Student Report
Name of the University: Leon Kozminski Academy
Exchange semester: Fall / Spring, 2013
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
- I got most of my information prior of departure to Poland on mail from the university
coordinator. There were some minor problems in housing, but they are helpful at the
university, and it’s easy if you contact companies that has specialised on getting
apartment for students. These may be a little expensive, so the best idea would
actually be to either go through school or the student assigned to help you with the
start-up phase from the university.
Travel
Traveling to Poland is really cheap and really simple. There are plane tickets down to 100kr
each way. And getting around in Warsaw is quite easy, but can be expressive at start when the
taxi drivers gives you a little unwanted trip around town..
Housing
I found some guys on the student page prior to my visit. They were also looking for
roommates so we contacted a company and they set us up with an okay looking, but big
apartment. It was quite expensive, but expensive in Poland is 2000kr a month for an
apartment.
You can also go through school for getting an apartment, but they vary a lot.
Anyway, the best idea is getting on as many showings as possible, to get a lay of the land.
Costs
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
2000 NOK
100 NOK
1500 NOK
500 NOK
2500 NOK
We went out eating almost every day, you can get decent dinners for down to 35kr
with the student discounts. You can also eat amazing food for as little as 200kr a dish.
Culture and language
The general English is okay, nothing more nothing less. Some professors are better than
others, but all in all you get what their saying, and dialog is no problem.
The English capacity in the general Polak is not very high. The older generation knows no
English, so be prepared to use hand signals. Everything is really cheap in Poland, so cultural
experiences are easy to get. And it’s not far between them.
Cultural and social effects from the exchange experience
The exchange probably will not affect my cultural side that much, but my social point of view
changed a bit. Easy, and cheap point is for example why the polish people go to Norway to
work, and send the money home. The scholarship we get, is as much as a decent lawyer in
Poland.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Please describe:
The school is not at the same level as Norwegian standards, but its 100% okay. It has hot
meals all around divided between 3 cantinas. It takes approximately 15-20 min to centrum
with a tram. (200kr for 3 months) There is quite a lot of exchange students, so the social
environment you can’t complain about. I would guess somewhere around 100 exchange
students. The program is formed like we are used to from our first 10 years of school, small
classes where you for example can get point for being active in class. Also homework, tests
and groupwork.
*The school has now been ranked the 19th best school in the Global Masters in Finance
ranking done by the “Financial Times”, so its actually well higher ranked than any Norwegian
school*
Course registration
The registration opened before coming there, and it’s only a given amount of places in each
course, so you either have to be quite quick (3-4 days), or maybe have to accept some courses
you didn’t really want. It was a period of adding dropping courses for almost a month.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
Any special events/holidays:
Other:
15. September
Late September
December /January
December/January
Early exams are in
December, just speak
to the teachers, it’s
quite easy to fix.
Arrival
When we arrived the school, everyone was well-prepared and we got started quite fast, with
the week of getting to know each other. The school’s students were as we have in our
“fadderuke”. And the introduction week works quite as it does in Norway, you will have fun,
and it’s almost for free….
The International Office
There is an international office, and it works really great, any problems or questions you had
you can go and talk to them. They were very helpful with all relevant information in English
if needed.
Social activities
It was really easy to socialize, even if you landed in groups of French or Spanish, with some
Germans and other people. It was easier to get along with the exchange students and they
were the people you spend time with.
There were a lot of parties for the Erasmus-students of Warsaw, so you could meet new
people all the time.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The teaching style is kind of similar to what we have in high school in Norway, with
homework, tests and small classes. Everything was in English and the level of study is totally
different from how it’s done at BI.
We had a lot of group works in the subjects I took. And some individual, but mostly it was
learning by doing, not just listening to the teachers. And it’s hard to compare it to BI, but I
recon it’s less work, mainly because you spread it out, so it doesn’t feel that much. And
communication between students and professors was easy and again like Norwegian high
school.
Course materials
Mainly we used printed pages or PowerPoint presentations in class. Everything we got was
written in English and the level of difficulty varied a lot, from really deep financial markets
and mathematics, to simpler stuff that we had a lot of in Norway.
Exams
All of the exams were based on what we had in class. Mainly things we got handed out but
also some we had to read on our own. We had a couple of subject that didn’t have exam, but
the grade was given from participation in class. We also had quite a lot of home assignment,
group work and general class work that was determining the grade you got.
Some classes were mandatory, while others were like Norway, where you could choose.
In communication and negotiation it was small group work then class discussion.
Library and technology
Every student has easy access to the library and its resources. It`s a lot of reading rooms there
and computer labs for those who need it. (Both in the library and separate). The general
information was given both online and in class.
Description of courses
Course code & name
Master/
Bachelor
Exam form
ECTS
Approved
as
Comments
Communication and
Negotiation Skills
Master
Class
participation
3
Interesting
Computer sience
Financial
Mathematics
Bachelor
Bachelor
Exam 2 hours
Exam+ tests
4
5
Human resources
Management
Insurances
Master
Exam
4
Ok
Good, if
you’re into
maths.
Okay
Bachelor
4
Ok
International Business
Strategy
Sociology
Bachelor
Presentations+
small exam
Exam multiple
choice
Exam
5
Good
2
International
Financial Markets
Master
Exam, Multiple
choice
5
Lots of
work for no
ECTS
Very
interesting
Bachelor