Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

Transcription

1 Bachelor Exchange Report/ Spring Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University CONTENT: Preparing for Exchange 1-4 Courses & study experience 4-7 Final words 7

2 PREPARING FOR EXCHANGE After receiving the welcome letter via from RSM students are advised to start preparing for their exchange according to the provided information. Subjects covered in RSM welcome letter: Application and student acceptance process Applying students should note that acceptance from sending university, Aalto is not enough. RSM requires students to fill a formal online application document including means for identification. Other necessary documents to be completed and send to RSM international students office are student ID form and check list for visa/ residence permit. Before mentioned documents can be found attached to the welcome letter. Regarding visa/ residence permit however Finnish (European) students attending Erasmus program don t need to file documents, the forms are intended for students coming from non-eu countries. Aalto students don t need to worry about language tests either, as English proficiency is already proofed through program studies. After answering to all requirements applicants are promised to receive confirmation within 10 days. Course registration Before completing the course registration form attached to the welcome students are encouraged to carefully read all course information. Furthermore, prior to returning the filled form RSM international students office advices to check course compatibility with home university. Housing To students staying longer than 3 months RSM recommends looking for affordable housing options via SSH. This channel for finding accommodation however is very popular and students are told to be ready to apply as soon as SSH online reservation system opens (on the spring of 2015 registration opened 1.10.). Insurances The welcome letter establishes that no foreign students are automatically insured in the Netherlands. Students whose home country provides full cover for medical costs during their stay (European medical insurance card/ KELA), should bring with them a statement detailing the insurance terms. Otherwise, students need to arrange their insurance themselves preferably before arriving to Holland. Students coming from non-eu countries should also note that in order to obtain residence permit having a proper insurance covering illness, accidents and liability is compulsory. Medical insurances offered by Aon, an insurance company specializing in student insurance come recommended by RSM. RSM buddy program RSM holds an independent buddy program to help intergrade new exchange students. The Buddies are BSc in (International) Business Administration programme assigned to welcome

3 and introduce new arrivals to RSM student life. Each in-coming student is assigned to their buddy well before the exchange begins so that it is possible to connect early and to have the opportunity to get advice before arrival. Arrival New international students arriving at Schiphol (Amsterdam) are offered pick-up service free of charge on specific arrival dates. For these days RSM has arranged a bus dropping students off at University campus or at a requested location. If a student arrives outside of official arrival dates RSM recommends contacting buddies for help. Car/ bus ride from Schiphol to RSM takes about 1,5h, with public transport around 2h. Welcome day and introduction The welcome ceremony was scheduled this year for 5 th of January. In this first meeting all students are handed their RSM student card and welcome package. Participating is mandatory and students are expected to pay a small fee (this year 20e) for the activities. Besides the welcome letter, more information on the introduction day program is sent to students on a separate closer to the beginning of the exchange. My own experience of the application process was very straight forward. Being a Finnish student, no visa/ residence permit were needed. Completing and sending out my RSM application therefore only took me a day. The one thing I had to get done to fill in the required forms was getting a new passport photo needed for the student card (student ID form). Furthermore, no language test was necessary as Aalto students language proficiency is already proven via their studies. Aside from the application process however, all exchange students were asked to take an online language test to evaluate their level of communicative skills in English (OLS). After the exchange period students are asked to take the same test to see if their language skills have improved. Completing the online test won t take you much time, should not be hard for Aalto students and like mentioned did not affect my exchange application. Regarding the arrival, I had a special situation as I was already living in Amsterdam 6 months prior to the beginning of my exchange. I had moved to Holland the previous summer to do an internship and to live with my Dutch boyfriend. Having the experience of living in Amsterdam for half a year as well as being able to rely in a local guy to help me navigate arising obstacles and language gaps made practical matters easy to handle. On subject of travelling to RSM, I would suggest arriving students who won t be able to take the offered bus ride to see the following sites: 9292.nl (local reittiopas ) and ns.nl (site for the local train network). Both sites can be used for checking transport options based on your time of travel and end destination. The train station at Schiphol is actually inside the airport itself so you won t need to worry about finding your way there. However, to buy the ticket I suggest you reserve some coins (around 12e). Officially the ticket automates accept credit/bank cards but you may face problems, for example visa electron is not accepted. Consider buying an OV-chip card if you are living further away from the campus or otherwise plan to be travelling in NL with public transport. There are two options in buying an OV-chip card, (1) a general OV chip card and (2) a personal OV chip card. The general

