Erasmus rapport Stockholm University, School of business. Autumn 2014

Transcription

1 Erasmus rapport Stockholm University, School of business Autumn 2014 Tamar van Drie S Student business administration March 2 nd 2015

2 Host institution and exact dates of semester abroad In the autumn semester 2014 I studied at the Stockholm university. The Stockholm business school was the faculty for business and has its own campus close to the main campus. The semester started at 23th of august till 16 th of January. Stockholm university was my second choice for study abroad but my preference for the first and second choice was almost equal. My first choice was Lund university and my third was Tampere in Finland. I was so excited that I was selected for the Stockholm university and couldn t wait to go there. Contact with home faculty, preparation and journey The department of economics and business Groningen organised a couple lectures about study abroad. These lectures provides all students with information about studying abroad. They informed me with all the deadlines and criteria that you need to know. I would recommend every student to go there. Also if you re not sure if you want to go abroad. After the selection there was another lecture with information and deadlines before going abroad. Nestor provides the information for the Erasmus papers and the paperwork for other grants. There wasn t a lot preparation necessary. I filled in all the paperwork for the Erasmus grant and send my course application to Stockholm university. The university provide housing for exchange students so I also signed up for housing. Unfortunately there weren t enough housing places for all students so I didn t get housing from the university. We got a long list with useful websites that we can use for finding a place to life. I signed up for a couple of websites but it was very hard to find something when you aren t in Stockholm. For the first week I booked a hostel and I was sure that in a couple days I found a place to life. When I arrived it was harder than I thought. The other preparation that I did was buying a plane ticket, buying an insurance that covers me for 5 months living abroad. AON is an insurance company special for students who are going abroad. To inform myself about the Swedish culture I bought the lonely planet of. I was flying from Schiphol airport and paid 220 round trip with KLM. Booking a round trip in advance was cheaper than buying a single ticket. Residence abroad. Since I am citizen of the European union a visa arrangement of residence permit was not necessary. I arrived on 22 of august and stayed till the 16 of January. I didn t go home during this semester. Other students did go home during the Christmas break. I didn t receive housing from the university so when I arrived in Stockholm I stayed in a hostel for the first two week. The hostel was full with other students who didn t get housing from the university. Finding a place to live in Stockholm is very hard. I send more than 200 s and only got 2 house visits. I uses blocket.se to find an apartment and the people who respond to my s the told me welcome in the nightmare of Stockholm. The housing office from the university organized a lottery for rooms that were still available. I wasn t lucky so still homeless. Finding a place to life in Stockholm was very hopeless and after 2 weeks I was willing to pay almost 850 a month for rent. After the previous lottery there were still a couple rooms available so there was again a new lottery and this time I was the lucky one. They offered me a room in Lappis. This is the main campus in Stockholm. The room was perfect for on semester. Every room had its own bathroom and a shared living and kitchen. In total I had to pay around 1700 for the whole semester. You have to pay this in advance.

3 If you really want to go abroad to Stockholm make sure that you have enough money because it isn t sure that you get housing from the university. Some other students had to find a place on their own and paid more than 1000 for rent of lived far away with an old lady. The first week there was an introduction for the whole university organized by the student union. This was well organized and I participated in most of the activities. The Business school had its own introduction. It started on the first day with a lecture about the most important things for the courses and life in Sweden. They also organized a buddy program. All the students were divided in smaller groups with three buddies. For the first 6 weeks they organised 2 or 3 activities a week. This program really helped me to make new friends and after 6 weeks we had a big group of students to hang out with. The business school was the only faculty that organized such a big introduction period. Other faculties only had one week or day for introduction. Life in Sweden is wonderful. Swedes are very open towards internationals and were willing to help you. I felt really welcome and save during my stay. The lifestyle is very calm and clean. The one thing I really like in the Swedish culture is Fika. This is a coffee break during the day with friends, coffee and something sweet. In the whole city there were many cute places for fika or a good lunch. The city itself is so beautiful. Especially during the summer it is beautiful. The combination of the 5 different island, nature and water makes it perfect for people who love to live in a big city and who loved to be in the nature. In the beginning of the semester we had many BBQ and picnics in a park or a cute beach in the middle of the city. The nightlife in Stockholm is also nice, but it is different than in the Netherlands for example. It starts very early with pre drinks and around 11 pm we went to the clubs. There are two types of clubs over there. In Ostermalm it is more fancy and high class and in Sodermalm it is very trendy and hipster style. Also for going out you need a lot of money on your bank account. Stockholm is a beautifully city and has many culture activities. I had a travel book 100% Stockholm and my goal was to finish all the things in the book before going home and that was great to get to know Stockholm very well. Also renting a bike of buying your own bike makes it even better to get to know the city better. There are many words that are similar to our language what helps you to understand most of the things. But the swedes are in my opinion the best non-native English speakers in Europe. So not speaking the language isn t a problem. The university offers a free language course to learn the basics of the Swedish language. Grant - Amount One week before I left the Netherlands I finished with all the paperwork. I found out that I forgot one specific paper. After one month abroad I received my grant. I received 895 and this is 70% of the total grant. Sweden is an expensive country so this year the Erasmus grant was higher than the years before. It is 250 extra a month but I spend all the money for rent because I had to pay this in advance for the whole semester. All the information that I received during the lectures and information on nestor was enough. When you re back from your exchange you have to write a report like this and fill in some last papers to receive your last 30% of the grant. Life in Sweden is very expensive so if you want to enjoy your stay and not want to worry about money bring enough with you.

