Student report from ESC Rennes, France
Name of the university: ESC Rennes School of Business
Exchange semester: Fall 2013
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
We received our acceptance letter in May together with all practical information we
needed about the school, Rennes and living in France. The accommodation team asks
you to fill out an application form about your preference of accommodation and how
much you are willing to pay. The school has their own Well’Come team who takes care of
all the social activities and can pick you up on arrival at the train station or airport in
Rennes. We received all information from the Well’Come team in June/July. Do not be
surprised if there are more papers and documents to fill. Things take time in France.
Norwegian citizens don’t need a visa to study in France but you are required to have the
European health insurance card.
We took a plane from Oslo to Paris and then the train to Rennes. The flight time to Paris
is about 2 hours and Norwegian, SAS and Air France are flying directly from Oslo
Gardermoen Airport. The train from Paris to Rennes takes about 2 hours if you leave
from Gare Montparnasse (located in the center of Paris) or 3 hours if you take the train
from the airport (only from Charles the Gaulle Airport, where SAS and Air France are
flying to).
Housing
You can ask the accommodation team to help you find accommodation but our advice is
to also look for something on your own while waiting for answer from the
accommodation team. They didn’t find us any accommodation before beginning of
august, one in a share flat and one in a home stay, both located far from the school.
Apply and start looking as early as possible and try to find something close to school or
the city center!! The last bus/metro at night usually leaves around 1 and it is not easy to
find taxis. (There is one night bus in the weekend, but this depends on where you live)
There are many students looking for accommodation in Rennes before semester start
and it is difficult to find. ESC Rennes does not have any campus and students staying one
semester can normally not stay in student residence so the options are share flat, home
stay or studio.
Costs per month
Rent: 300 – 550€
Food: 120 – 200€
Transport: 30€
Books: 0€
Telephone: 30€
Other: 150€
Rennes is a cheap city compared to other bigger cities in France and much cheaper than
Norway. A metro card costs 30€ per month and you don’t need to buy any books at ESC
Rennes. The teachers will provide you with hands-out and all the required books are
found in the library or online. As an Erasmus student, you receive a scholarship, which is
approximately 10.000 NOK. You can also apply for CAF, which is a housing allowance
and is usually around 150€ a month. You will only receive this if you open a French bank
account. From our experience the CAF process takes time!! We advise you to start on
this right away, and have all the documents that are required with you when going to the
CAF office.
Culture and language
There are many international students at ESC Rennes and the teachers and staff speak
well English so you will not have any communication problems inside school but it is
possible you can face some problems outside school if you don’t speak any French.
Therefore we advise you to learn some basic French prior to arrival or take the French
language course before school start.
Rennes is the largest city in Brittany located two hours south west of Paris and it can be
compared with Bergen in terms of size. The city has many great restaurants and the
architecture is beautiful, with its famous medieval walls. There is a huge market every
Saturday, which is the second largest in France. Other beautiful cities nearby such as St.
Malo, Dinard and Nantes are easy to access with the train.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
ESC was founded in 1990 and is well known for being an international school. The
school is located in Rennes, the capital of Brittany. More than 1/3 of the students and
80% of the faculty members come from outside of France. There are approximately
3000 students so the school is not that big compared to BI. It is easier for people to get
to know each other, therefor, the culture and atmosphere at school is really good.
The school is located north-east of the city center. You can get there by bus, metro and
also walk, depends on where you live.
From our experience you will have classes everyday, and one session is 3 hours, with 10
minutes break after half an hour. It depends on the teacher, but most of them are really
strict when it comes to being late for class. Some teachers lock the classroom when the
class starts and you will not be let in before the break. Then you will not be able to sign
the attendance sheet. If you miss class more than 3 times you will get a warning, and you
have to talk to a guidance counselor. Some teachers also looks at your attendance when
they are giving you the final grade.
Course registration
We registered for courses online in July. You will receive a tutorial document, which will
show you how to apply. We did not have any problems with the course selection and got
all the courses we needed.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
19. August
First day of the semester:
2. September
Last day of classes:
29. November
Examination period:
29. November - 19. December
Any special events/holidays: Week of: week 44
Remembrance day: 11. November
Other:
French course at school (elective): 20. - 30. August.
Arrival
If you participate in the French language module in August you will do the registration
then, if not this will take place in the orientation week. If you are taking French courses
you also have to take a French test. You also have to take picture for your student ID. In
one of the first days there will be an IT session, which is mandatory. Here they will
explain you everything about the school’s proxy, Wi-Fi and student portal. There is
nothing much happening at school this week, but the Well’Come team will start with
their activities/events.
The International Office
If you have any questions or concerns you can always go to the Exchange Students
Assistant. All you have to do is sign up outside her door to make a reservation or you can
check if she is available at that time. She is the one that makes sure you receive all the
information you need, and from our experience she has been really helpful.
Promoting BI and Norway
Because of all our presentations and group work we did not have time to participate on
the international day, but we met some people that are going to Norway after Christmas,
and also one who are going to BI Oslo. We helped them, answered questions and gave
them the information they wanted.
