A. General Report Karin Smit
Host institution and study period
I studied a semester at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) at
Trondheim, Norway and I stayed there from august 7th until december 21st.
Contact with home faculty, preparation and journey
The contact with the FEB was good. They answered really quick. They also reminded us always
on time when we had to send our documents of the Learning Agreement and Erasmus. But
beforehand, that was already clear with the information on nestor and the information meeting.
For preparation it was foremost filling in the LA and Erasmus forms, the application of NTNU
and buying a flying ticket. I flew with KLM, because it is a direct flight, but you can also fly
cheaper with SAS and transfer in Oslo or Copenhagen. I arrived a few days before the
orientation week, so I had time to already settle. From the airport goes a direct bus to the city
centre and the student village I stayed.
Residence abroad
You don’t need a visa to study in Norway, but you do need a residence permit. However, this is
all arranged by the university and they will tell you about it in the orientation week.
The semester started august 18th and ended december 20th. However, the orientation week
started a week before, on the 11th. Be careful with buying a return ticket, because you can have
an exam on the last saturday, when the semester ends.
NTNU offers housing for international students, but they say that there is not enough place for
everyone, so you should apply for it as soon as you can. However, most of the students do get a
place. I got a room in Moholt, which is the biggest student village, where most international
students live and where all the parties are. I had to share a kitchen and bathroom with 3 other
people, but that went perfectly well. The rooms are furnished and I was lucky that I could use my
flatmate’s kitchen stuff, because some people had to buy them all new. Also, don’t forget to
bring a router, because you do have access to internet, but you need to bring your own cable and
if you want wifi also your own router.
The week before the semester started, was the orientation week for all international students.
You should really go there to meet a lot of new people and make some friends. You get a lot of
information about studying at NTNU, but you also do a lot of fun stuff, like hiking, a boat trip,
canoeing and there is a party at the end of the week.
Trondheim is a student city, so there are enough fun things to do. There is the
Studentersamfundet, which organizes a lot of parties, but you can also just go out in the city
centre. In the weekend entrances are really expensive, but during the week it is free. My friends
and me went out mostly on thursdays, because we had no lectures on friday. You should also
join NTNUI, the student sport organization. You can join a sport team, or you can just train in
the gym or do a groups lesson. With the membership, you can also rent a cabin which is really
cheap. I can really recommend it. You choose a cabin somewhere around Trondheim and go
there by bus, car and/or hiking. Some cabins are really hard to find, some really easy. It is really
nice to enjoy the nature. Furthermore, you can just go shopping in the city centre, go to the
cinema, a bar, theatre or the swimming pool. There’s always something to do in Trondheim, but
be aware that most things are expensive.
Furthermore, Norwegian people speak pretty good English and ofcourse you can choose English
courses, so you don’t have to worry about the language. Norwegian is also not a really hard
language, you can already understand some things without learning it. But if you want to learn
Norwegian, NTNU offers a course.
Grant
I received 250 euro’s per month from Erasmus, so a little more than a 1000 euro’s in total. You
get 70% beforehand and 30% after. I also received around a 100 euro’s per month for not using
my free traveling in the Netherlands.
Unfortunately, this was really not enough for all the expenses. Norway is a really expensive
country. The costs for the accommodation was around 400 euro’s which I found quite ok, but the
expenses on food were so much more than I was used to in the Netherlands. Also, alcohol is
really expensive. You pay between 5 and 10 euro’s for a beer in the city centre. You can buy a
bus card for as many days as you want, I payed around 180 euro’s for 4.5 months, or you can try
to buy a secondhand bike. In addition, travelling around the country can be really expensive. I
recommend hiring a car when you’re with a small group.
Because you don’t need a visa or healthcheck, you don’t have to worry about these expenses.
Study (general)
NTNU is foremost a technical university, so they don’t have a lot of economic courses. But if
you look good, there is still enough choice per semester. The only problem is that you may have
overlap in your time schedule. The courses take the whole semester. There are courses of 7.5 or
15 ECTS. Lectures started august 18th and ended a week before the end of november. Exams
started the beginning of december. The level was more or less the same as in the Netherlands,
but they are less strict with grading, so it’s easier to pass an exam or assignment. All the courses
are in proper English, so I had no trouble with the language.
NTNU has a really good International Office, you can always step by within their opening hours
or just send them an email and you will get quick response. But I didn’t even need them, because
everything I needed to do was already clear.
I had chosen the subjects Norwegian Society, Human Resource Management and Management
of Business Relationships and Networks. The first one is a 15 ECTS course, especially for
international students. You learn about different subjects of Norway, like politics, health care,
fisheries, gender equality and more. We had to write two papers and an exam. The second one is
a 7.5 ECTS course about managing human relations and we had to do two group assignments
and an exam. The last course I took, also 7.5 ECTS was about starting, managing and keeping
business relations. There was no exam for this course, but only two big group assignments.
