and I would definitely say it worked. I
feel much more confident while talking to other people and I feel more prepared for the
masters that will be held in English at BI.