Social activities
From our experience, the Well’Come team was really nice, and we got a good
relationship with them, which also helped us to meet more French students. They are in
charge of most of the activities that happens through the semester. Every second week
they arrange a party, which is really famous around the French students. They will also
arrange trips like Paris, Amsterdam, St. Malo and Disneyland. There will be a lot of
events in the start, to make all the international students feel comfortable. Event like
restaurants, picnic in the famous park Thabor and tours around the city. A while after
arrival you can sign up for a French buddy, which we really advise you to do. This will
help you to integrate more with the French students and their culture.
If you want to do something beside what the school is organizing, there is a famous bar
street in the city center called “rue de la soif”, which means thirsty street. This street will
be filled with people between Wednesday and Sunday, especially in the summer time.
There is also a few nightclubs. Besides partying, you can rent a bike (only if you have a
French bank account), go to different markets around the city center or take daytrips to
places close to Rennes.
III. Academic information
In the classroom
The teaching style at ESC Rennes is classroom-based, with classes of around 30 students.
Attendance is mandatory and you have to sign the attendance sheet before every lecture
and it is expected that you are more active in class than we are used to from BI. All
courses include case studies and/or group presentations. All lectures are in English and
many of the teachers have English as their native language. All courses are more
practical than theoretical and everything is very informal compared with BI
(information given, hands-in are normally given direct to the teacher with your name on
and so on).
There are more homework/schoolwork compared with BI and you will be kept quite
busy with schoolwork during the whole semester, not only right before the exams. You
also have to work with a lot of different groups and planning group meetings is
sometimes difficult. However, it is also a very good experience to work with people from
different nationalities.
The academic level is a little bit lower than BI and it is easier to get good feedback on
your work but as you have more to do (6 – 7 courses in total) you still have to work hard
to be on track with the schoolwork.
Because the classes are small you get a closer relationship with your teacher and other
students so the class environment is very good.
Course materials
At ESC Rennes they don’t use books and you will find all literature need online or at the
library. The teachers will also print out their Powerpoint slides, useful articles and other
necessary literature needed for the subject. It felt good to not have to spend money on
books but it was quite frustrating before the exams as we were not that sure what we
had to study. Make sure you organize all the papers given in class, as they will be very
useful when studying for your exams.
Exams
The exams were mainly based on the course material, which had always been presented
in the lectures. The exams lasted from two to three hours. The final exams (written exam
or home assignment) count normally 60% of the grade. Presentations, midterms and
class discussions count 20-40 %. No final exams counted 100% of your final grade. Your
teacher will inform what your final grade is based on during the first lecture.
Library and technology
Unfortunately, the library was closed this semester because they are opening a new
library in a new campus. The temporary library was located in the cafeteria but it was
still possible to rent books and get information in the temporary library. The technology
at the school was unfortunately also very poor. They had a computer room but we never
tried it. The printing system is quite complicated to use. The Internet is a little bit slow
which is very annoying when you have group work to do or want to do your homework.
The technology is much more complicated than at BI but once you know how it works
you are not annoyed about it anymore.
Description of courses
Each course gives 5 ECTS (French language and French culture are 3 ECTS each) so you
will have to take 6 – 7 courses to fill the required 30 ECTS.
Course code & name Master/
Bachelor
Exam
form
Approved
as
Comments
ST401 Strategic
Management
Fundamentals
Bachelor
3-hour
written
exam
Mandatory/ Mandatory from BI. A
strategy
little bit more difficult
than other courses we
took but interesting.
MO401 European
Geopolitics
Bachelor
2000word
paper
Elective
Easy and very interesting.
HR 443 Strategic
Human Resource
Management
Bachelor
3-hour
written
exam
Elective
A very good course.
ST 402 Corporate
Social Responsibility
Bachelor
3-hour
written
exam
Mandatory/ We had a lot of experience
marketing
in this from BI, so it was
quite easy.
OB301E
Entrepreneurship
and Small Business
Management
Bachelor
3-hour
written
exam
Elective
Advanced. Interesting but
a lot of case presentations.
MK401E
Advertising
Bachelor
3-hour
written
exam
Elective
Good course. Great
teacher who work hard to
make sure that the
students will succeed.
FI402E Financial
Markets & Portfolio
Management
Bachelor
2-hour
written
exam
Elective
A course about how to
make money. Very
interesting and the
lecturer was fantastic.
0LV2F1 French
Language
Bachelor
2-hour
written
exam
Elective
You will take a test before
the school starts to see
what level you are in. This
course only gives 3 ECTS
but require less work than
other courses.
FG001N French
Culture
Bachelor
2-hour
written
exam
Elective
This was an easy course
about French culture. 3
ECTS only
Project management
Bachelor
2-hours
written
exam
Elective
Strict teacher but not too
hard course.
Sum up the exchange experience?
This semester have thought us a lot about different cultures, which we will take with us
back to Norway. We have experienced a lot of challenges on our way since everything is
different and new, but this has only made us stronger. Learning how to work and
communicate with so many different nationalities is a huge benefit for further job
career.