STUDENT REPORT
Name of the University: McGill University
Exchange semester: Spring, 2014
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
McGill University contacted me in September/October and asked me to fill my application
online. In the middle of October I received confirmation that I had been accepted.
Applying for a visa
I did not need a visa to enter Canada for two reasons; 1) I have Portuguese citizenship, and 2)
since my stay in Canada was for studying purposes it would not be longer than six months
and therefore it was not required. The same rules apply for Norwegian citizens. At the
Canadian border, I presented a letter from the University confirming that I had been accepted
and was enrolled as a student there. The letter can be found at Minerva (McGill student
website).
Travel
I used KLM both ways, with a connection flight in Amsterdam.
Housing
At the time of my online application, there was a section where it asks if I was interested in
being contacted by the McGill housing office. I chose yes and I was contacted late November
early December. The person that contacted me has very helpful and helped out finding the
right apartment for me. I was first offered a room in an apartment with 2-3 more others. In our
e-mail conversation I mentioned that I would prefer to live alone and she found me a studio
apartment in a Student Residence 10 minutes walk from the Faculty.
I lived at a Graduate Residence, 3464 Hutchison Street. I had a studio apartment, with my
own kitchen and bathroom. The standard was ok; the only issue was that I had to buy all
kitchen equipment such as cutlery, pots and plates.
According to other students, it is not difficult to find housing close to McGill Campus and for
the same price as the Residences.
Costs
Rent
Books
Food
4500 NOK (monthly)
5000 NOK(total)
500NOK weekly
The books are more expensive than the books required by BI. The McGill bookshop sells
used books which are cheaper than the new versions.
Culture and language
Montreal is bilingual city. In the service industry, people speak both French and English. In
the University, the teaching language is English.
Montreal is a very international with people from all over the world.
STUDENT REPORT
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Please describe:
McGill University has two campuses; the main campus is in downtown Montréal. The
Desautels Faculty is located in the McGill Campus. Most classrooms are small and can not
accommodate more than 50 students. The Faculty has group rooms that can be booked,
several computers and silent study areas. The group rooms and study areas, both silent and
non silent get full quite quickly, sometimes it has difficult to find a study place after 1 pm.
The Faculty canteen serves Asian food. Every Faculty has different food offerings at
reasonable prices.
Course registration
I could not register for my courses online, as McGill students do. I showed up at the Bachelor
Office on the first day of classes and talked to a counselor about what courses to choose. I had
read at McGill website about the courses description and at Minerva the schedules of each
course. I also asked the counsellor for advice since I was unaware the level of some classes.
They seem to be flexible if you need them to. There was only one course I wanted to enrol
that I was not able to, because it was full. The add/drop period lasts between 2-3 weeks, after
that it is not possible to change any courses. I had a specialization in Finance and I needed to
take two courses in Finance, which I did.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
Any special events/holidays:
Other:
3rd January 2014
6th January 2014
11th April 2014
14th April
29th April
One week holiday in
the semester
Arrival
My local Faculty organized an informal event where food was served in order for the
exchange students to socialize.
The International Office
International Students are required to pay a health care insurance of around $1 000. Some
students are exempted from this. Norwegian students or students with social security rights in
Norway staying less than six months in Canada are exempted. The only contact I have had
with the International Office was to deliver the papers asking for the exemption. The reasons
students have the exemption is because the Government of Quebec has an agreement with
some countries providing health care coverage for students from certain countries. Students
need to apply at the régie de l'assurance maladie du Quebec to obtain coverage and deliver the
proof than you have been awarded health coverage; otherwise you are obliged to pay their
health insurance.
STUDENT REPORT
Promoting BI and Norway
I was not involved or asked to participate in any activity that promoted BI.
Social activities
The student’s background at McGill University is very international. In some class, I would
say that over 50% of the students are non-Canadians and are not exchange students either.
They are international students that choose McGill to complete their Bachelor. In every class
there are different people, the environment in class was good.
There was an organization that organized at least one weekly event for exchange students
attending McGill. These events were very popular among the exchange students. There were
also some events which purpose was to join all the exchange students attending the biggest
universities in Montreal.
In the classroom
The average classroom has between 20-50 students. I have not been in any class where there
were more than 50 students. McGill has a more practical and informal teaching style. After
some weeks, the teachers know every student by their first name.
The workload is different than at BI. Throughout the semester there is a more continuous
workload, there are individual assignments, group assignments to be delivered. On average, I
delivered between 2-3 projects every week (including individual and group assignments).
Many group assignments will be presented to the class. There are more group presentations
than at BI. The final exam is worth between 30-60% of the final grade.
The quality of the teachers is quite good. I found most of my lectures very interesting. My
favorite class was Management of Small Enterprises, if you are interested in starting a
business or just interested in managing one it was a very usefull class.
Course materials
Most classes relied mainly of the course material taught in class and the book was more of a
resource. In Managing Globalization the class was taught using case discussions as a start
point.
The final grade is divided between: individual assignments, group assignments, midterm, final
exam and participation/class attendance grade. In most classes the participation/attendance
grade was bases not on the student’s participation in class but rather attendance.
Library and technology
The Main Library is the building next to Desautels Faculty. There are plenty of computers,
group rooms and silent areas to study. The Library offers an extensive online database, as well
as statistics software. They also have some Bloomberg terminals, which I extensively used.
Description of courses
Course code & name
FINE 442- Capital
Markets and
Institutions
FINE 441 –
Master/
Bachelor
Bachelor
Exam form
Comments
Individual assignments
Midterm
Final exam
Bachelor
4-5 Individual homework
Interesting class for those who
like finance. It focuses on how
to manage a bank and the use of
derivatives to reduce risk
exposure in banks.
This class had the highest
STUDENT REPORT
Investment
Management
Group assignment
Midterm
Final exam
BUSA 464 –
Management of Small
Enterprises
Bachelor
MGPO 469 –
Managing
Globalization
Bachelor
ORGB 423- Human
Resource
Management
Bachelor
Individual assignments
2-3 Quiz
Business Plan (group
assignment)
Final exam
2 group assignments (2
pages)
Group work with
presentation (8 pages)
Quiz
Individual assignment
Individual Research Paper
Group assignment
Midterm
Final exam
workload. Very interesting
class for students interested in
pursing a career in how to
advise clients in their
investment decisions and stock
analysis.
Teaches how to start and
manage a business. It has one of
my favourites classes. I have
learned a great deal about how
to start and manage a business.
As the start point, it uses cases
to start a class discussion on
three main topics.
Macroeconomics, Strategy and
Social policies.
Discusses human resource
management, focus on the
Canadian reality, which is quite
different from the European
reality.
On a final note, how will you sum up the exchange experience?
Montreal is a very interesting and international city. There are several universities in Montreal
which attracts Canadian students as well as international students.
It was interesting to experience another teaching, smaller classes and more contact between
teachers and students. There are more of presentations as well as class discussions than at BI.
There are also more group works, so adapation is required when working with different
people with different working cultures. The evaluation style is also different from BI. There is
a more continuous evaluation and the final exam counts between 25-60% of the final grade.
And in some cases, there is no final exam.
Montreal is close to Quebec City and relatively close to Toronto, Niagara Falls, New York,
Boston. I travelled to Vancouver, New York and Boston while in Montreal.
The exchange also allowed to study and work with people from all over the world with
different backgrounds. I am not sure how my exchange will affect my career opportunities,
but as a student I did gain more international experience and I have studied in one of the best
universities in the world as McGill University has been in top 25 of the best universities in the
world.