4 Grocery shopping: Be aware that grocery shopping is twice the cost of your groceries than in the Netherlands. Especially meat and alcohol is more expensive than at home. But Lidl also exist in Stockholm which is less expensive than other supermarkets. Average cost a week: sek. Alcohol is very expensive and you can t buy wine of beer in the supermarket. There is a special shop were you can buy alcohol. System Bolaget is this shop called. (70/80 sek for the cheapest white wine) Travel cost: For the public transport you have a SL card. It is the same as the OV chipcard as we have in the Netherlands. I charged the card for 3 months and that cost 1500 sek and you can travel all around Stockholm every day and every hour. I made a of city trips, Russia tour and Lapland holiday. In total I spend a lot of money but it was all worth it. Scanbaltexpress organise lots of student trips that are not very expensive. I really recommend to travel with scanbalt. Russiatour: 330 Lapland: 420 Living: As I already told in the accommodation description I spend around 1700 euro s for rent. This was average for the rooms offered by the university. People who didn t get housing from the University spend much more. Study (general) In total I followed 4 courses (7,5 ECTS) at the Stockholm business school. All the information was very clear in the introduction lecture by the exchange coordinates. The semesters in Sweden exist of 4 periods. Each period another course. Sometimes you can have a course that will take 2 periods. After every period you had an exam. In Sweden you can compensate your grades of the exam with the one from papers of attendance during class. Sometimes you already pass your course before taking the exam. The level of education is not very high in Sweden. It was lower than I expected. The teachers that I had last semester were a bit boring and lectures weren t very interesting. All the coursers were in English and all the teachers spoke it very well. So language wasn t a problem at the university. If you needed more information about courses or other relevant information wasn t hard to get. All the staff from the university was very helpful and knew a lot. The student-association from the Business school was very active. They organized a lot. In the beginning of the semester we had the buddy program. This period was full of activities to meet new people. There was one for exchange students and one for Swedish students. Sometimes the activities were mixed so a good opportunity to meet swedes. Summary impression. This semester was the best semester in my life so far. I would really recommend Stockholm for going abroad. The culture is really nice and the city is one of the best in Europe in my opinion. There is also a lot to explore in Scandinavia that is not well known yet. Also the Stockholm university is well organised. Not all the courses were very interesting but the work load is very low. There is plenty of time to explore Stockholm and its surroundings. Only housing is a serious problem so take that in mind.

5 Advice/suggestions for academic staff. I really hope the academic staff can improve the housing situation in Stockholm. This was really stressful in the beginning. In my opinion it is unfair that some students have to pay lots of money to rent a room, because the university can t provide housing for all students.