4 OV-chip cards can be bought (& recharged) from ticket automats found at any train station. These cards work similar to matkakortti in Finland, you will charge money on the card for travels and save in comparison to buying single tickets (valid in busses, trains, metro & tram). Different from the Finnish system you not only need to check in but also check out, the charged fee depends on the distance you travel. Dutch students are offered free travels on weekdays but unfortunately exchange students are not applicable for any discount. If you will be using the public transport a lot consider buying a personal OV-chip card with added discount contract. The personal OV chip card can be ordered at For example, for just 50,- per year you can travel with 40% discount out of rush hour (which is between 7-9AM and 4-6PM). Also, you can set up an account on the Dutch National Railway website ( which allows you to log-in, watch your travel history, and if needed claim back money if you ve forgotten to check out (this is the case at the moment but might change soon). Getting your BSN-number soon after arrival is very important. For instance, having the personal public service number is required in order to be permitted to work and make use of Dutch health care system. International students staying longer than four months, can apply for BSN by registering with their local municipality. For the registration you have to bring the following documents: valid passport or identity card, legalised birth certificate (doesn t necessary apply to Finnish students as birth certificates are no-longer actively used in Finland: I had my BSN without providing birth certificate but needed one later for registered partnership, for this I ordered my birth certificate from Helsinki city hall), and a proof of address (for example a rental contract). Other things you may need to get sorted for practical reasons are bank account and phone contract. Bank account and non-prepaid phone contract can only be set up after getting a BSN-number! After having your BSN I would recommend to get a Dutch bank account. Makes life a lot easier when your bank card is actually accepted everywhere (foreign cards, not so much ). On the bank appointment remember to bring your official BSN-registration paperwork and passport. Only after getting the bank account you can buy a phone contract other than pre-paid (FYI if you wish to buy a contract including a phone you might need to pick up a separate form from the city hall first, which states that you are staying in the country for a longer period of time). Getting a health insurance is the last important thing to sort out, unless already insured via your home country. To get insured for healthcare (obligatory in the Netherlands) you also need the BSN number and a Dutch bank account. You can choose different types of packages for healthcare, I recommend the following website: independer.nl to compare and find different options. My experience with getting insured (necessary after deregistering from KELA because of planning to stay in NL long term) was somewhat tricky as the company (FBTO) customer service first told me I can only get insured, if I m employed in Holland. This obviously is not true and maybe the issue could ve been avoided by instead registering with AON, student insurance company recommended by RSM. After some phone calls however I finally got insured by FBTO and have been very happy with their later services. Please know, that RSM buddies and international office will help you with all the above arrangements when needed!

