University of Nottingham, Malaysia campus Lisanne Eeltink S

Transcription

1 University of Nottingham, Malaysia campus Lisanne Eeltink S

2 A General report 1. Host institution and exact dates of semester abroad My host institution was the University of Nottingham in Semenyih, Malaysia. I left the Netherlands at the first of September to travel for a bit before the semester started. Officially, the semester started at 20 th of September, but a week before that date there is one day where you have to register at the International Office which takes like half an hour. The semester finishes in the beginning of December, however, than I had three weeks of study weeks and then exams started. The last exam was on the 16 th of January. 2. Contact with home faculty, preparation and journey Contact with my home faculty was good, especially in the beginning I had a lot of contact with my program coordinator because I had to change my courses when I arrived so I needed him to agree on. Mostly I got within two days an answer. My preparation costed me time, but not too much. I had to get vaccinations and a new passport. Besides that, I had to fill in a lot of forms for the host university. I had to hand in a copy of my passport (every page in it), an approval to study in Malaysia, an accommodation form, the student income exchange form, module form, and a few more documents. However, I took a lot of time to choose the courses I wanted to take, which I cannot recommend to do since the chance you will change the courses you are going to follow is really huge. So the best thing you can do is look for a bit and choose some of the courses and then when you arrive look more deep into it. An important thing to note is the fact that they might tell you that you have to do a health check and get particular vaccinations you actually don t need. This is only for international student which stay longer than one semester, but sometimes they mixes this up with exchange students which only stay for one semester. 3. Residence abroad The arrangement of the visa took a lot of time, because the system is going really slow. However, they improved it during my time in Malaysia, so it is possible everything goes a little faster nowadays. I had to fill in a few forms and send some photos and then they told me I had to wait to be approved by the immigration service of Malaysia and then I would get my so-called VAL. However, I only got an that it was approved, like one day before I left to Malaysia, and I never received the real documents. But this did not cause any problems, because I showed the at the immigration at the airport and I got a stamp for one month and within that month the university would give me my real visa. Beforehand I had to go to the Hague for a single entry visa. Once I arrived at the campus I had to hand in my passport and I got an official document that the immigration service in Malaysia had my passport. After one week I got my passport back with a student multiple entry visa. However, my visa was quite expensive in comparison with other universities. I paid 310 euros for my visa. I lived during my exchange at the campus of the university. Since it is a relative small university with only 3000/4000 students which is located in a small town near Kuala

3 Lumpur all of the students live at campus or a five minute walk from campus. I would recommend to live on campus since all of the exchange students live there and it is really nice to be close to your friends and hang out with them. Also the accommodation is relatively cheap in comparison with the Netherlands. I paid 850RM which is, dependent on the exchange rate, between euros, and that was the most expensive room. I had my own bathroom, a desk, a bed, a closet with air-conditioning and a fan. Obviously, you have to pay extra for the air-conditioning dependent on how much you use. Also, which is really nice, you only have to make an appointment and then your room gets cleaned for you. The rooms are quite new and also clean. It was a good choice to stay on campus during my exchange. Also, I really recommend to take the most expensive room since you will think that it is only 2 square meters bigger but these rooms are located in the new halls and they are clean and nice. The smaller rooms are located longer at campus and they are a bit old and not so clean anymore. Some of my friends chose for the cheaper rooms which looked fine at the pictures, but they did not know that the expensive rooms are newer. When I arrived at campus with my friend it was the 7 th of September and there was no one yet. Only a few people arrived yet which were a few exchange students and a few people which had to take a resit exam. We departed after one day to travel more and we came back Sunday 13 th since Monday the 14 th was the registration day where you have to register yourself as a student. Here you get more information about the introduction week and how to choose your modules. Since it is an Islamic country and thus and Islamic university, the introduction is not like we know it. The introduction week is not particularly for exchange students, but also for freshers. So, I went to one of the activities they arranged for new students, and in my opinion it was quite lame. We did games like we were 12 and we were at a party. So, I did not attend the further activities which were all quite the same. However, I met all my friends during the first week (14 th of September) just because you can see which people are exchange students and which are not. Although all the people who are study there are very nice and always in for a talk. With my new friends we went to party in one of the rooms of my friends and drank there. Officially, this is not permitted, but if you do not cause any troubles and no one is annoyed by you, it is possible to drink and party with your friends in your room. We did this quite a lot during the week. The student life is different in Malaysia then in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands you get to know people on parties which they did not have here. However, since it is a private school there are a lot international students who all go to parties. It takes two hours by public transport to get to the city centre of Kuala Lumpur to a bar and going back to campus we always took a taxi which costs around 4 euros per person for a drive of 45 minutes. The atmosphere at campus is really chilled because everyone is always nice to each other, it is not difficult at all to make new friends. Most of the time we did go out in Kuala Lumpur and we went to a nice backpackers bar (Reggae mansion hostel, rooftop bar definitely a recommendation!) and sometimes we went to the bar street where are a lot of different bars. There are also really big clubs and high sky bars which are nice for once in a while, but you really have to dress up and sometimes you have to show you ID which was sometimes difficult because some of my friends were under 21. Since I only had lectures on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday I was able to make a lot of trips through the country. Mostly I did one week staying on campus and go clubbing and one week making a trip. I went with my friends to Penang, Langkawi,

