Student Report
Name of the University: NEOMA Business School
Exchange semester: Fall, 2014
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
We received all the necessary information in good time before we left. We could pick our
courses before the French students in June, and received the final information early in July.
The exchange office in Reims was really helpful and answered all our questions.
Applying for a visa
We did not need a visa or any other documents to live and study in France.
Travel
Two of us traveled from Stavanger to Paris, and spent a couple of days there before we took
the direct train to Reims. The train ride was around 45 minutes, and we arrived at Gare Centre
(in the middle of the city centre). One of us traveled from Oslo to Paris and was picked up at
Roissy Charles de Gaulle by a minibus the school had arranged. The trip lasted approx. 2,5
hours and was about NOK 500.
Housing
The international office in Reims provides the student with accommodation in student
facilities close to the campuses. Some are located 10 minutes by tram from the city center,
while other are located next to the train station in Reims city center. There are also some
located at different locations in the city, which you can apply for. One should be aware of that
the trams stops at 00.30, so after that you have to take a taxi back to the student housings from
the city.
Two of the students shared an apartment close to the city center, at the St Thomas stop. We
rented this through airbnb.com, which worked very well. This is a known and secure site,
where you can rent apartments for long-term and short-term.
One of us shared an apartment with two French girls in the city center. Le Bureau de
l’international at Neoma BS helped me find the room available.
Costs (approximately)
Rent
3000 NOK
Books
0
NOK
Food
3000
NOK
Transport 400
NOK
Other
1500
NOK
Culture and language
There are a lot of people in Reims that does not speak English, so it helps you a lot to know
some words in French. But both the students and faculty members speak decent English. In
the classes that we had there was some French student, which were at the same English-level
as the rest of the class.
The school organizes language courses in French for the students every week. The classes are
divided into two parts based on your previously knowledge. They also organize a lot of trips
to places like the Christmas market in Strasbourg, Disneyland and Amsterdam. Since Reims
is located at the heart of the champagne region it is also easy to travel around with TGV or by
car.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
NEOMA Business School is located in Reims, the “Champagne capital”, approximately 10
minutes by tram from the city centre of Reims. The school has gained accreditation by EQUIS
(European Quality Improvement System), AMBA (Association of MBAs) and AACSB
(Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) and is ranked as number 47 out of
80 top graduate business school in Europe by Financial Times (2014). By the recently merger
of Reims Management School and Rouen Business School, NEOMA Business School has the
purpose to be ranked amongst the best business schools as well as a key corporate partner.
Course registration
The semester is divided into 4 sessions that is equivalent to 6 ECTS per session. For each
session we could choose between different courses. We could choose either 1 course (6
ECTS) or 2 courses (3 ECTS each) for one session, and these courses lasted for different
length with a maximum of three weeks. The school offers several courses in different fields of
study, but emphasizes strategy, management and international business. We also had the
opportunity to attend courses taught in French, with a minimum language score equivalent of
level B2.
The course registration is online. We received the course descriptions with information of the
registration process by e-mail in the beginning of June. Then we had twelve days to select
first and second choice of courses in each session. The registration is based on “first come,
first served” basis, but exchange students get priority over the regular students. Two weeks
after registration we could check if our selected courses were confirmed. Some of the other
exchange students did not choose courses during the twelve days period and had therefore a
lot less courses to choose from. It was possible to change courses after the registration
deadline. We could just contact the International Office if we wanted to make changes.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
18 September
First day of the semester:
22 September
Last day of classes:
18 December
Examination period:
End of each session
Any special events/holidays:
Fall break
Arrival
The welcome days started with an introduction meeting, where we got general information of
the school and the city, and could also get help with opening a French bank account and a
French cell phone number. However, a lot of students found it very difficult to both open a
French bank account and phone number. In the evening there was a welcome dinner in the
city center with all the other exchange students. The next day there was arranged a day trip to
beautiful Hautvillers, which is a village in the vineyards of Champagne, where we had a
treasure hunt, champagne tasting and picnic.
International Office
The International Office at school provided us with all the information we needed for our stay
through e-mail. Information about accommodation offers, registration processes, what
documents etc. to bring before arrival and information regarding the courses and grades were
given during the semester. They could also provide us with our timetables before they were
available on the school’s website.
Social activities
NEOMA Business School has a strong international focus and we were 90 exchange students
at our program. Most of the exchange students came from India and Germany, but there were
a lot of other countries represented as well. The International Student Union at school is BDI,
Le Bureau de l’International, which does a great job in welcoming all the exchange students
and providing activities and events. At the welcoming day everyone was provided with a
goodie-bag with different products and a plan for trips, dinners and get-togethers for the entire
semester. BDI also offers a buddy program, but neither of us joined this. NEOMA has a lot of
communities ranging over different fields of interests. For instance, you could pay 20 euros to
get access to every sport session at the school.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The teaching style was generally very practical and informal. We used a number of cases and
various in class exercises both individually and in groups, although group work is the most
dominating. Most teachers expect dialogues with their students during class, but it is very
relaxed. For two of our courses we had classes from 9-13 and 13-16 each day except
Thursday. Everybody at NEOMA have Thursday afternoon off. Our teachers came from
schools all over the world (England, Canada, France, USA, etc.) and most were “visiting”
teachers that only came to NEOMA to teach us.