5 Finding housing and the necessary items was not an issue for me personally as I had already moved in with my boyfriend. For students looking for accommodation it is best to check out the links provided by RSM, otherwise I would also see the following: funda.nl (similar to etuovi.com) and marktplaats.nl, kamernet.nl, kamertje.nl, rooming.nl, or kamer.nl. The last five sites list flat rentals from people who don t want to pay real estate agencies but rather look to rent out themselves. Markplaats is also very useful for finding just about anything second hand for a cheap price (for example you might want to buy a bike)! To be able to look for a job in the Netherlands you need an EU passport, and if you re not from the EU region you ll need a working visa. If you want to be eligible to work in the Netherlands by law you need a BSN number, and a bank account (for a bank account you need the BSN number first). Bellow, are listed some good sites to search for work in The Netherlands: Randstad.nl Manpower.nl Studentenwerk.nl Bluestone.nl Recruitastudent.nl Envia.nl Susa.nl Uitzendbureau.nl Undutchables.nl - Here you can also find more info about work visa s taxes etc. COURSES AND STUDY EXPERIENCE The school year at RSM is split to trimesters first one held in the fall and the other two later in the spring. As a bachelor level exchange student in International Business Administration I was expected to complete 30 ECTs during my 2 semester long spring stay. The spring exchange officially started on January 5 th and ended with trimester examinations on week 11 and 12. The next period started March 30 th finishing with week exams. Last resits were held during weeks The course selection in my opinion was comparable to Aalto s and all IBA program studies were taught in English but significantly RSM did not provide any Dutch courses for students wanting to learn the local language. Instead, RSM arranged a course specially designed for exchange students; International Business The Dutch way. Participating students were promised to be introduced to multiple Dutch companies through lectures, assignments and company visits. Aside from courses offered by RSM students could also select studies from the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication keeping in mind the majority of selected courses still needed to be from RSM. However, RSM students applying to take a course from one of the other faculties were lower priority compared to the students of that program. Furthermore, the school of Economics and the school of Medicine did not accept any exchange students subscribed to a different faculty. The links to the courses available at the other faculties could be found on the Course Registration Form attached to the RSM welcome letter.

6 For me personally, living in Amsterdam impacted my course choices. Travelling to RSM from our house took two hours (and cost quite a bit of money even with the discount profile) so I didn t want to have to go every day. Considering the situation there wasn t such a wide selection of studies to choose from. I ended up choosing five courses from RSM IBA program and two from the Erasmus School of Communication (see below). My study plan (Course Registration Form) was then accepted by the International Students Office. For my exchange I selected the following courses: BAB18 Strategic Management 6 BAB23 Cross Cultural Management/International Case Part I 2,5 BAD14 Business Information Management 5 CM2010 Communication Management 5 BAP072 International Business 4 BAB23 Cross Cultural Management/ International Case Part II 2,5 BAD01 Innovation Management 4 CM2031 ICTs and International Development 5 Strategic Management BAB18 Total 34ECT The course followed the first-year study Strategic Business Plan focusing on business-level and corporate-level strategy. The course also went over multi-divisional and multi-national firms perspective to strategy. The teaching emphasis was on the dynamic nature of strategy, resource developing, entrepreneurship, role of leadership, and innovation. The course also recognized intangible resources such as social and emotional capital as contributors to a successful business strategy. On the side of strategy implementation, the course introduced issues of control and corporate-governance. Students were graded based on the course exam in preparation to which a course book and some extra readings were assigned. I personally found the lectures quite interesting and pleasant to listen through. The professor was very enthusiastic, grasping his audiences attention. Yet, the actual content of lectures was somewhat generic and I found that I was already familiar with most of the discussed topics. Having completed the bulk of my bachelor studies with Aalto, my previous courses had covered similar perspectives to strategy. Despite the familiarity of the subject many of the cases presented in class were to the point and helpful in building deeper understanding. Cross Cultural Management BAB23 A second year course, Cross Cultural Management handled issues related to diverse workforce such as creating cultural flexibility within organizations by developing shared understanding and by effectively navigating context-sensitive knowledge. The course considered the role of management in terms of today s increasingly diverse and dynamic business environment. The course lectures also addressed the question of global culture. The structure of the study consisted of lectures, workshops, group work and individual take home assignments. Finally, for the course exam students were expected to read a set of articles as well as a course book.