4 Singapore, Pangkor, Phuket, Koh phi phi, Perhentian Island and a few more. Travelling through Malaysia is easy and cheap. Since we did not have much time in the weekends we mostly flew which cost around 40/50 euros depending where you are going. By bus is cheaper, which is around 5 euros for a trip of 5/6 hours but it takes a lot of time and you never know how long it exactly takes due to traffic and how many times the bus stops. However, the busses are really nice and big so you have a lot of space. I had a lot of leisure since I only had 7 times a week one or two hours lecture and thus much free time to do whatever I like. I joined the hockey team together with my friends and that was really cool. The university has a lot of associations and thus you can join for example sport associations. I played twice a week hockey. Furthermore, they have a gym and a swimming pool you can use for free which is also nice. The university campus has a lot of facilities which can help you with your studies but also to spend your free time. Also, the new halls (which are the expensive rooms) do not have a facility to cook which is not bad since it is more cheap to eat at the food court of the campus. In Malaysia they speak Malay and also English. It is really nice that they speak so good English in comparison with other countries in Asia so you can communicate good with other people. 4. Grant I received the Marco Polo grant from the university which is in total 800 euros. 400 euros for the flight and 100 euros per month. 70% of the amount you get beforehand and 30% after the exchange. It was nice to get an extra amount of money which I could use for example for my flight ticket or for my visa. The overall living expenses abroad are less than in the Netherlands. My room was much cheaper than in the Netherlands and also food is much cheaper. However, because it is an Islamic country there is a 300% tax rate on alcohol, which makes alcohol more or comparable to the prices in the Netherlands. Moreover, I had to take a few vaccinations beforehand, I already had hepatitis A and B, so I did not have to get them again, I got DTP and typhoid. But mostly your healthcare is covering a part of the vaccinations so it won t cost you too much extra. Travelling around in Malaysia won t cost you too much since you always go out for food so during travelling you also do that, only you have to pay for buses or flight tickets and a hostel. Overall, of course you will spend a bit more money on travelling since this is a life time opportunity and you definitely should travel around the country during your exchange but since food and living expenses is cheaper you could use that to travel. 5. Study (general) As I said before the best thing to do is to look a bit into the courses they offer and choose some of them to follow and once you arrive choose the courses which you definitely are going to take. The first two weeks of the semester are the so-called

