Erasmus Report, Autumn Semester Uppsala University Joy Sieval

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1 General report Host institution and exact dates of semester abroad The host institution was Uppsala Universitet () and the dates of their autumn semester in were August 31 st, 2015 until January 17 th, Contact with home faculty, preparation and journey As an Erasmus student, I was allocated a contact person from the International Office in Uppsala. Overall, my contact person, Sara Hurtig, was quick to respond. Moreover, the information was complete and basically all my questions were answered if I had them via . Also, if I needed information about courses in the faculty she was there to help me. As far as preparation, Erasmus requires much paperwork. However, it is clear what you have to do and when you have to do it. Once you start working on it, it is not that much anymore. But, be sure you start on time, it might be the case that it takes a while to get your paperwork done. It was relatively easy for me, since the contact was quite good with. The flight from Amsterdam to Stockholm Arlanda is about 1,5-2 hours. The airport Stockholm Arlanda is between Stockholm and Uppsala. It takes you about 20 minutes by train or 40 minutes by bus to get to the central station in Uppsala. It is not hard to find information on the airport about the journey from the airport to Uppsala. Moreover, there are some days at the beginning of the semester that Uppsala University will arrange transport for you from the airport to the place where you can pick up your keys/arrange internet/get to know more new students. After this, they can take you to your accommodation. I used this and it was very useful! Residence abroad There was nothing I had to arrange in terms of visa or resident permit, since I am an EU student. I just booked my flight and went! I arrived on the 21 st of August and flew back on the 18 th of December. I didn t go back after Christmas break, although my courses were still ongoing. I could finish my courses from home, because I had to hand in a take home exam which I could hand in online. Overall, it is pretty expensive to live in Sweden. General living costs, buying a bike in the beginning, going to IKEA et cetera. I definitely spend more per month than I would do in Groningen. The accommodation only was around 415. About the accommodation, this was arranged via the university. In May, there was a deadline for applying for accommodation. There were certain locations you could choose from, and you could rank them in order of your preferences. Personally, I lived in Flogsta. Here, there were many studentflats, so many students were living together in one place. In Flogsta, you have your own room and bathroom, but you share the kitchen with 12 other students. The key to my accommodation was provided at the reception on the 21 st of August. As mentioned before, there were two days when the university arranged this for new international students. At this reception, you were provided all the information needed about internet, your accommodation et cetera. Also, an opportunity to meet other new international students of course. This brings me to the introduction week. The first 1

2 week I was in Uppsala, there were many activities planned by different student nations, the student union and the university. This is your first introduction to the student life in Uppsala. At these activities, you will meet many new students and you will get acquainted with life in Uppsala. The student life in Uppsala is great! There are 13 nations, which have their own buildings and activities. You can/have to join one nations, and here you will get discounts and get into their club nights for free. You are also free to go to other nations of course, but then you might have to pay a small fee to enter the building on a night out. Next to parties, the nation s offer breakfast, dinner and/or lunch, priced at a decent student price. Moreover, they offer internet from the university and places to study. They also introduce you to the Swedish culture, since you can celebrate for example Lucia in the nations. They also offer a place where you can work voluntarily /involuntarily (depending on the nation), which also gives you a great opportunity to meet new people. The language of instruction at the university is English. You will also find that the Swedish people are very skilled in English. Communication hasn t been a problem in Sweden for me, luckily. Grant - Amount I received 270 per month as an Erasmus grant. Moreover, since I didn t use public transportation in the Netherlands, I got about 100 per month from the government. The grant will of course help you cover your expenses, but it won t be enough. At least, it wasn t for me. The rent was already 415 per month, and next to this you don t want to watch your expenses too much when you are studying abroad. For me in Sweden, there weren t any costs for visa and health check costs. However, living expenses as food are more expensive than in the Netherlands. And of course, it depends on your personal preferences if you would like to travel in Sweden and Scandinavia, so this are also costs to keep in mind. Study (general) Everything university related was very well arranged. I could get all the information about possible courses on the website of the university. The Autumn semester officially started 31 st of August, and ended 17 th of January. This semester consisted for me of two periods. The first period the courses started August 31 st and ended October 30 th. The second period, the courses started November 2 nd and ran until (officially January 17 th ) January 10 th for me personally. It is depended on the courses if they require an examination period, or take home exams. Overall, the Department of Business Studies was organized very well. In my opinion, the level of education was good. I think there is a good fit between the level of education at the university of Uppsala and Groningen. There are many study facilities, such as the university library which is situated at a beautiful spot in the city centre. Also, there are libraries for each faculty and department. The International Office of the is also located centrally, it can be reached easily. You can drop by if you need any help with arranging your studies and the university. 2

