1. Host institution and exact dates of semester abroad
My name is Dennis Wijnberg and I am a student of Business Administration. During the fall semester 2014-
2015 I had the opportunity to study at the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in Tainan. NCKU is the second most prestigious university of Taiwan and one of the best in Asia. The semester dates are similar.
The semester starts at the beginning of September and ends in the mid of January.
2. Contact with home faculty, preparation and journey
The contact with NCKU exchange office was good. After the news that I had been selected to go to NCKU
I received an email with all the necessary documents that had to be send to the NCKU exchange office. I had to send the exchange student application of NCKU, a copy of my language test, a recommendation letter, a copy of my passport, a copy of my transcript, a copy of my learning agreement and a financial statement.
I bought my flight ticket as soon as possible, since the sooner you book, the cheaper the tickets. I bought a ticket with China Airlines and paid around €1100, - for a roundtrip including the travel insurance. I arrived around two weeks before the start of the semester. I arrived on the 1 st of September in Taipei and had my final exam on the 12 th of January. I came back to the Netherlands on the 18 th of February. I bought a ticket at Kilroy in Groningen. The benefit of buying a ticket at Kilroy is that you can change the date of your return flight for only €50,-. If you decide to travel after your stay in Taiwan, you can easily change the date of your return flight. However, you have to do this 1 or 2 months before the departure date, otherwise you possibly have to pay more.
I did not apply for a visa. I heard from a lot of students that had been on exchange to Taiwan, that they did not apply for a visa and the ones who did told me it was not necessary. As a Dutch citizen, you can stay in Taiwan for 90 days. After 90 days, you have to leave the country and when you come back, you can stay another 90 days. You not necessarily have to arrange a visa in advance, but if you do so, you do not have to leave the country and you have the possibility to extend your visa. However, Taiwan has so many great destinations nearby, so it is definitely not a punishment to leave the country.
A health check in not necessary for NCKU. Taiwan does require vaccination against hepatitis B. If you are planning to travel to other countries, check before the beginning of your exchange whether you need additional vaccinations or medicines.
3. Residence abroad
NCKU offers dorms in Prince House ( http://www.prince.com.tw/en/guildhall03.shtm
), it was unclear however how we had to apply for this. Eventually I found the email-addresses of Prince House and emailed them ( 0808046@exchange.prince.com.tw
, 1010030@exchange.prince.com.tw
). We received a reply which was sufficient. You do have to sign a contract upon arrival, but this is all legit and fair. The Prince
House offers both single and twin dorm rooms. The rent for the single room is 6500 NTD and for the twin room it is 3900 NTD. I would strongly suggests new students to apply for a room in Prince House, since this is the best dorm around NCKU and a lot of international students stay here. Furthermore, it is really close to the university and the main road to get food. The rooms are nice, however, you have to clean it upon arrival. Moreover, Prince House has a really nice lobby to meet new people, a little gym and a room where

you can play table tennis. It is not necessary to fill out the dormitory application that you receive from the exchange office of NCKU since Prince House is privately own and not a part of NCKU. You do have to tell the exchange office of NCKU that you stay at Prince House and which room type you have chosen (single or twin dorm room).
The introduction organized by NCKU is a nice way to meet other students and get to know the campus.
NCKU also assigns every exchange student a buddy, a Taiwanese student. Your buddy can help you and explain you how things work. I met my buddy once and she picked me up from the high speed railway station in Tainan which was very convenient since I probably would not have been able to find Prince
House in Tainan myself. Tainan has two train stations. A very fancy one, the high speed railway station, which you will arrive at when you take the high speed railway train from Taipei. To get to NCKU however, you need to go from the high speed railway station to the ‘normal’ station in Tainan. This will take around
20 minutes by train. At this ‘normal’ train station you will find NCKU and Prince House at the rear exit.
Student life in Tainan is really nice. It is not a big international city like Taipei, but Tainan has enough to offer to entertain yourself for 5 months. The best club in Tainan is Muse. You can also go to the Orient
(second best club), the cinema or KTV (karaoke). I managed to schedule my courses in three days so I had a four-day weekend which allowed me to explore Taiwan. Taiwan is a beautiful country with a lot to offer, it has beaches, mountains and big cities to visit. I would recommend everyone to go to Taipei, Kenting and
Taroko National Park (Hualien). Be careful driving a scooter, there are a lot of accidents with scooters in
Taiwan. On the other hand, it is a really nice way to travel and explore Taiwan.
The language is Mandarin. The English of the general population is either very poor or they do not speak
English at all. The students and teachers of NCKU do speak good English. Make sure to take a picture of the Chinese name of the place or the Chinese address you want to go to. Cab drivers do not know the
English name of places nor any English addresses.
4. Grant – Amount
The Marco Polo grant you receive will be around €1100, -. Before my departure I received €800, - in advance. The remaining €300, - I will receive after submitting this report. My grant mainly covered my flight ticket and travel insurance. I would advise students to do some research on scholarships because it might be possible to get an additional grant. The living expenses in Taiwan are lower than in the
Netherlands. For example, you can get a proper meal for less than €2,-. However, because I travelled a lot and I had the time of my life, I ended up spending a lot more money than I would have spent in The
Netherlands. So take this into account.
5. Study (general)
NCKU offers a lot of courses in English. I followed most of courses at the IMBA (International Management of Business Administration) office. The enrolment procedure starts a few weeks before the beginning of the semester. However, the first two weeks of the semester you can still drop and add courses. During the first two weeks most lectures are introductions so it is very useful to attend lectures of several different courses you like before choosing your courses. The enrolment system at NCKU is a bit different than in the
Netherlands. The Taiwanese students enroll themselves in as much courses as possible to see all the possibilities. This is why some courses seem to be very popular and since you need a signature from the teacher to enter the course, you can stress out a little. However, there is no need for this because after one week, a lot of Taiwanese students will drop the courses and you can join. It is very important to enroll