5 shopping weeks. You can go to different courses to look what the course is about and if you are interested in taking the course. After two weeks you have to hand in your definite form of courses you are going to follow. The first week of lectures was the week of 20 September and the semester takes 13 lecture weeks. However, most of the courses only have 10/11/12 lecture weeks so you will have sometimes some time off, mostly in the last week. After 13 lecture weeks there is a study break of 3 weeks where you should supposed to study, however, it is also Christmas so I took it as a chance to travel with my parents through the country. After those three weeks there is a two week exams period. The organization of the study program in Malaysia is overall really good. There is one woman, Ms. Prem, which is in contact and I had a lot of questions and every time I ed her she replied within one or two days. She always knew an answer and she helped really good with all the problems we faced. There are not as many study facilities at campus as we have in the Netherlands. They have a library and other spots where you can study but in most places there is not much space. However, most of the people study there during the evening/night so during study weeks you will find a spot to study. I took two courses on entrepreneurship, an course on Islamic economics, a math course, an organisation course on economics and a course on the Malaysia economy which I will explain later on in this report. 6. Summary impression of the study period abroad and any advice/suggestions/tips for students or academic staff who will be involved with the host institution in the future. It is a really great opportunity to go on an exchange and Malaysia is definitely a nice place to go to. Most people don t think about Malaysia when they want to travel through Asia but I can really recommend it. It is really hot every day, around 30 degrees, which is sometimes a bit humid and annoying but overall it is really nice. A tip I have is try to travel as much as possible and make sure you don t have exams you have to take in the Netherlands, like I did, because then you can travel after exams in Malaysia for two more weeks.

6 B Specific report (Separate report for each subject) 1. host institution and study period University of Nottingham, Malaysia campus. Study period: 14/09/ /01/2016 Entrepreneurship and business (level 1 course) 2. Lectures and literature One lecture a week of two hours (12 weeks) Four seminars of one hour In week four there were 3 articles which were recommended to read. Furthermore there was a book you could use, but it was not needed. 3. Overview of lecture program Every week one lecture in which you got more information about the topic. Useful for the project we had to take. In four of the thirteen weeks there was a seminar in which we learned how to do the project and to work on our project. 4. Contents The course presents a formal analysis of entrepreneurship in theory and practice leading on to a consideration of creativity and business concept generation. The course concludes with the practical application of these theories and concepts in business planning and business concept presentation 5. Lecture-related activities Individual essay which counted for 55% Group project which counted for 35% Four times a learning barometer which counted for 10% Presentation of the group project in the end (8 minutes). 6. Relevance to Groningen study program In the Netherlands there is a minor about entrepreneurship but further I don t think there is a course related in the Netherlands. At least not in my study. 7. Study load Study load was not much. The essay took me a few days to write and the project also took at the end a bit of time. Around two hours a week. 8. Assessment in Groningen Mr. Wong was the lecturer and the ECts you could obtain where 10, which are 5 ECts in the Netherlands.

7 Islamic economics (level 1) 2. Lectures and literature Officially there were 10 lectures of 1,5 hours, but due to family problems of the lecturer we had 5 lectures of three hours. Officially there were 2 seminars, but we did not have them. No compulsory reading. The slides were needed to learn for the exam. Only a few articles were used in the lectures. 3. Overview of lecture program Module Overview Lecture 1: Review the Syllabus, Introduction to Islamic Economics Lecture 2: Fiqh and its application to Islamic Economics Lecture 3: The concept of distribution of income and wealth in Islam. Lecture 4: The process of trade and business in Islam. Lecture 5: The roles of the Islamic state. Lecture 6: The concept of money from Islamic perspectives. Lecture 7: The concept of money, monetary policy and Islamic finance. Lecture 8: Extremum Solutions in Economics from Islamic viewpoint Lecture 9: Islam and Economic Development Lecture 10: Review and Issues in Islamic Economics Lecture 11: Revision 4. Contents This module aims to emphasize the practical relevance of Islamic economics through combining the implicit economic insight of jurisprudence (Maqasid al-shariah) and relevant mainstream economic theory, thereby yielding a coherent discipline of public moral policy. Students will gain an insight into how Islam can be considered as a universal system that can be applied to economic policies, business strategies and government regulations. Ultimately students will gain a unique perspective into how and why Islamic values contribute to a dynamic understanding of and contribution to the international business climate. This subject will also arm students with the skills to understand and apply the elements of Islamic economics to economic and business policies. Recommended Readings: Ayub, M. (2007). Understanding Islamic Finance. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. (MA) Chapra, U. (2010), Islamic Economics: What It Is and How It Developed? Sheikh Ghazali, Syed Omar and Aidit Ghazali (2010) Islamic Economics and Finance, Publisher: CERT Ahcene, L. (2010). Shariah Aspects in Business and Finance. INCEIF, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 5. Lecture-related activities An essay about a topic in the economy which you had to compare with the Islamic approach towards it. Counted for 25%.

