University of Economics, Prague

Transcription

1 University of Economics, Prague Spring 2016, travel report Waltteri Thusberg,

2 I. Preparing for the exchange Because Czech Republic is a European Union country, going there is very easy. There s no need for visa or other travel documents, so you can just crab your passport and you re good to go. I recommend flying there with Norwegian, as my flight ticket was around 50 euros and it was a direct two-hour flight. The university contacted me in late October for the first time. Then I received some basic information regarding registration to courses and access to school s systems. Pre-registration period for the courses was from January 8 to January 26, the orientation week started at February 8 and the lectures at February 15. After the lectures have started, there is a oneweek period where you can still add or drop courses, so you don t need to spend too much time thinking which courses you should take in the pre-registration phase. However, it is important to register only the courses you are really taking, as all the courses you have registered are going to your transcript of records. So if you forget to delete courses you are not taking, they show up as a failed course in your transcript. I didn t have these kinds of problems, and in fact, I didn t change anything after the pre-registration phase. The school also has a very good Buddy system, which means that every exchange student will get their own local buddy who helps you to get familiar with the city and to settle down. For example, my buddy picked me up from the airport and took me to the dormitories, showed me some important places in Prague (grocery shops, the school etc.) and helped me getting my travel card. Overall, my buddy was very nice and what I ve heard, so was most of the buddies. Before going to Prague you need to decide whether to live in the dormitory offered by the school or search and find your own place. If you decide to live in school s dormitory (highly recommended), you can choose whether you want to have your own room (2 people in one flat) or have also a roommate (4 people in one flat). The rent for an own room is approximately 200 euros per month, and with a roommate half of that. I felt I want to have some privacy and decided to get my own room. I think it turned out to be a good choice, and my flat mate was also very nice. The rooms are very basic, and for example there are no ovens or microwaves, and generally cooking can be quite challenging. I recommend going to

3 IKEA as soon as possible with your room and/or flat mates to get some basic stuff, as there are no plates or anything ready. However, in dormitories it is very easy to get to know other exchange students, as it is the most popular choice for accommodation. There are two buildings where all the exchange students are placed and the buildings are in 50 meters to each other. The location is also quite good; tram 9 goes to school in around 15 minutes and to the city center in around 25 minutes. II. Studying in Prague The difficulty level of the courses most likely is a bit easier than in Aalto, but I was quite satisfied generally. There were plenty of course options to choose both in bachelor and master level, and you can pick courses freely from every department. One of the biggest differences comparing Aalto and VSE is that the groups are a lot smaller (usually 25 students MAX) and the way of teaching is much more interactive. Most likely you need to say something in classes too, which is not that common in Aalto (or at least in the courses I ve taken there). Class participation is also mandatory in many of the courses. Presentations are also common in almost every course, but the exams are usually quite easy. The professors were generally good and easy to understand, as some people from this side of Europe could have quite strong Eastern-Europe accents. I was actually quite surprised how good the professors were, and how dedicated they were in their fields. The overall level of students was also good, although I saw also some very interesting performances from some other exchange students. For example, in VSE, they take plagiarism quite seriously and check all the term papers and other assignments with some kind of plagiarism detection software, and quite many students got caught, which I found very surprising. We also had a little bit trouble with a couple of group works, which I haven t ever experienced in Aalto. I hope it serves later on as a valuable experience when working in an international environment Another specialty in VSE is intensive courses. These are usually 3 credit courses lasting 3-5 days, and exchange students are allowed to take two of these per semester, which I did. It s a good way to clear some space to your schedule and it also lessens your workload in the last weeks of the semester when the final exams take places. Normally the spring semester lasts

4 till the end of June, but all the exchange students are offered to finish their courses in around half May. Here s some information about the courses I took in VSE: 2SM411 Asia in International Relations in English, 6 ECTS, graduate level Lecturer: Radka Havlova Evaluation: Oral exam (60 %), term paper (30 %), presentation (10 %) The course was very interesting and gave a good overview about Asia and its countries international relations, their challenges and opportunities, history etc. Professor Havlova was very enthusiastic about the topic, and provided good insights to the content. The content was a bit far away from business, but it didn t bother me at all. Most of the grade comes from an oral exam, which was around 20-minute conversation with the professor from two specific topics. There were overall 40 topics, so you need to do some preparation before the exam, unless you really are an Asia expert. The term paper was around 6-8 pages and there were plenty of topics to choose from. The presentation was optional, and was necessary mainly if you were aiming for the highest grade (I wasn t). Generally, the course was very interesting and it didn t require too much work. 2SM640 Contested Boundaries in the Middle East and North Africa, 3 ECTS, graduate level Lecturer: Clement Steuer (visitor) Evaluation: Term paper (100 %) This was an intensive course, taught in five days and it was consisted of lectures and preparation of individual term papers. Although the topic was very interesting (again very far away from business), this was by far one of the most unpleasant courses I ve taken in my whole university career. Lectures were very, very boring and it was hard to stay awake there. You still needed to be there, but it was completely useless as your whole grade was based on your term paper, which could be anything that was concerning Middle East or North Africa. I really didn t get anything else from this course than the 3 credits (barely even those, because I didn t invest too much to my term paper due to lack of interest). If you find this course as one of the options, think twice before choosing it

