Exchange Report
ESC- Rennes. Morten Myhrvold, One (1) Student Fall Semester 2004
-General information
The School is located outside the city of Rennes, the metro takes 5
minutes, and an additional 5 minutes with bus. You can also walk from the
metro stop. The Neares Neighbourhood is Villejean Universitè and the
area Kennedy. The surroundings you can see just outside the school are
quite peaceful, and not much traffic.
The School offers mostly international business courses, but they also
have the basic courses within marketing. Another line is hospitality
management.
The school has around 800 students, and at some times of the day, the
student body has grown out of the building. It could be compared to
Schougs in that sence. The divide is around 50/50 of
undergraduate/graduate. The school have an active approach to attracting
foreign students, so it is around 130 exchange students from around the
world. There are a lot of Chinese and Indian students at the school.
The graduate structure for most lines include an internship, the students
have to do this in undergraduate as well. The most “popular” graduate line
is the MBA.
Teaching Situation
The language of teaching is mostly English. They do have courses run in
French as well, but most are in English. They also have French language
and culture courses that you are required to take as a part of your
exchange there. Some of the teaching staff (only a few) has problems with
the language that they teach in, but they also have professors that have a
native English Tongue.
The level of study is a bit different than BI, since the university system is a
bit different. The business school studies start when the students have
already taken a year in “Prepa”, preparatory school. This means that 2 nd
year for them, is the first year. So the level of the courses could be
perceived lower than at BI. For student starting their 3 rd year, or in their 3rd
year, they should consider to only pick courses from the masters level.
The teaching is a mix of practical and theoretical methods, however the
courses (especially in undergraduate level) are mainly theoretical. In some
courses they even say they have a practical approach, but they don’t face
up. The courses are built up around one big lecture a week and one
smaller group work. Some courses have assignments each week to hand
in instead of the group sessions. On graduate level, they mostly use
classes of around 30 students per course.
The workload can be perceived as higher than on BI, however in some
courses the link between what you are tested in the exam and what you
are doing in the semester is difficult to see.
The professors are good at involving the students in most courses. It is
difficult to involve the French students though, since the English language
is a barrier to some.
Literature
The required literature is in English, and you have to borrow them at the
library, not the best solution to be honest, since the books are often
borrowed early. The editions are old, and limited. The courses and the
books give mostly a broad view and the courses on undergraduate are
very broad. The exam is mostly based on lectures.
The exams were written 4 hour exams. They test your memory. The grade
is often divided between class participation, a project work and the final
exam. The final exam is often 60% of the grade.
Course name:
Prereq.
Exam
(1234 finance
None
Written
Major at BI Approved as
(Common/elective/sup
pl./extra)
Finance
Elective)
The Library is very pretty. However the selection of books are not very
good. They do not have the possibility to get books from many other
places. But if works nicely to read required literature. The IT department is
terrible, they have an information system that are some of the least
thought through solutions I have ever heard of and experienced. Bring a
laptop and be prepared to leave it with the IT department for 2 or 3 days
for them to set it up for wireless connection at the school. It in classes are
used as powerpoint slides and somewhat more exciting in some classes.
2. Practical Information on the school
I received a welcoming package in late June approximately. Guide to
school, accommodation et.c. The problem with the package was that we
were supposed to select courses in May. Not very intelligent.
VISA and such are not needed since France is in the EU. However, the
passport is the only ID accepted outside Norway. Bought tickets from
Kilroy travels, and train tickets from Paris – Rennes from www.sncf.fr . A
tip is to buy the “Carte 12-25” since this gives you 25-50% discount on all
trainfares. You will save a lot of money on this since train is the best way
of getting around to nearby cities and sights.
I arrived a month before the school started to take an intensive French
language course. This helped me a lot since I didn’t have any French from
before. The school was very helpful and they have a student organization
called “Come on team”. They integrated the international students very
well. The classes started quite fast, and they ended in the start of
December. The examination period was from the 10th of December till the
22nd of December. The school makes it possible to change some of the
exam dates, so they are a bit earlier.
Integration weekend with the fresh students and almost all the
international students was nice. A good chance to get to know the other
international students and French students.
Reception was nicely prepared and the Come On team was very helpful.
Housing in Rennes is a bitch in lack of better words. The rooms and
apartments that you find easiest as an international student is overprized
and some of them are far outside the city center. The school had a
pamphlet with different housing options, so it should not be a problem.
You should be careful when choosing housing though. I paid 340 euros for
a room in the quarter Kennedy and shared an apartment with 5 others, 6
in total! Its close to the school, but you didn’t always feel safe. At the end
of the stay, the landlord deducted 80 euros from our deposit because of
cold water. Some landlords (including ours at some times) enters the
apartment without notice. This is illegal in France. The best tip is to ask
international students that have been there for one semester on arrival, or
French students. I found out later that French students often had a studio
apartment downtown of 30 square meters for the same price I paid for
living with 5 others in a dodgy side of town.
Costs:
Rent: around 300-400 euros including gas, water et.c or more.
Books: 0
Food: All up to you, a lot cheaper than Norway, and better food. The
frozen pizza is crap though.
Phone: Mobicarte from Orange is probably the best, and is a prepaid
service.
The International Office.
The person in charge are Patricia Forel, very nice lady who will go out of
her way to help you. Everything was in order. You can also send an email
to comeon@esc-rennes.fr before arrival and ask if they can meet you at
the train station on arrival. You will be receiving a welcoming information
package with all necessary information a couple of months in advance.
Social Activities
There are a lot of activities to choose from, and the comeon team is very
good at making you feel welcome. My stay was almost only a positive
experience.
Culture and language
Its possible to experience both French culture and the very special Breton
culture throughout the semester. A tip is the “interceltic festival” in a small
city called carnac in the north. Its in august and are good fun.
Cultural and Social Aspects
I learned a lot, especially from living with 5 people from 5 different
countries. You learn a lot from seeing how different cultural backgrounds
interact and reacts to different situation. The stay convinced me that
working overseas is absolutely something I want to do in the future. Also
learned that moving across borders within the EU is no problem.
.-----------Morten Myhrvold
mortenmyhrvold@hotmail.com