the courses online. In the beginning, I did not know about this and I had to wait one week before I enrolled in all the courses I liked. My advice is to ask the exchange office or the IMBA office as soon as possible to enroll you into the courses you like online, or ask them how you can do this by yourself. Ultimately, everyone got the courses they wanted, but you should definitely ask the exchange or IMBA office about enrollment of courses online. After two weeks the real lectures start. Lectures take three hours. The emphasis of the educational system in Taiwan is more on attendance and you have to present a lot.
My courses:
-
-
-
Strategic Information Systems
Technology Management
Consumer Behavior
Design Thinking
7. Summary impression
I really enjoyed my exchange at the National Cheng Kung University and I would recommend everyone to apply for it. You have to take into account that Tainan is not a big international city like Taipei, but you will experience the ‘real’ Taiwan. Furthermore, Taiwan is a beautiful country and it offers more than enough to do and to see. Besides, it is also well located to visit other Asian countries (the Philippines, China,
Singapore etc.). If you would like to know more, feel free to contact me.
(Graduate course: 7,5 ECTS)
(Graduate course: 7,5 ECTS)
(Graduate course: 7,5 ECTS)
(Graduate course: 7,5 ECTS)

My name is Dennis Wijnberg and I am a student of Business Administration. During the fall semester 2014-
2015 I had the opportunity to study at the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in Tainan. NCKU is the second most prestigious university of Taiwan and one of the best in Asia. The semester dates are similar.
The semester starts at the beginning of September and ends in the mid of January. I decided to take the following courses: Consumer Behavior, Design Thinking, Strategic Information Systems and Technology
Management. These are all graduate courses.
1. Consumer Behavior (Graduate: 7,5)
Host institution, study period and literature
This is a graduate course of NCKU with a three hour lecture once a week. It is taught from 14-09-2014 until
14-01-2015. Every week chapters from the book will be discussed. For the mid-term the first half of the book will be examined and for the final exam the second half of the book will be examined. Textbook:
Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy, 12 th edition by Hawkins and Mothersbaugh.
Overview of lecture program

Contents
Lecture related activities
Relevance to Groningen study program
This is a marketing course and will help you understand the external and internal factors that influence consumer behavior, how consumers make purchase decisions and the influences of consumer behavior on marketing strategies.
Study load
Next to the 3 hour lecture once a week, you need to present 2 assignment and 1 research project. Since you work in a group with 4 people this will not take a lot of time. For the assignments I spend a few hours per assignment and for the research project I worked one whole day. You also need to study approximately one day for the mid-term and one day for the final exam.

Assessment in Groningen
Mrs. Hoving and mrs. Venhuizen from the exchange office did the assessment in Groningen. You need to have proof from NCKU this is a graduate course. 7,5 ECTS are obtained with this course.
2. Design Thinking (Graduate: 7,5)
Host institution and study period
This is a graduate course of NCKU with a three hour lecture once a week. It is taught from 14-09-2014 until
14-01-2015. Every week different subjects concerning the design thinking process have to be presented.
There is no mid-term or final exam, however, you have to give a presentation almost every week and you have to present the final product or service that you came up with. Moreover, you have to write a report about the final product/service.
Overview of lecture program