3 Summary impression Overall, I would definitely recommend going abroad to Sweden, and more particular. The Swedish people are very nice and kind in general. Uppsala is a beautiful, typical Swedish city. The city is very student-oriented, which makes is a great place to study. The university is well-organized, and the level of education is good. The subject I took were interesting, with a different perspective than most of the courses I had in Groningen. This different perspective made it even more interesting. The communication with the university staff was very good. I always got a fast and complete reply to my questions. Specific report Entrepreneurship, 7,5 ECTS The host institution was, Department of Business Studies and the study period for this course was week in In general, there were 2 lectures of each 2 hours per week. In total there were 10 lectures/sessions for this course. The compulsory readings consisted of articles, cases and assignment either found online or presented to you in class. I had to buy one case, this was around 15. The lectures were called sessions, and for almost each session there were some assignments to read and/or cases. The sessions were mostly interactive, meaning there was room for discussion. Before each session, there is about 1 hour of preparation. In the course, both the theoretical frameworks regarding entrepreneurship are being discussed as well as more practical implications. Because of the cases, and for example the guest lecture, the practical approach comes into play. The course tries to teach you all the many different facets of entrepreneurship and what you have to deal with as an entrepreneur. In total, there were 2 group assignments. These assignments were cases, where you had to recommend a course of action. As the final exam, there was an individual written assignment. You could choose from an academic paper, a business plan or a biography of an entrepreneur. As far as I am aware, there are no comparable courses at the University of Groningen. This course was very different from any other course I had. This made the course refreshing and interesting. 3

4 The lectures, including preparation before each lecture was about 6 hours per lecture week. Discussion and preparation with other students took about 1 hour each week. Working on the group assignments was around 4 hours in total. Working on the individual paper took around 20 hours. The lecturers were Katarina Blomkvist and Philip Kappen and I obtained 7,5 ECTS. Added Value This course made my programme at the University of Groningen more diverse. Management, Analysis and Action, 7,5 ECTS The host institution was, Department of Business Studies and the study period for this course was week in For this course, there were around 2-3 lectures per week, each lasted about 2 hours. In total, there were 4 seminars which each took around 30 minutes. The books on the reading list were the following: Bazerman, M.H. & Moore, D., 2012, Judgement in Managerial Decision Making (eight edition). John Wiley. Hand, D.J, 2007, Information Generation. How Data Rule our World. Oneworld Publications. Hand, D.J., 2008, Statistics. A very short introduction. Oxford University Press. Moreover, before each lecture there were about 2-5 articles you had to read. Next to this, the seminars also required you to read up to about 5 other articles per seminar. Here a list of the subjects of each lecture: Lecture 1: How we decide how we act Lecture 2: From cognition to action: From Novice to Expert, From Mind to Machine. Lecture 3: Data (Big and Small0, Knowledge and Action. Lecture 4: Management Intuition and Social Cognition: cognitive mistakes, part 1. Lecture 5: Cognitive Mistakes, part 2: risk. Lecture 6: Sorting thing out making distinctions: Tools for thinking: Modelling (visualizing): framing, naming and relating. Lecture 7: Tools for Thinking and Action. Lecture 8: Predictions, probability and creativity in analysis and action. Lecture 9: Ethical & Moral decision-making. Lecture 10: Analyse: process and performance. Lecture 11: Design Science: Nudge. 4

