Student Report
Copenhagen Business School
Exchange semester: Fall 2014
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
Shortly after being nominated from BI, we received a welcome email from CBS. We got all
the information we needed. It was information about registration at CBS, course registration,
housing application and further preparations. We received the first email 14th of March, and
the course registration for graduate courses opened May 1st and the deadline was May 13th.
Travel
We travelled by plane, which is the fastest alternative from Norway. You can find quite cheap
tickets with Norwegian or SAS (from approximately NOK 299,-). The second alternative is to
travel by bus. This is a good alternative if you haven’t planned and suddenly want to travel to
Norway. It takes 8 hours and this is usually a cheaper solution.
Housing
Housing is usually not provided by CBS if you are a Scandinavian student. We became
members of the “ANSA København” Facebook page, where Norwegian students post
apartments for rent (many people also sell bicycles and share tips about other relevant things).
We found an apartment thorugh this page, and the Norwegian girls we are renting are one
exchange (from CBS). You should start looking early, because it can be hard to find an
apartment in Copenhagen. We had to pay rent from July 1st, even though we were not arriving
until late August.
Costs
This is approximately how much we spent (individually) on the different expenses per month.
Rent
Books*
Food
Transport
Other
5800 NOK
2500 NOK
3000 NOK
100 NOK
1000 NOK
* Only semester start
Prices are generally cheaper in Denmark, especially food and beverages. You can use less
than 3000 kroner on food, but if you like going out to eat, this is approximately what you will
use. You can probably find an apartment that is cheaper than 5800 kroner, our was pretty big
and located next to Amalienborg.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
The school is in Fredriksberg and it takes approximately 10 minutes with the metro from
Kongens Nytorv and about 20 minutes by bike from the city centre. The area around the
school has a lot of good restaurants and a big shopping centre right outside.
The school is quite big and is spread around different locations in Fredriksberg. The main
building is called Solbjerg, where you can find the biggest library, but it is very popular so
you normally have to reserve a seat one day ahead. Close to Lindevang metro station is
Dalgas Have, where you can also find the international office. You will get a map of the
different buildings when you arrive.
Course registration
The course registration opened on the 1st of May and the deadline was 13th of May. After
registration, it takes 4-6 weeks before you get information about the courses you have been
assigned to. The courses are not assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, meaning that you
have until the deadline to finish your registration, without the risk of not being first in line for
your course choices.
The firs add/drop period startet early in August. The final add/drop period was in the end of
August/ early in September. You should use your CBS calendar to check if your courses are
overlapping before you make the final decision about which courses to take.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period
ordinary courses:
Examination period Q1*
courses:
25/08-14
01/09-14
21/11-14
24/11 – 23/12
20/10 – 31/10
* Q1 means that a course is taught in weeks 36 - 43 (varies with course) – full credit course,
taught in half a semester.
Arrival
You will get an email from CBS where you are asked if you want to have a buddy. If you
choose to have a buddy, your buddy can pick you up at the airport. The introduction week was
from 25.08-01.09. During the day, we had mandatory classes with information about the
school, courses, exams, city, culture etc. You can also join the social events in the evening
and you will receive an email about how to purchase tickets for the social package before you
arrive.
The International Office
The international office will send you all the information you need by email and they are
helpful if you need to contact them. They are located at Dalgas Have. We did not have any
problems with the international office.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The workload at CBS is almost the same as at BI. The difference in the masters program is
that almost every exam counts 100 %, compared to BI’s master program where you have
assigments, presentations and/or oral participation grades that counts during the semester.
Description of courses and exams
Course code & name
Master/
Bachelor
Exam form
Prerequisites
Approved
as
CCMVV1595U
Online Marketing
Master
Miniproject and
oral exam
A basic
understanding
of marketing
and consumer
behavior
Elective
Comments
Comments:
The curriculum in this course was some chapters from a book called digitial marketing, but mostly
articles. The lectures are similar to what we are used to from BI. The lecturer had power points and
presented theories from articles etc. The course was more theoretical than we expected.
We had to deliver a mini-project before the oral exam. This was 10 pages if you are writing alone and
15 in a group. You have to defend your mini-project at the oral exam, and you will also be asked
other parts of the curriculum.
CIBSO1002U
International Financial
Markets
Master
Written sit-in 4
hour exam
None (but you
should know
some
macroeconomi
cs)
Elective
Comments:
We think this course was really good and relevant for understanding what is going on in the financial
world. For example how interest rates and currencies move and affect each other. The lecturer is very
good and entustiastic. He is good at facilitating class discussions and presenting practical examples.
CCMVV1316U
International Logistics
Management
Master
Oral exam
None
Elective
Comments:
This was an interesting course, but a different content from what we are used to (studying
marketing). The curriculum contained one book and several articles. The lecturer was good, and we
also had some guest lectures that where inspiring. The exam was a 20 min oral exam, where you
could be asked about anything from the curriculum. In the beginning of the exam you draw a card
with a topic, that you will start talking about.
This course was a quarterly course, which means that the lecturers are only the first half of the
semester and the exam is in October.
CCMVV1645U
Financial Statement
Analysis and
Valuation
Master
Written sit-in 4
hour exam
An
introductory
course in
financial
accounting and
reasonable
knowledge of
corporate
finance
Elective
Comments:
Since we do not have a financial accounting course from before, we asked the lecturer if it was ok to
participate. We were told that a basic understanding of accounting would be sufficient. This course
was very interesting and we got a lot of insight in how to evaluate companies. As marketing students,
we will probably not use this directly when we start working, but we think it is important to have a
basic understanding of financial issues.
The lecturer was really good and did his best for the students to understand. We got small exercises
before/during the lectures, that we think was useful. The curriculum for this course was a book.
This course was a quarterly course, which means that the lecturers are only the first half of the
semester and the exam is in October.
Almost all the written exams at CBS are computer-based.
Final note
We have really enjoyed our stay in Copenhagen. We love the city and also the Danish people.
There are not that many cultural differences, but we have noticed some funny ones. Both of us
have been on exchange before, but we think CBS and Copenhagen gave us the best
experience. There will definitely be a lot of trips back here and we are glad it is not that far
away from Oslo. To sum up, we enjoyed every part of our stay here - both academically,
socially and culturally - and can definitely recommend an exchange semester in Copenhagen.