Università Commerciale “Luigi Bocconi” (Milan)
Names of students: Mathes Matzdorf, Alexander Bromnes, Aleksander
Nilsen and Kjetil Nikolaysen
Exchange semester: Fall 2008
1. Academic information about the school
The main building is quite old but the new building opened a few months ago is better,
nevertheless not comparable to BI standard. There is also a small gym (almost useless) and a
small football pitch (you have to pay for it).
At the school there are approximately 8000 students (600 exchange students) and therefore it
is really crowded between classes and you have to wait 25 minutes to get something to eat at
the cantina.
The courses are taught in English but it is also possible to attend Italian classes. The level
varies a lot from course to course, basically the finance courses are harder and the teachers
better as well. The workload is almost the same as at BI and the study methods as well.
Unfortunately they put almost only exchange students in the courses together so that it is
really difficult to meet locals at school in the bachelor courses, but in master courses this
depend on the course you choose.
The literature is almost the same as at BI, but one course I attended had no books or material
at all. But exams are normally based on the course literature and the slides in class.
There are some midterms in the beginning of November and special exams for exchange
students in the middle of December.
The library is not the best, ca. 300 places for a huge school, no plug-ins for computers, dirty
bath rooms, etc.. There are 50 computers and two printers for the whole school, both maybe
10 years old.
Course name:
Prereq.
Corporate Finance
Basic Financial Management
Intern. Project Finance
None
Business Strategy
None
International Marketing
None
Economics of Globalization
None
Course name:
Technology and inno. strategy
Management Consulting
Performance Measurement
Telecommunication
Prereq.
None
None
Basic accounting
None
Exam
Written
Written
Written
Written
Written
Major at BI
Finance
Finance
Finance
Finance
Finance
Approved as
EXC 2505
BOK 2501
EXC 2500
EXC 2502
EXC 2404
Exam
Major at BI
Approved as
Written
Written
Written
Written
Strategy
Strategy
Strategy
Electives
Adv. specialization
Adv. specialization
Adv. specialization
Free elective
8223 Fixed Income (advanced methods)
Prerequisite:
No prerequisites are required, however good mathematical and probability knowledge is
highly recommended.
Exam:
For Italian students the final grade is based on a mid term (which is voluntary, 40%), a final
written exam (40%) and a group work (20%). However, as an exchange student you do not
need to do the group work, hence the two exams count 50% each. %). If you should fail the
mid term, there’s no need to worry. The final exam will then count for 100% of your final
grade. Another possibility is to choose only the final exam. The mid-term period at Bocconi is
in the end of October until Mid November. We chose to use this period to write on our Master
Thesis, and thereby we chose to attend only the 100% final exam which was very tough.
Major at BI:
Finance
Approved as:
This subject is approved as an Advanced Specialization course and is taken instead of the
course Fixed Income Securities at BI (for MScFE students)
Comments:
A very demanding course, which is very theoretical. It is taught by two different professors.
There are usually very few exchange students in this course, as it is considered one of the
hardest courses at Bocconi, both according to the professors teaching it and other Italian
students. The professor recommended us to buy one book which is called “Interest Rate
Models”. We bought this book, but we never used it and we do not recommend prospective
students to buy it.
If any questions, please contact Alex or Aleks.
8188 Asset Management
Prerequisite:
No prerequisites are required, but a decent understanding of subjects from Theory of Finance
and other Finance courses at BI are highly recommended.
Exam:
There are two different exam modules, one for attending students and one for non-attending
students. Attending students will be evaluated based on the average grade from two
assignments which in sum counts 50% of the course, and the second part is a final 1 hour
written exam which counts for the remaining 50%. These assignments are group based, with
groups consisting of maximum five people. Non-attending students will be evaluated by 30%
on an individual assingment and the remaining 70% on the final written exam. We
recommend to participate in this course as attending students.
Major at BI:
Finance
Approved as:
This course is approved as an Advanced Specialization course at BI
Comments:
This course is not as demanding as the Fixed Income course. Asset Management is divided in
two sections, which is regular lectures, and one part containing lab-sessions. These labsessions aim at learning the students how to implement the concepts and theories learned in
class. The software used in these lectures is Matlab, which is an alternative to Lisrel, SPSS
and Eviews. Matlab was pretty new to us, and it took us some time catching up with the tools
and functions used in Matlab (actually we never catched up fully before the final exam). This
course is solely based on lecture notes and slides, and has no recommended or compulsory
literature. The course is taught by professor Navone which has decent language skills, though
with an Italian accent as all other professors at Bocconi.
If any questions, please contact Alex or Aleks.
8260 Financial Statement Analysis
Prerequisite:
No prerequisites are required
Exam:
There are two different possibilities when attending this course, either attending or nonattending student. When choosing exam for attending students, you will be required to
complete a group assignment (maximum 3 people per group) which takes about 2 days per
person to accomplish, in addition to a final exam which counts for about 85% of the final
grade (27 out of a total of 31 possible points). Non-attending students will have to accomplish
an individual assignment in addition to the final exam. Non-attending students need a total of
18 points out of 31 to pass the course, compared to 16 points for attending students.