8 6. Relevance to Groningen study program There is no course related to this course in the Netherlands. 7. Study load One lecture per week and I studied around three days for the exam. 8. Assessment in Groningen Mr. Aunz was the lecturer and I could obtain 5 dutch ECts for it. Quantative methods (level 2) 2. Lectures and literature One lecture of two hours per week. One tutorial of one hour per week where a test of the topic of that week needed to be done. 3. Overview of lecture program Lecture Outline and Workshop Schedule The following is a guide to the order in which the material will be covered. The equivalent page numbers from the two source text books are provided for ease of reference. The material will be taught continuously so some topics will overlap lectures. The module covers two parts: Part A: Further Topics in Hypothesis Testing 1. Tests of difference in means 6th edition, Newbold, pp Note for a review of hypothesis testing, please read: Newbold, pp ; th edition: Newbold, pp Note for a review of hypothesis testing, please read: 7th Edition, Newbold, pp ; Chi-square tests of independence 6th edition, Newbold, pp , th edition: Newbold, pp Tests of the Variance 6th edition, Newbold, pp th edition: Newbold, pp Part B: Further Topics in Mathematics 1. Applications of Integration 5th edition, Jacques, pp th edition, Jacques, pp Matrix Algebra 5th edition, Jacques, pp th edition, Jacques, pp Constrained optimisation 5th edition, Jacques, pp th edition, Jacques, pp

9 4. Difference equations 5th edition, Jacques, pp th edition, Jacques, pp via 4. Contents This module covers a number of statistical and mathematical techniques that have important applications in economics, finance and management. The syllabus builds directly on the material covered in QM1b and so you may find it useful to review your notes from that module. As with all quantitative modules, much of the material is cumulative, i.e. each lecture builds on what has come before. Hence, it is very important that you attend all lectures and workshops so that you do not fall behind. 5. Lecture-related activities Every week a test of which the average of 8 tests counted for 20% 6. Relevance to Groningen study program This course is relevant to mathematics and statistics in Groningen. 7. Study load Every week I prepared my test in two hours by summarizing the lecture. I studied 3 days for the exam by practicing exercises. 8. Assessment in Groningen Dr. Seow and mr. Myint were the lecturers. I could obtain 5 ECts for this course. Economics of organisation (level 1) 2. Lectures and literature One lecture of two hours per week. More articles per week which were supposed to read. 3. Overview of lecture program The main book for the course is: Brickley, J., Smith, C. and Zimmerman, J., (BSZ) (2004), Managerial Economics and Organizational Architecture, McGraw-Hill, Boston Introductory - Douma S. and H. Schreuder (2002) Economic Approaches to Organizations, 3rd edition, Financial Times/Prentice Hall - Earl P. and T. Wakeley (2005) Business Economics: A Contemporary Approach, 1st edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin - Fitzroy, F., Z. Acs and D. Gerlowski (1998) Management and Economics of Organisation, 1st Edition, Prentice-Hall More Advanced