Literature

Contents
Grading

Relevance to Groningen study program
Design thinking is a formal method for practical, creative resolution of problems or issues, with the intent of an improved future result. In this regard it is a form of solution-focused thinking which start with a goal
(a better future situation) instead of solving one specific problem. This process can be used in marketing for finding the best solution to different problems.
Study load
Next to the 3 hour lecture once a week, you need to present different subjects every week. Since you work in a group with 4 people this will not take a lot of time. You will spend a few hours for every weekly presentation and a few hours for writing the final report.
Assessment in Groningen
Mrs. Hoving and mrs. Venhuizen from the exchange office did the assessment in Groningen. You need to have proof from NCKU this is a graduate course. 7,5 ECTS are obtained with this course.
3. Strategic Information Systems (Graduate: 7,5)
Host institution, study period and literature
This is a graduate course of NCKU with a three hour lecture once a week. It is taught from 14-09-2014 until
14-01-2015. Every week different journal articles will be presented by all of the students. In total, you have to present one case study with a classmate and 2 journal articles by yourself. Furthermore, you have to write a final report of 20 pages. Textbook: Corporate Information Strategy and Management: Text and
Cases, 8th Edition, by Applegate, Austin, and Soule

Overview of lecture program
週次
Week
進度 說明 Progress Description
1 Understanding Business Models
2 Understanding Business Models
3 IT Impact on Business Models
4 IT Impact on Business Models
5 IT Impact on Organizations
6 IT Impact on Organizations
7 Making the Case for IT
8 Making the Case for IT
9 Understanding IT Infrastructure
10 Assuring Reliable and Secure IT Services
11 Assuring Reliable and Secure IT Services
12 Managing IT Service Delivery
13 Managing IT Service Delivery
Contents, grading and activities
Course description:
Strategic Information Resource Management explores the impact of IS/IT on business performance and the contribution that they make to the strategic options of organizations. It introduce tools, techniques and management frameworks to align strategies for IS/IT with business strategy, as well as seek out new opportunities through innovative management of information resource. This course demonstrates why strategic planning for information systems is essential to organisational success, especially in times of increasingly rapid change. Over the long term any organisation will get the information systems it deserves, according to the approach adopted to the use and management of IS/IT. To obtain the whole

range of benefits available from IS/IT and avoid the potential pitfalls, every organisation must establish the means to manage IS/IT as an integral part of its approach to strategic management.
Course Objectives:
To help students understand the important value of IT/IS in corporate strategies;
To introduce students a broad range of topics in various aspects of the interface of IT/IS and corporate strategies ;
To give students an in-depth introduction on current business cases;
To provide frameworks for the successful strategic information system;
To help students integrate multi-discipline knowledge in this course
Grading:
方法 百分比 %
其他 :termpaper presentation others
其他 :journal article presentation others
其他 :lead case discussion others
其他 :Individual term paper others
其他 :class participation (attendance and professor others
10
40
15
20
15
Relevance to Groningen study program
This course will be relevant if you would like to know more about IS/IT related issues in corporate strategies.
Study load
Next to the 3 hour lecture once a week, you need to present 2 journal articles and 1 case study throughout the semester. This will take quite a while since you have to read the journal articles, the case study and make a presentation. Moreover, you have to write a final report of 20 pages which took me several full days to complete.

Assessment in Groningen
Mrs. Hoving and mrs. Venhuizen did the assessment in Groningen. You need to have proof from NCKU this is a graduate course. 7,5 ECTS are obtained with this course.
4. Technology Management (Graduate: 7,5)
Host institution, study period and literature
This is a graduate course of NCKU with a three hour lecture once a week. It is taught from 14-09-2014 until 14-01-2015. You will have to present one case study in class and write a final report together with three other students. Textbook: Schilling, Melissa A. (2013) Strategic Management of Technological
Innovation (4th ed.) McGraw Hill (ISBN: 9780071326445).
Overview of lecture program
Week 1
Week 1-2
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7-8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Week 15
Week 16-18
Introduction and overview of the course
Sources of Innovations
Innovations and competitive advantages
Economic returns of innovation
Marketing and diffusion of technology
Standards Battles and Design Dominance
Entry decisions
Project proposal
Defining the org’s strategy direction and choosing innovation project
Alliances and networks of technology
Intellectual property
Creativity and Organizational Learning
Technological Entrepreneurship
Development teams
Crafting Deployment Strategy
Term Project Presentation

Contents, grading and activities

Relevance to Groningen study program
This is a marketing course and will help you understand the external and internal factors that influence consumer behavior, how consumers make purchase decisions and the influences of consumer behavior on marketing strategies.
Study load
Next to the 3 hour lecture once a week, you need to present 2 assignment and 1 research project. Since you work in a group with 4 people this will not take a lot of time. For the assignments I spend a few hours per assignment and for the research project I worked one whole day. You also need to study approximately one day for the mid-term and one day for the final exam.
Assessment in Groningen
Mrs. Hoving and mrs. Venhuizen did the assessment in Groningen. You need to have proof from NCKU this is a graduate course. 7,5 ECTS are obtained with this course.