Other information
You should really travel around the country. Norway is so beautiful and you will have enough
free time. Especially in the beginning of the semester, so start planning your trips as soon as
possible. Traveling and staying somewhere is not cheap, but you can get student discounts on the
train and bus and hiring a car with a group is also not that expensive.
I also really recommend the cabin trips, They are so cheap and you’re really get to know the
beautiful Norwegian nature.
Summary impression
I had a great time in Trondheim. The university is really good and arranges a lot for international
students. Studying was not too hard, so I had enough time to travel and get to know Norway. The
only disadvantages I see, are the prices. Norway is really expensive, so be sure you have enough
money saved and to spend.
B. Specific report
Norwegian Society
Host institution and study period
NTNU, autumn semester 2014-2015
Lectures and literature
The number of lecture weeks was 13 and we had 2 lectures a week.
The course material was the book Norway, Elites On Trial from Knut Heidar (2001).
Furthermore, there was a list of several articles and chapters from other books; some of them you
could find on the internet, some of them were in a reader you can buy at NTNU.
Overview of lecture program
Every monday morning we had 4 hours of lectures. Each lecture was 2 hours where the different
lecturers discussed a different topic within Norwegian Society. Beforehand you should have read
the articles and chapters which are to be discussed.
Contents
The course discusses different subjects which can be put into 4 main topics within Norway;
politics and economy, the welfare state, organizations and working life and family and youth.
Norway is compared to other national and international settings. The Scandinavian/Nordic
models is used throughout the course.
Lecture-related activities
We had to write 2 papers in order to be able to write the exam. You could write the papers with
one or two students or on your own. The exam was a 6 hours written exam with essay questions.
Relevance to Groningen study program
This course was not related to any course in Groningen, because it was specifically about
Norway and intended for international students.
Study load
Lectures were 4 hours a week and reading all the course material cost around 5-8 hours a week.
Writing on the paper cost an additional 8-10 hours a week (only in the weeks the papers were
supposed to be written). To prepare for the exams I studied the week before 40 hours.
Study load was not much if you consider that you get 15 ECTS for the course.
Assessment in Groningen
Course coordinator and main lecturer is Pal Erling Martinussen. But mostly every lecture was
done by another (guest) lecturer. The course was 15 ECTS.
Human Resource Management
Host institution and study period
NTNU, autumn semester 2014-2015
Lectures and literature
The number of lecture weeks was 11 and we had one lecture a week and during the semester two
times an extra lectures to introduce the assignments.
The course material was the book An Introduction to Human Resource Management by Nick
Wilton (2013).
Overview of lecture program
Every tuesday morning we had 2 hours of lectures where the lecturer discussed the topic of the
week and the chapter we had to read that week.
Contents
The course addresses central models, theories and perspectives in modern Human Resource
Management. Important parts of the course are knowledge management, performance
measurement, leadership, employee development, project management and teamwork.
Lecture-related activities
We had to do 2 group assignments in order to be able to write the exam. The exam was a 4 hour
written exam.
Relevance to Groningen study program
In Groningen there is also a course named Human Resource Management. However, this was not
in my study programme, but can be related to other courses within it.
Study load
Lectures were 2 hours a week and reading the course material cost around 2 hours a week.
Working on the assignments cost an additional 5-8 hours a week (only in the weeks the
assignments were supposed to be written). To prepare for the exams I studied the week before 40
hours. Study load was not too much for this course.
Assessment in Groningen
Course coordinator and main lecturer is Synne Bendal. In addition, Marte Pettersen Buvik and
Marius Aasprong were lecturers. The course was 7.5 ECTS.
Management of Business Relationships and Networks
Host institution and study period
NTNU, autumn semester 2014-2015
Lectures and literature
The number of lecture weeks was 10 and we had 2 lectures a week.
Course material was a long list of articles which could be found either on the internet or in a
reader you can buy at NTNU.
Overview of lecture program
Every monday and every thursday we had 2 hours of lectures. A lot of them were guest lectures.
Every lecture a new topic was discussed and the articles you are supposed to read beforehand.
Contents
The course provides insight into how companies can manage their relationships to other
companies. The subject starts with an introduction to the theme of business relationships and
networks, and how these influence the company’ s value creation, innovativeness, and
productivity. Having completed the course, the student will be capable of making analyses of,
and making decisions on, how a company can handle many different issues which occur in its
relationships and networks.
Lecture-related activities
The course has no exam, but you have to write two big group assignments which make up the
final grade.
Relevance to Groningen study program
There is not a course in Groningen which can be compared to this course. But I believe it is a
useful additional course within an economic or business program.
Study load
Lectures were 4 hours a week and reading the articles cost 6-10 hours a week. When we had to
work on the assignments there were no lectures and you did not have to read articles, so you
could use all the time for the assignments. This cost around 8-14 hours a week. Because there is
no exam you don’t use time for studying at the end of the semester. Study load was not too
much, especially because there was no exam.
Assessment in Groningen
Course coordinator and main lecturer is Ann-Charlott Pedersen, but a lot of lectures were done
by guest lecturers. The course was 7.5 ECTS.