Student Report
Name of the University: Queens University
Exchange semester: Spring, 2015
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
I revieved the information from the exchange university in September/October 2014. It was
sent to me by email. I did encounter some difficulties, but my exchange coordinater at Queens
was really helpful, and responded quickly to my issues.
Applying for a visa
You don’t need to apply for a visa when studying in Canada. You only have to carry your
“letter of acceptance” when entering the country. You will be asked by the boarder to show
these letters, and this is something that you will be provided with by the university.
Travel
First I booked a trip to Montreal through Kilroy. From Montreal I took “megabus” all the way
to Kingston. It was a easy and convenient way to travel to Kingston. It´s also possible to take
the plane to Toronto, and then “megabus” from Toronto to Kingston. The bustrip from
Montreal to Kingston was approximately 3 hours.
Housing
I lived in West Campus which was provided by the university. There I lived with fellow
exchange students and first year students. It was ok, but not the best option. Most Queens
students live in houses with 4, 5 or 6 fellow students. There are facebook groups where you
can get in contact with students who rent out rooms, I would defineteley recommend this
option. Living on West Campus was also pretty expensive, but it included food service every
day. The houses are located closer to the school and the city. You have to take the bus to get
to West Campus.
Costs
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
NOK 10,000
NOK 500
NOK 500*
NOK 0
NOK 1,500
*Since food was included in the living expenses, this doesn’t make a clear picture on
how much I spent on food.
Culture and language
I had no language problems. Kingston is located in Ontario, so everybody speaks perfectly
English. You may encounter problems in Quebec.
Kingston is located pretty central in Canada. What I mean by that, is that it is easy to
experience cities like Toronto, Montreal, Quebec city and Ottawa. All these four cities where
in driving distance. You can experience both the French and English side of Canada.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Please describe:
Kingston is a small city with around 150,000 innhabitants, and 25,000 of them are Queens
students. So the University is a huge part of the City, and it is located with a walking distance
of 10 minutes from the city center. The business faculty is called Goodes hall, and it is by far
the prettiest part of the University. They also have a huge library located in the center of the
University, and it is called Stauffer. This is a really nice library.
Course registration
All the course registration is done online. You can add and drop courses from around the start
of November I think. You can also change this within the first week at Queens, so you can go
to some lectures and see how the course is like, and then decide wether to add it or drop it.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
Any special events/holidays:
2. jan
5. jan
2. april
23. april
17. march, St Patricks
day
Other:
Arrival
We didn’t have much of a introduction week. We had a orientation meeting the day before the
first classes where you could meet staff members and the other exchange students. We had
one exchange student party the first Wednesday.
The International Office
The exchange office where located in the business faculty, so even though I didn’t face any
problems, it would have been easy for me to get the answers I needed.
Promoting BI and Norway
I met two Queens students that where planning to go on exchange to BI the spring of 2016. I
talked a little about BI, answered their questions, and then I kept talking about things to do
both in Oslo and where you could travel in Norway.
Social activities
My experience is that the native students where really friendly. Many of them had been on
exchange themselves, so they what it’s like. You will experience a lot of teamwork at Queens,
so you get to know a lot of native Canadians.
Throughout the semester we had different kinds of gatherings. There was a trip to Montreal,
one Sunday we played curling, and some of the weekends the exchange student social
organisation organized house parties.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The teaching style was a bit different between the teachers. Some had power point
presentations every time, others had cases, and others liked to create a discussion with the
students. The classrooms are much smaller than you are used to at BI, so the lectures where
much more personal. And it was also much more practical. The teachers expect you to show
up in classes, and also be prepared.
I would say that the workload was bigger at Queens. This is because the teachers expected
you to read course materials to every class, and there where also assignments, group work,
tests and quizzes through the whole semester. So the workload was bigger throughout the
semester, except in the exam period.
Course materials
I had only one book. The professors mostly use online articles and their own power points for
the theoretical parts. In all the other courses you had to buy a course package with articles and
cases. We used these for the practical parts.
Exams
I only had one final exam, and it was heavily based on the lectures.
All the classes was evaluated on class attendance and participation, group work and
presentations. Some curses had assignments, and others had mid-terms and quizzes. Basically
you will face almost all of the evaluation forms.
o Final exam (include form: written, oral, home assignment, presentation, etc.)
o Mid-term exam
o In-class quizzes throughout semester
o Small assignments and/or papers
o Presentations
o Group work
o Class attendance
o Class participation/debates
o Activities outside of the classroom
o Other – if other, describe.
Library and technology
As mentioned previously, the Stauffer library was really nice and big. It was possible to
borrow the computers there, and they worked perfectly.
Description of courses
Course code & name
COMM 333
Marketing Strategy
Master/
Bachelor
Bachelor
Exam form
Mid-term
exam
Prerequ Approved
isites
as
None
Elective
Comments
Marketing Strategy
was a pretty good
course. The prof. was
one of the best I ever
had. The evaluation
form included class
participation, midterm exam, group
work, presentation and
a simulation. It’s a
COMM 342 Operation Bachelor
Strategy and
Innovation
Management
Final exam
None
Mandatory
COMM 370 Business
Communication in
North America
Bachelor
No exam
None
Elective
COMM 376 Doing
Business in the Asia
Pacific Rim
Bachelor
No exam
None
Elective
COMM 385
Negotiation Theory
and Behaviour
Bachelor
No exam
None
Elective
easy course to pass,
but not easy if you
want a good grade.
This is the course
similar to “logistics”
at BI. So it is a
mandatory course. The
course was pretty
boring, mostly
because of the content
and the prof. But it
was pretty easy.
This was a really easy
and nice course. It was
a course only for
exchange students,
where we learned
similarities and
differences between
business
communication in
North America and the
rest of the world.
In this course we
looked upon how
business is done in
East Asia. That
includes Japan, China,
South Korea,
Indonesia etc. We
learned about history,
what they produce,
and how the corporate
world in Asia works.
It was a really
interesting course.
This was a really nice
and practical course.
Once a week we met
for lectures, and once
a week we met to
negotiate. The
negotiation part was
different from time to
time. It was also pretty
easy to get a good
grade.
Final note
I really loved going on exchange, and I would recommend it to everyone. You
will experience something completely different, and meet new friends from all
over the world. For me it was an experience I couldn’t miss.