Since we only had one course at a time lasting between two and three weeks, the workload
was intense when we had classes. However, neither of us studied during the weekends, since
most of the work was done during class. Overall, we had a lot more time off then we did at BI
and the workload was less than at BI.
Course materials
Your reading materials as these are provided to you by the school and handed to you in class,
so you do not have to buy any books yourselves. Some material is sent to you through email
or the school web page, and these are usually also provided to you in class. There were big
differences between courses, where some had close to no reading materials while others had
up to three cases a day.
You get 50 euros on your student card which you can use for printing in the library at campus
1. This is more than you need for one semester, so we did not pay anything to print.
Exams
The exams were based on the lectures, and were rarely 100% of the grade. The courses were
evaluated differently. Your grade was normally based on participation in class, presentations,
small assignments and final written exams. Cross Cultural Management had a voluntary
“Cultural Night”, where all the students went for dinner where the teacher paid for the drinks.
Library and technology
The school has two campuses where one of them (Campus 1) have a library where you can
work and print. We experienced that the library had more limited opening hours than at BI,
but there is always a lot of available seating and computers if you need to use it.
Description of courses
All courses were very practical. We got the time schedule for our courses much later than we
do at BI, but if you contact the international office they will send you it by e-mail.
We mostly took the same courses, and the practical aspect and constant use of in class
participation, group work and presentations may have been the biggest difference from BI.
IMPORTANT: From next semester, NEOMA will not have any visiting professors. Hence,
most of the professors we had in our classes will not be coming back.
Course code
& name
Master/
Bachelo
r
Exam form/
Evaluation
method
Prerequis
ites
Appro
ved as
Comments
Strategy and
value 1
Master -
- One group project
(Case based)
(presentation and
report 30%)
- Individual class
participation (30%)
None
Free Electiv
e
- Consisted of two
topics: Strategy
(80%) and
management
performance (20%)
- Very good
teacher in strategy
- Very confusing
teacher in
management
performance.
- Applied and
interesting. We
skyped with the
managers of the
companies that the
(6 ECTS, 3
weeks)
- Final written
exam (20 %)
- Final multiple
choice exam (20%)
-
-
W05E Cross
Cultural
Management
- Group
participation (25%)
with presentations
and individual
participation and
attitude (25%)
Master
(6 ECTS, 2
weeks)
W33E
Entrepreneurs
hip
Master -
(6 ECST, 1.5
weeks)
-
Master
(6 ECST, 3
weeks)
International
Performance
Management
-
- Group case
presentation (25%)
- Individual
assignment (10%)
- Two tests (25% +
25%)
- Participation
(15%)
None
- Presentations (10
% + 10% + 10% +
20%)
None
Free Electiv
e
Free
Electiv
e
- Final exam (50%)
Master -
Presentations 20%
Group report 25%
Exam 55%
None
(3 ECST, 1
week)
International
Portfolio
Management
Free Electiv
e
-
- Final exam (50%)
(open book,
internet etc. very
informal and
relaxing)
-
Marketing
B2B
None
Master -
Presentation 30%
Exam 65%
Excel workshop
5%
None
cases were based
on
-A very relaxed
course, but was a
bit “slow.”
-All work is done
during class
- “Cross Cultural
Night” (voluntary),
the teacher takes
the whole class out
to dinner and pays
for the drinks
- Fun, and
interesting
- More theoretical
then a lot of the
other courses
(teacher appeared
to have academic
background), but
also a lot of small
cases relating it
more to “real life”
- Four different
teachers
- A lot of
presentations
Free Electiv
e
-
- A lot of work and
presentations, but
not difficult
Free Electiv
e
-Large syllabus,
might be
challenging if you
have not had a lot
of finance
(3 ECST, 1
-
- Good teacher
week)
-
- Good teacher
OTHER EXPERIENCES FROM OUR EXCHANGE IN REIMS
All three visited several champagne houses (Taittinger, Mumm, Pommery) and thought it was
really interesting and fun. However, we enjoyed Taittinger and Mumm more than Pommery.
In addition we all went to Paris a few times. This is easy to reach by the train, as it is only 45
minutes away. However, book the tickets early or be flexible because prices differ a lot. We
all rented a car and drove to Brussels, and we participated on the arranged trip to Strasbourg.
Two of the students also went on a cruise, and visited Rome, Barcelona, Livorno, Corsica,
Nice, Monaco and Valencia.
We recommend doing some traveling while in Reims. You have the opportunity to have a lot
of time off depending on which courses you choose. We had one week off after the welcome
weekend before starting our courses. We also had three weeks off in the middle of the
semester and a couple of long weekends. Overall we had approximately 7-8 weeks of school
while we were here, and approximately a month off.
On a final note, how will you sum up the exchange experience?
It has been a fun, interesting and exciting experience.