5 The preparation of each lecture consisted of reading the articles and chapters of the books. This took about 5 hours before each lecture if you did read all the articles. Before 3 out of 4 seminars, an assignment had to be made, which also required 5 hours of preparation in readings. After doing the readings, making the assignment took about 2-3 hours. Also, the assignments of some fellow students had to be reviewed, which took about 1 hour. The course together as a whole was focused on decision-making. Each subject of each lecture was focused on this. During the course, we looked at different facets of decision-making. We looked at for example the data side and the cognitive side of decision-making. Generally, all the articles and the readings complemented the subjects and allowed you to dig deeper into the subject. Moreover, I was really surprised by how up-to-date most of the articles were. This made it even more interesting. The following activities were required in order to complete the course: Three individual seminar assignments Three individual mindmaps related to the lecture subject One oral examination (seminar 4) One individual paper as written exam In Groningen, there is no course in my program that is this much focused on decision-making as a process and the social implications. The lectures, including preparation took about 8 hours a week. The assignments took also 4 hours a week. The lecturer of this course was Jan Lindval, and I obtained 7,5 ECTS. Added Value This course provided me with a different view on the decision-making process. Business Strategy, 7,5 ECTS The host institution was, Department of Business Studies and the study period was week

6 This course was on Tuesday, the whole day from The day was separated in parts: diagnostic test, working in teams on the case, case presentations. The literature was the book Crafting and Executing Strategy by A. Thompson. 6 LabDays that were linked to 2 chapters in the book. Before the labday you had to read and learn the chapters in order to make the diagnostic test sufficiently. Also, you had to read the case carefully beforehand. During the labday you worked on the case with your team and prepared a presentation. Then, each team presented their view on the case. The course is about all the important aspects concerning strategy crafting and executing. The book follows a systematic approach to this and the course also follows this approach. Different theories are presented that are important in strategy crafting and executing. As mentioned, each labday had a diagnostic test about 2 chapters. And during the labday, you worked on a case with your team. With your team, you were also required to write a group paper about a recent issue in strategy crafting and executing. Finally, there was also a written exam at the end about the book chapters. This course was complementary to my study program in Groningen. Many of the theories were already known, but they were integrated in the perspective of strategy. The labdays were 8 hours a week. Preparation before the labdays took around 4 hours a week. Moreover, the group paper required 5 hours of work. The lecturers were Leon Caesarius en Jukka Hohenthal and I obtained 7,5 ECTS. Leadership, 7,5 ECTS The host institution was and the study period was week Each week, there was 1 lecture that lasted 2 hours. There was also 1 seminar, which was also 2 hours. Compulsory reading: Leadership by P. Northouse and Moral Mazes by R. Jackall. Moreover, each week you had to read about 3 articles that could be found online. 6

7 The course followed the structure of the Leadership book of P. Northouse. This book covered different leadership theories, so these were discussed each week. The articles that had to be read were complementary to this. The course is about leadership and the different theories surrounding this concept. Each theory is discussed in the book, articles and seminar. Also, the implications of the different theories and leadership styles are thoroughly discussed. Before each seminar, each group had to prepare some questions about the subject of the week. One group had to prepare a presentation about the book chapters and the articles. Also, the course required you to write a group paper and an individual paper as written exam. In my program, there is no course that looks into the concept of leadership. The lectures were 2 hours a week, as well the seminars. The preparations for the seminars in reading were around 4 hours a week and working on the group assignments were also around 4 hours a week. Writing the individual paper took about 20 hours. The teacher for my seminar was Konstatin Lampou and I obtained 7,5 ECTS. Basic Swedish, 7,5 ECTS The host institution is, and the study period was week There were two contact moments per week, which both lasted 2 hours each. So, 4 hours a week. The literature was provided by the university at the cost of around 15. The course started with learning the Swedish alphabet, then gradually learning to speak and read it. This course taught the basics of the Swedish language. In the end, you were able to understand normal conversations. 7

8 The course consisted of the seminars and the written and listening exam. As this is a language course, it is not really relevant to the study program in Groningen. However, I learned to understand a language, which complements my international program. For me personally, I was working on this course 6 hours a week including the seminars. Studying for the exam was about 4-6 hours in total. The teacher was John Dolve and I obtained 7,5 ECTS. 8