Student Report
Name of the University: Université Laval
Exchange semester: Fall 2013
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
Before I left Norway I received all the information I needed from the university via email. A
lot if the information was in French, but the email explained all of the important information
in English on what you needed in order to enter Canada and where to meet up the first day.
Applying for a visa
You don’t need a Visa if you only intend to stay in Canada less than 6 Months, but it is very
important to have all of the documents from the university printed out, especially the
acceptance letter. You also have to bring your blue health insurance card, due to the special
insurance agreement Quebec have with Norway.
Travel
I arrived Quebec City by airplane, and took a taxi to the university from the airport; it is a 15minute ride.
Housing
If you don’t want to miss out on anything, you have to live on campus. This is really cheap,
only 290 CAD/month, and it is really social. The rent of an apartment down town is
approximately the same as in Norway (900 CAD/month), and it is really inconvenient to live
there because you have to travel by bus all the time. If you want to live with the rest of the
exchange students, you have to live in the Marie parent building. The rooms are not very nice,
but they are okay for a short semester. The residents also give you access to a one-mile tunnel
system beneath the ground. This is very convenient when the cold strikes.
Costs
The costs are about the same as in Sweden, it’s cheaper but not as cheap as in the U.S. The
rent for on-campus housing was about 290 CAD per month, and about 900 CAD for an
apartment off campus. Schoolbooks costs about the same as in Norway, but it is not necessary
to have a book in all of the courses. I bought e-books in all of my classes; this was way
cheaper than to buy the real books.
Culture and language
There are hardly any cultural difficulties except the language. I don't speak a word French,
and this wasn’t a problem at all, but you may have some language problems with some people
if you don’t speak French. If you want to learn or improve you French, Quebec is a great
place to go, you can also take French courses at the university. Note; The French they speak
in Quebec is apparently really different from the French in France. I’ve been told that they
speak an “older” version of the language, and it may be hard to understand what they are
saying if you learned your French in Norway or in France.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Université Laval is located approximately 20 minutes outside Downtown Quebec. The
university area is highly adapted to students, due to the large amount of students who study
and live there (about 40.000 students). The campus is large with all the facilities you need,
such a modern sport facility, library, stores and cafeterias and a lot more.
Course registration
I registered for all of my courses before the semester began, so everything was done in
advance.
Academic calendar
I arrived on the 23th of August. The welcome week (similar to “fadderullan”) began on the
26th of August and lasted a week. The semester officially started on the 2nd of September.
There was also a reading week in the end of October.
The International Office
The university has an international office, and there is one person responsible for incoming
exchange students. There are also students from the university working at the international
office. We received all necessary information during the introductory week, but if we had any
questions we could just go to the international office and ask. They were very helpful all the
time, and arranged a lot of fun activities and trips.
Social activities
The international office arranged a lot of social activities, mostly among the exchange
students and the buddies. During the introductory week we had social activities every day,
with activities all day long and party's during the night. There were also social activities
weekly during the semester. They also arranged trips to places like New York, Boston,
Toronto and Cuba. These trips were really fun and social, and not to mention cheap!
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
You only have a small selection of English courses to choose from, most of the courses are
taught in French. So the selection of English courses is not the best, especially if you’re
looking for finance/economy courses. The teaching is primarily theoretical, but also some
practical. Due to smaller classes you have to interact more than at BI. We also had a term
project or a case in every class, and in some of the classes we had two or more of these. Your
final grade will depend on everything you do or hand in during the year, so it is not just the
exam that counts as it is at BI. We also had one mid-term in almost all the courses. They
weight all the assignments, exams and midterms differently in all classes, and this is
explained in the first class. The workload is almost the same as at BI, but it is evenly spread
out during the whole semester.
Course materials
The literature that was being used was very similar to what used at BI. Some detailed
knowledge and also a broad overview. The exams are based both on the literature and the
lectures. Some classes use books, others use cases and slides, and some uses a mix of the
three.
Exams
I had midterms and final exams in almost all of my courses. The exams lasted for 3 hours,
some were multiple choice and some were just case solving. We also had a lot of
presentations in front of the class.
Library and technology
Students have access to a big library, and there are computer rooms located in the faculties,
which all students can use. There are also small study rooms in all of the dorms. All of the
teachers used powerpoints in their lectures; therefore it is important to have a computer. To
get access to the wireless Internet you have to be registered at the university, and this took
some time and it all was in French. The wireless Internet could be slow at times, especially in
the dorms.
Description of courses
Course code
& name
GSF-4038
Venture
Capital
Master/
Bachelor
Master
Grading
Prerequisites
3-hour written
exam, and 6
quizzes
You need a
basic finance
background to
do well in this
course.
ADM-3104
Strategic
Management
Bachelor
MRK-3102
International
marketing
Bachelor
MRK-2110
Consumer
behaviour
Bachelor
Four group
None
assignment
with a paper
hand in and a
presentation
each. One midterm and a
final exam.
One term
None
paper, a
midterm and a
final exam
Two term
None
papers, one
midterm and
one final exam
Approved
as
Elective
Comments
Elective
This was okay course,
not too much of a
workload.
Elective
This was a really fun
and easy course. The
teacher is really good,
so you don’t have to
read much to do well on
the exams.
Very interesting class if
you’re into finance.
This is a master course,
so the workload is a bit
heavier than the normal
bachelor courses.
Obligatory Workload pretty heavy,
Strategy
due to the four cases
course
and presentations. But
required
overall it was a pretty
for
easy and fun course.
bachelor
students.
On a final note, how will you sum up the exchange experience?
This was a really fun and interesting experience. I also got friends from a lot of different
places and learn about their cultures. It was interesting to have group assignment with people
from all over the world. I also got the chance to travel a lot when I was there. It was really
cheap to travel to places like New York, Montreal, Boston, Toronto and Cuba.