10 - Besanko, D., D. Dranove, M. Shanley and S. Schaeffer (2007) Economics of Strategy, 4th edition, Wiley - Milgrom, P. and J. Roberts (1992) Economics, Organization and Management, 1st Edition, Prentice-Hall - Neilson, William (2007), Personnel Economics Pearson, Prentice-Hall - Lazear & Gibbs (2009), Personnel Economics in Practice, Wiley. Main Readings: Lecture 1. Organizational Architecture - Brickley, J., Smith, C. and Zimmerman, J., (BSZ) (2004), Managerial Economics and Organizational Architecture, McGraw-Hill, Boston, Ch Besanko, D., Dranove, D., Shanley, M. and Schaeffer, S: Economics of Strategy, 3rd edition, Wiley 2004, ch 17 (esp ) Lecture 2. Decision Rights: the level of empowerment - Brickley, J., Smith, C. and Zimmerman, J., (2004) (BSZ), Managerial Economics and Organizational Architecture, McGraw-Hill, Boston, Ch Besanko, D., Dranove, D., Shanley, M. and Schaeffer, S: Economics of Strategy, 3rd edition, Wiley 2004, ch 16 (esp ) - Milgrom, P. and J. Roberts (1992) Economics, Organization and Management, 1st Edition, Prentice-Hall, ch 3 (esp ) and ch 9 (esp ) - Fitzroy, F., Z. Acs and D. Gerlowski (1998) Management and Economics of Organisation, 1st Edition, Prentice-Hall, ch 8 (esp ) Lecture 3. Decision Rights: Bundling tasks into Jobs and Subunits - Brickley, J., Smith, C. and Zimmerman, J., (2004), Managerial Economics and Organizational Architecture, McGraw-Hill, Boston, Ch. 13; - Besanko, D., Dranove, D., Shanley, M. and Schaeffer, S: Economics of Strategy, 3rd edition, Wiley 2004, ch 16 - Douma S. and Schreuder H. Economic Approaches to Organizations, 3rd edition, Financial Times/Prentice Hall 2002, Ch 8 - Earl P. and T. Wakeley (2005) Business Economics: A Contemporary Approach, 1st edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, ch 10 (esp ) - Milgrom, P. and J. Roberts (1992) Economics, Organization and Management, 1st Edition, Prentice-Hall, ch 16 (esp ) Lecture 4. Reward System: Incentive Compensation and agency theory - Brickley, J., Smith, C. and Zimmerman, J., (2004), Managerial Economics and Organizational Architecture, McGraw-Hill, Boston, ch 14, 15 - Besanko, D., Dranove, D., Shanley, M. and Schaeffer, S: Economics of Strategy, 3rd edition, Wiley 2004, ch 14, 15 - Milgrom, P. and Roberts, J. (1992), Economics, Organization and Management, Prentice-Hall, ch 6, 7, 8 (esp ), 12 - Douma S. and Schreuder H. Economic Approaches to Organizations, 3rd edition, Financial Times/Prentice Hall 2002, Ch 7

11 - Fitzroy, F., Z. Acs and D. Gerlowski (1998) Management and Economics of Organisation, 1st Edition, Prentice-Hall, ch 12 (esp ) Lecture 5. Reward Systems: Attracting and Retaining Employees - Brickley, J., Smith, C. and Zimmerman, J., (2004), Managerial Economicsand Organizational Architecture, McGraw-Hill, Boston, ch 14 - Milgrom, P. and Roberts, J. (1992), Economics, Organization and Management, Prentice-Hall, ch 10 (esp ) and ch 11 (esp ) Lecture 6. Evaluation System: Individual Performance evaluation - Brickley, J., Smith, C. and Zimmerman, J., (2004), Managerial Economics and Organizational Architecture, McGraw-Hill, Boston, Ch Besanko, D., Dranove, D., Shanley, M. and Schaeffer, S: Economics of Strategy, 3rd edition, Wiley 2004, ch 15 - Milgrom, P. and Roberts, J. (1992), Economics, Organization and Management, Prentice-Hall, ch 12 (esp ) - Fitzroy, F., Z. Acs and D. Gerlowski (1998) Management and Economics of Organisation, 1st Edition, Prentice-Hall, ch 8 (esp ) Lecture 7. Evaluation System: Divisional Performance Evaluation - Brickley, J., Smith, C. and Zimmerman, J., (2004), Managerial Economics and Organizational Architecture, McGraw-Hill, Boston, Ch Milgrom, P. and Roberts, J. (1992), Economics, Organization and Management, Prentice-Hall, ch 3 (esp 79-83), 16 (esp ) Lecture 8. Evolution of the Firm and Evolutionary Economics - Earl P. and T. Wakeley, Business Economics: A Contemporary Approach, 1st edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2005, Chapters 8 (esp ), - Besanko, D., Dranove, D., Shanley, M. and Schaeffer, S: Economics of Strategy, 3rd edition, Wiley 2004, Chapters 1 and 13 (especially pp ) - Douma S. and Schreuder H. Economic Approaches to Organizations, 3rd edition, Financial Times/Prentice Hall 2002, Chapters 10 (and also Chapter 11) - Boulding K. E. (1981) Evolutionary Economics, Beverley Hills: Sage Publications - Nelson R. R. and Winter S. G. (1982) An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (especially Chapter 5) Lecture 9. Economics of Organisational Change - Brickley J. A., C. Smith and J. Zimmerman, Managerial Economics and Organizational Architecture, 3rd edition/4th edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004, Chapter 20 and Douma S. and Schreuder H., Economic Approaches to Organizations, 3rd edition, Financial Times/Prentice Hall 2002, Chapter 6.

