Student Report
Name of the University: Stockholm Business School
Exchange semester: Spring, 2014 (3rd semester)
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
In September I received the first basic information from Stockholm Business School;
regarding course application, letter of acceptance/insurance, academic calendar and Swedish
language courses, housing and the Buddy Programme. I experienced no difficulties, and felt
the information I received from the international coordinator from Stockholm Business
School was good and informal. If I had any questions, they were quick to reply.
Applying for a visa
I didn’t need a visa.
Travel
I went alone by airplane.
Housing
The housing situation for students is said to be very difficult in Stockholm. I didn’t experience
any difficulties because I got an accommodation from the Student Housing at Stockholm
University. I think this partly because I went in spring semester (the Fall semester I guess
would be harder, since there is more exchange students coming). I lived in Lappis (Stora
Lappkärsberget) and think this was a great place for an exchange student to live – because
here several thousand exchange and Swedish students have accommodation.
Costs
- Approximately how much per month did you spend on rent, books, food,
transportation, and other personal expenses?
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
NOK 3200
NOK 300
NOK 2000
NOK 500
NOK 3000
Culture and language
I didn’t have any difficulties regarding the culture and language in Sweden. At school
everything and the courses were in English. At the lectures, both Swedish students and
international students participated. The lecturers spoke English very good, so the academic
part was not a problem at all. In daily life I could speak Norwegian, but I preferred English
since Swedish people find it a bit harder to understand Norwegian than we do Swedish.
Stockholm is a really beautiful city, where you have a lot of opportunities to experience the
culture, the nature and the big city life. The metro and train system is very easy to learn, and
you can also travel by boat and bus to other cities and places in Sweden. The Student Union
plans many events and trips during the semester, which you can join if you want. The
University also cooperates with other traveling companies, and they have trips to St.
Petersburg and Lapland for instance. From Stockholm you can also go on cruise to Riga,
Helsinki and Tallinn.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
The main campus at Stockholm University is called Frescati. It is located by ‘Universitet’
metro stop, which is about 10 minutes from the city center. The economic & business campus
is located in Kräftriket about 2 km from the main campus. The main campus is huge, but the
business campus is pretty small, and it is not hard to find your way there. Stockholm
University contains approximately 60.000 students, but the business students contain about
3500.
Course registration
I registered for courses in November by e-mail to the International coordinator. You get
information about course application in October.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
Any special events/holidays:
Other:
January 17
January 20
May 26
During the whole
semester
No
Arrival
The introduction week started the first day of the semester (January 20), and on the first day
(Orientation Day) we got a lot of information about student health care, study structure,
courses and the buddy programme etc. The buddy programme is to make you get to know
other students, and you are divided into small groups who share one buddy (you will receive
an e-mail by your buddy before coming to Stockholm). The buddy helps you with any
questions you have, and arrange social events for the exchange students. It is a really good
way to get to know other exchange students.
The International Office
The International Office gave us sufficient and relevant information, and I didn’t feel like I
had a lot of question before I arrived Stockholm. If I had any questions, they were very fast to
reply.
Promoting BI and Norway
We received e-mail by Stockholm University to promote our home University to the Swedish
students who wanted to go on exchange, but I couldn’t go that day.
Social activities
The relationship to other students, both native and exchange students were good. The Buddy
Programme introduced us to other exchange students, but not native. But in the different
courses there are a lot of group projects so you get to know Swedish students that way.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The teaching style is a combination of lectures and seminars. The seminars are usually
mandatory, but the lectures are not. The lectures are like the ones at BI, but the seminars are
more practical, with discussions and student presentation. The lectures and seminars are pretty
informal.
The workload is in some cases the same as at BI, but in other courses there are less to do, and
some more to do. The difference is the mandatory seminars and presentations.
Course materials
The course materials consist of books, PowerPoint and online articles. The books were the
same level as the one used at BI.
Exams
The exam was mostly based on the course materials, and the courses were evaluated by
presentations, assignments, group work, debates and exams.
Library and technology
The library was renovated during my semester there, so I never used it. But there are several
group rooms and cafes on campus where you can sit. The technology, such as printers,
Internet and University computers were more or like the same as at BI. I don’t think it was
difficult to learn how to use it. The passwords, though, are a bit hard to learn, since you can’t
choose your own.
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 acadmic level, challenges,
relevance to your studies, if the course was practical/theoretical, any enrolment issues, etc.
Course code & name
Master/
Bachelor
Exam form
Prerequisites
Approved
as
Comments
Fashion Marketing
(FAM)
Bachelor
None
Interesting
course
Operations
Management (OPM)
Bachelor
Group
Assignment and
exam
Seminars and 2hour multiple
choice exam
None
Business Ethics
Bachelor
Seminars, 1hour exam,
individual
assignment and
group
assignments
None
Very
interesting
course
which were
also
practical
with games
This was
and
interesting
but also
hard
course,
since it was
so much to
Human Resource
Management (HRM)
Bachelor
Individual essay
None
do all the
time, and
you are
depending
on other
students.
Very
interesting
course
which were
a bit
different
from the
regular
teaching
style
To sum up the exchange experience I would say that this semester has been really meaningful
and you learn a lot both about yourself, but also academically. There is a lot of formal things
to fix before you go on exchange, but once you are finished with this, everything runs smooth.
I will give my warmest recommendation to other students to go on exchange. You will meet a
lot of interesting people from all over the world, and you will find friends for life in different
countries. You will grow a lot personally and I really think that this is an experience everyone
should make.