7 In my opinion the course lectures were quite good and sometimes even fun. The work load for Cross Cultural Management was though a bit high compared to my actual learning. For example a big part of the course was a group work presenting a selected country and their cultural environment. A lot of time was dedicated for this assignment but in my opinion the results did not serve study goals. On the other hand individual assignments were better related to the course and some of the provided readings proved insightful. International Business BAP072 The IB course focused on adding more international dimension to the already provided business education of RSM students. The course s second learning objective was to introduce a comprehensive overall picture of business. Content-wise, the course covered topics important to company managers strongly engaged in IB through their work. For example, IB lectures discussed external and internal frictions, business processes and structures, as well as strategic choices related to operating in an international business environment. The students final grades was based on a case assignment (done in a group) and the course exam. International Business was a course recommended to first to second year students and so the subject of IB was handled with some generalization. Concepts such as FDI, non-equity entry modes, CSR, international sourcing, outsourcing, and offshoring were though explained thoroughly. For me the interesting part of the course was mainly about emerging markets a subject also included in the group work. Innovation Management BAD01 The course Innovation Management discussed the delicate and uncertain process of turning new ideas to commercial success. The studies explained innovation organizations from the perspective of merging separate capabilities such as creativity, marketing, technology, psychology, and organizational design. Furthermore, the legal aspect to innovation was addressed in relation to patents and political to governmental regulations. The course lectures covered multiple issues related to managing innovation processes, from both strategic perspective and operational without forgetting to introduce sufficient terminology. The final grades were based on four case studies (individual) and the course exam. In my opinion the course Innovation Management was able to provide new ideas and structure to handling the subject of innovation. Topics such as portfolio management and building & managing innovative teams were proved very relatable but insightful. Furthermore, while the individual assignments required a fair amount of work they also helped to link theory into practice. Out of the four case studies I felt that three were both interesting as well as very useful to my learning process. The lectures were also well planned and the professor was able to communicate his objectives clearly. Finally, I quite enjoyed the course book and other readings as they were not just offering predictable solutions to general problems but considered the role of innovation in respect to business more precisely. Unfortunately, due to being pregnant at the time and having some related health issues I was unable to complete Business Information Management and studies at the faculty of communication which required full class participation.

8 The exchange in general was a positive experience. The university faculties were well equipped for students and the overall atmosphere was inviting. RSM stuff were helpful and other students out going. In my experience, making friends with exchange and Dutch students was equally easy. It was actually quite nice to spend a full day at the university as aside from space for study the area accommodates multiple cafes, restaurants, sports facilities and even a bar. The city centre of Rotterdam is also nearby, with good connection via public transport (metro, tram, bus) but equally close enough for students to get there with bike or even by foot. Rotterdam, to me seemed very cosy and all my fellow students were happy with their city of choice. During the spring there were many events and parties for students and even without something specifically to do the city provides plenty to see. I especially enjoyed the central area of Rotterdam Blaak. A nice spot to grab fresh take-away lunch there was the new Markthal (markthalrotterdam.nl). Moreover, even though you often might hear jokes about the Dutch weather being bad, closer to the summer it really gets warm. For those sunny days there are couple of pretty beaches just a short walk away from Rotterdam centre. In The Netherlands costs of living and everyday expenses such as food are somewhat lower compared to Finland, for example a loaf of bread typically costs about 1,3e, a beer in a bar 4e and tips are recommended to be around the level of 10%. With little planning (and possibly by taking on a part-time job) it is possible to have money left for out of school activities. All course books are available for rent at RSM but sometimes run out. The second option is to books at the Study Store (located at the faculty) but as buying here may prove a little expensive, students can also look for used ones via RSM student Facebook groups. If getting a book fails, most courses provide the possibility of buying a book summary often both inexpensive and sufficiently informative for exam preparation. Finally, based on my experiences at RSM I would recommend the bachelor exchange to other Aalto students. Mainly because the studies are well compatible with Aalto s and the professors are for the most part very good speakers, but also because of the location itself. For students wanting to travel around Europe there are few better locations to be at than The Netherlands. Flights and trains are affordable and well linked continent-wide. Rotterdam is also very cosy, big enough to have an active lifestyle but small enough to reach everything necessary without a car. The atmosphere is also very multicultural and positive towards internationals. I personally feel that doing the exchange was beneficial for my future as RSM is well respected and known to many. The studies that I completed helped me to reach better understanding of business in an international setting. However, I do wish that I had had the full exchange experience living in the campus or at least in the same city. Because of my personal circumstances I needed to work harder to stay in touch with people as well as follow the program, but on the other hand I m now more confident in my ability to overcome barriers and feel that the built relationships are of the long lasting kind.