12 - Senior, B. and Fleming, J., Organizational Change, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall, 2006, Chapters 1, 2, 5 and 6. Lectures 10 Organisation of Labour and Production - Brickley J. A., C. Smith and J. Zimmerman, Managerial Economics and Organizational Architecture, 3rd edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004, Chapter 23 - Earl P. and T. Wakeley, Business Economics: A Contemporary Approach, 1st edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2005, Chapter 5 - Fitzroy F, Acs Z & Gerlowski D (1998), Managerial Economics and Organisations, Prentice Hall, 1998, Chapters 13 and 15 - Pruijt, H. (2000), Repainting, modifying, smashing Taylorism, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 13(5), pp Edwards, D. K. (1996), Practical guidelines for lean manufacturing equipment, Production and Inventory Management Journal, Vol. 37(2), p. 51 (5 pages) - Inman, R. A. and Brandon, L. D. (1992), An Undesirable Effect of JIT, Production and Inventory Management Journal, Vol. 33(1), p. 55 (4 pages) 4. Contents Organisational Architecture, Decision Rights, Reward systems/incentives, Individual Performance Evaluation, Divisional Performance Evaluation, Evolution of the Firm and Evolutionary Economics, Economics of Organisational Change, Organisation of Labour and Production. 5. Lecture-related activities Exam which counted 100% 6. Relevance to Groningen study program Probably there is a course which covers a few topics of this course, but probably in business administration. 7. Study load I learned a week for this exam. Two hours per week lectures 8. Assessment in Groningen Dr. Lee Yoong Hon, Jason. I would not recommend this course. It is quite boring and the chance that you score high on this course is low since the exam is essay based and at this university it is hard to get above 70% which is a 9 and for this course it is already hard to get above 60% which is an 8. Corporate entrepreneurship (level 2) 2. Lectures and literature every week lecture of 1 hour

13 three times a tutorial of one hour - Number of lectures and seminars per week; number of lecture weeks - Compulsory reading list, specifying number of pages (per section). 3. Overview of lecture program 4. Contents This module aims to develop an understanding of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation management and an appreciation of how larger firms can be redesigned to be more entrepreneurial, flexible and innovative. 5. Lecture-related activities Writing a paper on corporate entrepreneurship which was the grade for the course as well 6. Relevance to Groningen study program It is nice to learn something about this topic since it is not in my program. 7. Study load Every week a bit preparation for the assignment which was supposed to handed in three times so you got feedback. 8. Assessment in Groningen Mike Mustafa. 10 ECts in Malaysia, so 5 ECts in the Netherlands.

14 Malaysian society and economy 2. Lectures and literature One lecture of two hours a week Two seminars of two hours 3. Overview of lecture program Every week a new part of the Malaysian economy. the main subject was the East Asian currency crisis and the influence on Malaysia 4. Contents To learn more about the economy and society in Malaysia. 5. Lecture-related activities One paper of 3000 words needed to be written for the course. This grade was the grade for the course. 6. Relevance to Groningen study program It is about the economy in Malaysia so it is related to my program and with some new information. 7. Study load Every week two hours lecture and every week 2 hours work on the assignment (at least that was what I did so I did not have to make the assignment in one day in the end) 8. Assessment in Groningen Mr. Yan. 10 ECts in Malaysia, so 5 ECts in the Netherlands.

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