5 2RU131 Elementary Czech for Foreigners, 6 ECTS, graduate/undergraduate level Lecturer: Anna Antosova Evaluation: Participation (30 %), presentations (30 %), mid-term test (20 %), Final exam (20 %) This course was actually very funny and also easy. Professor Antosova is a very nice older lady with a good sense of humor, and we really had fun during the course. Czech language is not that hard to study for a Finn as for example the pronunciation is very similar to Finnish (pronunciation was quite hard for example English native-speakers). The presentations were not really a presentations, you could just go in front of the class and read straight from the paper and score full points with that. Also the tests were easy if you participated to the class. It is also very useful in Czech if you can say at least something in their language, so I really recommend taking this course (two times a week) or the lighter version of 3 credits (one time a week). IP_367 Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability in Business, 3 ECTS, graduate level Lecturer: Cristophe Place (visitor) Evaluation: Participation (20 %), term paper (40 %), final test (40 %) This was an intensive course, which was taught in three days. It really was intensive, as the days were from 9.00 till and we needed to prepare an individual presentation for the last session, as well as study for the exam. For the term paper (3000 words) we had one week to do that. The visitor lecturer Place was quite interesting French guy, and we for example meditated before every session. The teaching was very interactive consisting of different kinds of exercises, that didn t necessarily relate to the course topic at all. For example, in one exercise, we needed to tell some random person how world looks like in 2030 in two minutes, and we had plenty of stuff like that. Despite this, there were quite much things relating to the actual course topic as well, so generally the experience was good. 2OP405 International Management In English, 6 ECTS, graduate level Lecturer: Zuzana Křečková Kroupová

6 Evaluation: Term paper (40 %), presentation(s) (10 %), mid-term and final exam (40 %), activity on seminars (10 %) The content of the course was very interesting and the professor seemed to be very competent in this field. We spend a lot of time comparing cultural differences of doing business in different regions and countries, which I found very interesting. Most of the participants were exchange students, so we had some really good discussions in class regarding country differences in doing business. The term paper, about 20 pages, was done in groups, as well as two presentations. Midterms were easy, and they were based on the lecture slides. Generally, I think this was the best course I took in VSE, although it required a bit of work, as there were two presentations and a quite long term paper to do. III. Free time & other useful stuff If your primary goal is to spend all-nighters with tons of case assignments, Prague will not be a really good choice for you. The courses don t require as much effort as in Aalto, and if you plan your schedule wisely, you will have plenty of free time. Prague really is a very awesome place to spend a spring, and it also offers good connections to travel across Europe. Living costs are much more less than for example in Finland, and it s quite hard to get bored in Prague. It is impossible to speak about free time in Czech Republic without mentioning beer. As a beer nation (highest beer consumption per capita in the world) Czechs take it very seriously, and indeed it is very good. And cheap. Half-liter pint costs normally more or less one euro, and even handcrafted microbrewery beers normally don t exceed 3 euros. Prague really is a top choice for beer-enthusiastic people, although I recommend to consider other factors too when deciding an exchange destination. If you like partying, you can find dorm parties literally every day. There is also a pub called Juve very near to dormitories, which is a good pre-drink place before going downtown. Buddy system also organizes Nation2nation parties every Tuesday, so if you like clubbing I would suggest trying to not take early lectures on Wednesdays. I personally don t like clubs that

7 much, and only attended to a few n2n-parties. However, n2n-parties are a good and easy way to make friends and get to know people, as these are very popular among exchange students. Public transportation in Prague is excellent and, of course, cheap. Monthly ticket for students is around 10 euros and with that you can use all public transportation freely. There are three metro lines and a very good network of trams and buses, and navigating there is easy. Trams are operating very frequently 24/7, so it s not hard to go back to Dorms from downtown, for example at 4 am in Tuesday night. The architecture in Prague is also very unique, as the city is far over 1000 years old. There are old statues and churches everywhere, and people come to see the old town from all over the world. I personally liked very much the medieval atmosphere in some places, and although Prague is quite big and modern city, it really didn t feel like a major metropolis such as other big cities in Europe might feel. For football fans Prague has to offer two top Czech teams, Sparta and Slavia Praha. When I was in Prague, Sparta was playing in Europe league and especially a game against Villarreal (Spanish top league team) was a very cool experience. At least Sparta also has a hockey team; they are also one of the top teams in Czech Republic. As said before, Prague offers good connections to other places in Czech and Europe. For example bus ticket to Budapest costs around 20 euros, and I can highly recommend visiting there too. I used Student Agency and Eurolines for my trips to there and other places, and don t have complaints about either of the firms. Tickets are easy to book online, buses are comfortable and time schedules are strict. IV. Conclusion and final comments Spending a semester in Prague was a highlight of my study career (I m saying this as a fifth year student) and can warmly recommend it. Prague is a beautiful, safe and well-located city in the heart of Europe, which can offer something for everyone. Even though the courses weren t necessarily as demanding as in Aalto, I wouldn t say that the school s overall level was

8 bad. Most of the professors were very professional with good language skills, and I enjoyed most of the courses. If you are interested exploring one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and perhaps traveling in the continent too, choosing Prague will not let you down. You will make tons of new friends from all over the world, and for me that was one of the most important things there. It was very nice to work (and party!) with people from very different backgrounds and cultures, and it served for me as some kind of eye-opener. I already miss Prague, and will definitely go back there sooner or later, which is not too hard as the flights are quite cheap and travel time is around two hours.