Student Report
Nova SBE
Fall 2014
The school will supply you with all necessary information through e-mails. The only problem
is related to getting hold of course descriptions, which is close to impossible before receiving
username and password for your Moodle account. Getting access to course descriptions late is
not a problem at all and you don’t have to sign up fore any courses before the beginning of
September.
The fall semester starts around the 5’th of September and lasts until approximately the 20’th
of December. Some of the courses (3,5 ECTS) run for half of the semester meaning that you
will have your first exams in mid October. Flying to Lisbon is the easiest way to travel, taxi
from the airport and in to the city centrum costs around €8.
Living in Lisbon is generally cheap compared to what we are used to in Norway, this also
apply for housing. It is possible to find rooms from €250 pr. month.
The school does not provide housing for exchange students, but you will receive an e-mail
with links to renting agencies.
All the students I met on Nova were decent speakers of English, this also goes for the
teachers. Communicating with professors and fellow students is not a problem at all.
Communicating with Portuguese people outside school and especially the older generation
can be difficult.
In a typical month my expenses would look something like this. Costs related to partying are
distributed between “food” and “other”
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
400
0
600
90
400
The school
Nova is a business school with around 2100 students, the schools main focus is on finance
and management. In every class I took there was an overweight of exchange students,
especially German students are well represented.
From Marquez it is a three minute ride with the metro to Sao Sebastiao (with the blue line)
and then a 10-12 minute walk from there to the school. The school is an old majestic building
that would gain a lot from some restoration/maintenance. From semester start and until mid
October the air in some of the classrooms is so thick and warm that your first priority switches
from teaching to survival. Compared to what we are used to at BI Oslo the school and its
interior can seem a bit temporary, despite that the building is a palace from the 18th-century.
Course enrolment took place the 5 of September on a internet platform called NetPa.
Enrolment is based on a first come, first served system. My impression is that most of the
students get the courses that they want. It is also possible to switch courses within the first
week of the semester.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
2. September
5. September
Classes end a couple
days before the
beginning of the exam
period
mid October and mid
December
Arrival
I would recommend arrival a couple of days before semester start, because of all the
interesting things to see and do in Lisbon. It is also a good idea to have a place to live before
arriving in Lisbon.
The International Office
The international office is very good and sends out all information needed and some extras. If
you have some questions that haven’t been answered through all the e-mails you have
received from the office there is no reason for hesitating contacting them.
Social activities
There is a wide variety of student groups that you can join, including some groups reserved
for exchange students. Through different events during the welcoming week and group work
at school you will meet other students from all over the world. Lisbon is well known for it’s
good night life, for those who feel like dancing the night away clubs like Lux, Urban Beach,
Main, Lust and Klube are recommended.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
Describing the teaching style is very difficult, since it varies so much from teacher to teacher.
But in general it is easy to get good contact with the teachers due to the size of the classes.
The intensity of the courses and the workload is much higher at Nova than at BI, this is
mainly because of all the hand-ins and all the group work. During my semester at Nova I had
19 different hand-ins and group projects (excluding the exams).
Course materials
Beside from slides used in class much of the material is based on articles that are posted on
Moodle (one of the schools two internet platforms).
Exams
The exams last for one and a half hour but most of the teachers give the students an extra ten
to thirty minutes. All the exams I had were written and counted for around 50% of the grade.
The grading scale goes from zero to twenty, where twenty is the best. The average grade is
around 14-15.
Library and technology
The school has one library and several computer rooms. The computers are fitted with a wide
variety of statistical software programs and some of them also have Bloomberg. I would
recommend you to bring your own laptop, because the computer rooms are often full and the
general amount of homework that has to be done on a computer.
Description of courses
During my stay at Nova I took a total of seven courses, among the courses listed below the
three first ones ran over the first trimester while the last to ran over the second trimester.
Course code & name
Public finance, 3,5
ECTS
Economics of
agriculture and
environment, 3,5
ECTS
Microfinance, 3,5
ECTS
Banking, 7 ECTS
Master/
Bachelor
Master
Master
Master
Master
Econometrics, 7 ECTS
Master
CSR, 3,5 ECTS
Master
Economics of health
and health care, 3,5
ECTS
Master
Exam form
Comments
1,5 hour written
exam
1,5 hour written
exam
This course had a heavy workload 5
hand-ins in total.
A easy course where the final exam
accounted for 100% of the grade
1,5 hour
exam
1,5 hour
exam
1,5 hour
exam
1,5 hour
exam
written
A easy course with three hand-ins
written
A course with four large projects and a
30 minute presentation
A course I recommend you to stay away
from if you can
A pretty easy course, but because of a
large project that runs throughout the
trimester the workload is high
An interesting course with three difficult
problem sets
written
written
1,5 hour written
exam
Studying at Nova is very different from what we are used to at BI, the intensity
and workload is way higher than what we are used to. For me best moments
came outside school, when enjoying a cold beer with good friends at one of the
city’s many viewpoints.