Major at BI:
Finance
Approved as:
Free elective
Comments:
This course is solely based on different Accounting courses from BI. There are actually not
that many new topics. The course aims at giving the students a deeper understanding of
different accounting standards with main focus on (IFRS/ISA and US GAAP). This course
might be useful for students with Major in Finance who are planning to work as an analyst in
an investment bank etc. The learning process in Financial Statement Analysis is based on
slides and lecture notes and has no recommended or compulsory literature for attending
students. The course is taught by a female professor who has good language skills.
If any questions, please contact Alex or Aleks.
2. Practical Information on the School and the Exchange Experience
We received an information package from Bocconi in spring which contained information
about the school as well as a CD with further information. We also got necessary codes to
register for language course and ordinary courses online so the whole process was rather
straight forward.
For European citizens you don’t need a visa to stay in Italy, but you are required to register
with the authorities if you stay more than 90 days. Travel to Milan is easiest using SAS direct
flight from Gardermoen to Malpensa which is the main airport outside Milan. It is better to
book in advanced, especially your home flight just before Christmas, as the price tends to
double over time.
For the academic calendar the time of arrival depends on if you are taking the Italian language
course or not. The language course was starting the 2nd of September while the first
mandatory meeting was the 8th of September. Courses started the 10th of September. The
ordinary semester at Bocconi is normally ending in February, however special arrangement is
made for the exchange students. That means that you will have lectures all until the day of the
exam or even after. Exams for exchange students are from December the 1st until the 19th.
The reception at Bocconi was very well organized as long as everything goes according to the
standard. However if things don’t go according to plan expect a lot of time waiting and a lot
of frustration, but this does normally not happen. The international office has student
representatives in the main entrance the whole first weeks, where you can ask any kinds of
question, as well as participate in city tours and so on. The staff of the international office is
in the other hand much more difficult to get in touch with, for instance when it comes to the
learning agreement. The best is probably to postpone things as the first month is rather hectic
for them. The ordinary students are not present at school when you start the language course
so in this period the school is rather empty.
When it comes to housing there are student dorms provided by the university, but we were
advised to seek private apartments as the dorms are rather expensive for the standard. Housing
in Milan is not very easy, especially since you only stay for one semester. However the more
you are willing to pay the easier it gets, expect to pay from €500 to €800 depending on your
preference for localization and standard. To find an apartment use the Bocconi housing web
page, ordinary web pages, and the posting board at school. If you want to contact someone it
may be a good idea to get some Italian to help you to make the call. The students employed
by the international office are more than happy to help you.
Milan is considered one of the more expensive cities in Italy but compared to Norway it is
slightly cheaper. Housing will be your worst expense; food is cheaper than home, books about
the same. However what might affect your budget is your leisure time budget, which tends to
get rather high as Milan is a very vibrant city any day of the week.
There are a lot of social activities going on for the student with international party in one of
the clubs almost any day of the week. There are a lot of international students at Bocconi and
they tend to seek the same places so meeting people is really easy. If you want to meet Italian
students it is recommended to target those who have been abroad themselves since there
English is better and they also tend to be more open for foreigners. Italian hospitality is
generous so it should be no problem if you put some effort into it. An easy way to meet
Italians is by simply living with them.
When it comes to language the Italians at school are able to communicate well in English, but
the ordinary Italian is in the other hand are not very fluent and they all have a very strong
accent. It is recommended to learn a few words to get around, but you will of course manage
by pointing and waiving. The Italian culture is fantastic when it comes to food, cultural sights
and nightlife, but when it comes to administration it is almost as a third world country.
Everything takes hours and don’t expect things to solve out the first time you try. However if
you are just patient and accept that easy things that register your laptop for wireless internet
will take at least half an hour, then your fine, just be prepared. Our advice will be to limit the
contact with the administration and authorities to the absolute minimum required if you want
to avoid getting frustrated.
To experience Italy it is really easy to get around. A lot of interesting places are really close
and it is easy to get cheap tickets. The only problem is that the semester is really short so if
you want to do some real traveling you better get down there earlier. Just be aware that
August is the month when every Italian have their holiday, so don’t expect to be the only one
sightseeing at that time. Milan is also completely closed down in this period.
The cultural and social effect of going exchange is that you get an impression of living in a
different country. You will make friend from all over Europe and you will learn a lot about
different habits especially if you sign up for some courses with group exercises. Having the
international experience of an exchange semester is also probably good for your carrier as it
broaden your view on things and makes you more aware of cultural differences. Bocconi and
Milan is especially recommended.
For any further questions feel free to get in touch with us. Our contact details are:
Mathes Matzdorf
Alexander Bromnes
Aleksander Nilsen
Kjetil Nikolaysen
Mathes.Matzdorf@student.bi.no
Alexander.Bromnes@student.bi.no
Aleksander.M.Nilsen@student.bi.no
Kjetil.Nikolaysen@student.bi.no