Student Report
Name of the University: Simon Fraser University
Exchange semester: Spring, 2014
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
The information from the University came quite early comparing to the other students
going on exchange. The information was clear and easy to keep track of, and was
distributed by email. Simon Fraser requires an IELTS/TOEFL test, but I was able to
avoid this by getting a confirmation of my English skills from BI. Since I was only
staying in Canada for less than 6 months, no visa was needed. However I had a
touchdown in USA, where they require an ESTA. Getting to Vancouver takes about
16 hours and cost around 5000 one-way.
Housing
I lived in student housing at SFU, you can choose either to live in a dorm, which I did,
or you can live 4 students in a house. I would recommend living on campus, since
most of the other exchange students do, if not you might find yourself a bit outside of
the group. There is a possibility to buy a meal plan, and eat in the dining hall. I choose
not to, which meant I had to buy all kitchen material. Cooking myself was a bit
cheaper, and a good way to socialize, some of my friends and I formed a cooking
rotation. The rooms are quite old, and the standard of the student housing is not very
high compared to Norwegian standards. Living at school, it about 1 hour to get to
downtown of Vancouver, its easy to get there both by bus and by sky train. The
transportation system was efficient and easy to navigate, we also got passes, which
you allowed us discounted trasitfare. The busses runs for almost 24 hours so it is easy
to get back to campus after a night out in Vancouver.
Costs
The prices are a bit lower then in Norway, however travelling by airplane is a bit more
expensive. If you want to travel to USA, I would recommend taking the bus to Seattle,
which takes about 4 hours, and fly from the Seattle airport.
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
3500 NOK
600-1000
NOK/Book
1600 NOK
210 NOK
NOK
Culture and language
The main language is English, which made it easy to get around. It’s a lot of diversity
on the university, and the two main groups are Canadians and Asians. The culture is
quite similar to Norway, but the people is a bit more outgoing.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
The school:
The school is located on a mountain (Burnaby), which at times felt like we were too
far away from the action of the city centre and made travelling inconvenient.
However I felt that being on the mountain also created a strong sense of community
and encouraged students to spend time together locally. The surrounding forest and
view from our campus was also spectacular. SFU was a relatively large school,
however there was a limited study area throughout campus, which was at times
frustrating. The university offered a wide range of courses, all of which seemed to be
of a high standard.
Course registration:
Course registration occurred online. There was a period of leasing with SFU
coordinators when I had to pick 8 subjects (allowing for backups) and then the SFU
international office did everything else from their end. Once the semester began,
there was still a 2 week period where you were able to add, dropp, change units if
needed.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
Any special events/holidays:
2nd January
4th January
25th April
14th April
Reading Break (week
6) and Easter holidays.
Other:
Arrival
Upon arrival at SFU all of the exchange students participated in a weekend long
orientation. This included everything from helpful information sessions about the
university, classes and Vancouver city as well as social activities such as a bowling
and beer night, a trip to the local Aquarium, movie nights and access to the dining hall
for special meals. This was really a great way to meet other students from all over the
world and I feel really helped me to begin making friendships that lasted throughout
the semester.
The International Office
The international office was extremely helpful with not only administrative and
academic advice, but provided practical information such as newsletters and regularly
ran different seminars and workshops such as a Hockey 101 session, ski and snow
boarding trips, an excursion to a local hot spring and Canadian cooking classes.
Promoting BI and Norway
I felt that on a professional level there was not much opportunity for me to promote
my home university. During my exchange SFU did not have any sort of display fairs
or information sessions about exchange that I was able to participate in. However
during my classes and within social activities I was often asked about my home
university and home country to which I provided positive feedback.
Social activities
Overall I actually felt that I was able to make better friends with other exchange
students and spent more time with them opposed to local students. I felt that as an
exchange student study was obviously a high priority, however exploring the city and
the surroundings of Vancouver was also a high priority that was shared with other
exchange students. I met quite a few Canadians in the dorms, however again the
majority of people living there was other exchangers or international students. As a
part of the orientation program we could elect to be paired with a local students as a
part of the GPS (Global partnering system) which I really enjoyed as I made good
friends with my buddy who had been to Sweden on exchange and who I even was able
to spend a weekend with in her home town, Victoria on Vancouver Island. Along with
the orientation program, both the residence and international offices organised regular
trips and events such as hockey games, ski trips, pub nights, a formal night and other
events. These were extremely well organised, very affordable and great value
(especially the snowboarding trip to Cypress mountain which included the bus, gear
rental and an optional lesson for an extremely discounted price!).
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The lessons are more interactive, you are expected to attend and participate during
classes, and are in some cases graded in these areas. The classes I attended were much
smaller than the typical classes at BI. The workload is much heavier than BI with a lot
of weekly assignments, midterms and other assessments, however, I found the
difficulty level lower than at BI. I had to take 5 courses to fulfil my credits, which was
a bit more than the other students. I was a bit disappointed with the BI international
office, which warned me about the heavy workload only after my arrival.
Course materials
Most of the courses are based on books, which are used for cases solved in class. Most
of the teachers use power points as a supplement.
Library and technology
The library lends some older books for the whole semester, which enables you to save
some money since the books are extremely expensive. You can also borrow laptops.
Exams
The grades are divided between attendance, participation, assignments, midterms and
finals, which is a bit different from BI. This system makes the workload a bit heavier
than BI.
Description of courses
BUS 315 – Investment management:
This course was not as good as I thought, the teacher was pretty bad, and the exams
and assignments did not match the material we went trough in class. The teacher did
not use Canvas (it’s learning), which mint that you couldn’t access the material
covered in class. The grade was based on weekly assignments (10%), which were
graded on effort, a mid-term (30%), 2 hours written exam with a cheat-sheet and a
final (50%), a 3 hour written exam with a two-page cheat-sheet. I would not
recommend this course.
BUS 316 – Derivative securities:
This course was very easy, especially if you have a finance specialisation from before.
The course was graded by weekly assignments (10%), based on effort, two open book
quizzes in class (10%), midterm (30%), a 2 hour written exam, with a cheat-sheet and
a final (50%), a 3 hour written exam with a cheat-sheet. This course was overall quite
good, however my teacher Mi Ling was not a great teacher. I would recommend trying
getting another teacher if choosing this course.
BUS 346 – International Business:
This course was very easy, but quite boring. The course is divided in one individual
part and one group part. The individual part is graded by attendance (5%),
participation (10%), 2 homework (10%), midterm (15%), 2 hour written exam with
cheat-sheet and a final (15%) and 5%, which you can locate yourself. The group work
was a paper about the strategy of how to expand a company globally. This was worth
40% of the grade.
BUS 361 – Project Management
This course was hard work, but very interesting. My teacher Baize was engaged with
the students, and had a lot of experience in the field resulting in interesting and usable
lectures. This course was divided in individual and group work, the individual grade
was divided in participation (10%), in class quiz (14%), written final exam (30%). The
group work was to do a project for an organization (40%), and group participation
(6%).
BUS 486 – Leadership
This was my favourite course, the teacher, Ron was very engaged in his teaching and
the classes were fun to attend. The course was very practical, where you applied the
theories rather than read about them. The grade was divided by a learning journal
(25%), where you were supposed to reflect on your own learning and different cases, a
leadership style paper (20%), participation (15%). We did a group work with nonprofit organizations where we were in change over a project (40%).
My exchange period was one of the best things I have done. I have met friends all
over the world, and learned so much about my self. I would strongly recommend
going on an exchange.