6 Specific report Autumn 2014 I studied at the Stockholms university, School of Business. This semester started the 2 nd of September and was finished on the 16 th of January. In this report I will tell more about the courses that I followed. fashion Marketing Lectures and literature: There were two lectures and one seminar each week. The teacher organized two guest lectures related to the main ideas of the course. The course book that we used was Fashion-ology: an introduction to fashion studies by Kawamura (192 pages). Several articles were used for extra information in this area. Overview of lecture program: Lecture Content 1 Course introduction 2 Fashion marketing - a consumption perspective. 3 The fashion system. 4 Trend 5 Fashion marketing - a firm perspective. 6 Sustainability problems and challengers in fashion industry, 7 Guest lecture: Editor in Chief Martina Bonnier, Damernas Värld. 8 9 Summary session Each lecture in the week has its own subject. For the seminar meeting we had to write a paper about a fashion brand. Every week we had to write a paper related to some articles. With the recommended articles we had to answer some questions and linked to the selected fashion brand. The teacher wasn t very severe so it was easy to get maximum points for the paper. Contents: The focus of the course was on the nature and complexity of the fashion industry related to producers, creators, retailers, the fashion media and its consumers. Another focus was the contemporary role of fashion production in relation to retailing from a structural and relational point of view. Speed and diffusion of trends relation to the issue of manageability is also a topics in this area. Other topics in this area are sustainability in the fashion industry and the segmentation strategies where customer complexity has increased both from a local and international perspectives. Lecture related activities:

7 The lecture related activities were the guest lectures and the papers that we had to write for the seminar. Relevance to Groningen study program: This course is relevant for my study program, because it were more subjects in one course. The supply chain was an important topic in this course and marketing too. Normally you have a more overall course about those subjects but now it was focused on the fashion industry. With the focus on a specific industry is it easier to understand all the theories given in marketing and operation courses. Study load The study load for this course wasn t high compared with some courses at the university at home. Lectures: 4 hours a week Seminar: 2 hours a week Preparation group work: 2 hours a week Selfstudie: 4 hours a week (week before the exam 6 hours.) Total study load: 12 hours a week Assessment in Groningen In this course there was one teacher that was responsible for the grades, lectures and seminars. There are 7,5 ECTS to obtain in this course. International marketing Lectures and literature: There were two or three lectures and one seminar each week. The teacher organized two guest lectures related to the main ideas of the course. The course book that we used was International Marketing by Ghauri, Pervez and Cateora, Philip R. (2014) (600 pages). Several articles were used for extra information in this area. Overview of lecture program: The first subject in this course was the cultural, political, legal, technological, economic and geographic environments. Another subjects were strategic issues of foreign entry, marketing operations and transnational management. During seminars we had to develop and implement strategies for any organisation intending to compete globally. Each lecture in the week has its own subject. For the seminar meeting we had to present a case from the book. Each team had to present one case, organize one discussion about a case and write a paper about another case. The class was a mix of students from all over the world what makes it very interesting for this course. Contents: The next topics are coffered in this course: - Political, economic, legal and technological environments - Geo-political regions and emerging markets - Researching, data sources and screening of markets - Cultural issues in negotiations and purchasing - Market-entry alternatives and contingencies - Product, service, branding and packaging decisions

8 - Global supply chains, logistics and distribution channels - Cross-cultural advertising and marketing communications - Pricing, financing and purchasing power in markets - Organisational control and strategy implementation - Ethical issues in sourcing, management, communication Lecture related activities: The lecture related activities were the discussions during the lectures and seminars with students from all over the world. Also the teacher has a very international background. This helped to understand the content of the course better. Relevance to Groningen study program This course is relevant for my study program, because marketing is an important focus in my bachelor. This course increase my view on marketing because it has its globally focus. My course is more focused on a national view so this makes it more interesting. Study load The study load for this course wasn t high compared with some courses at the university at home. Lectures: 4/6 hours a week Seminar: 2 hours a week Preparation groupwork: 4 hours a week Selfstudie: 10 hours a week (week before the exam 6 hours.) Total study load: 22 hours a week Assessment in Groningen In this course there was one teacher that was responsible for the grades, lectures and seminars. There are 7,5 ECTS to obtain in this course. Business ethics Lectures and literature: There were two or three lectures and one seminar each week. The teacher organized two guest lectures related ethical topics. The course book that we used was Business ethics by Crane & Matten (2010) (800 pages). For the final paper we had to use Inside Arthur Anderson Shifting values, unexpected consequences by Squires (2013). For other papers we had to use recommended articles. Overview of lecture program: Lecture Content 1 Roll-call, introduction, group division 2 Ethical theories (Ch. 1-5 Crane & Matten), introduction dilemma case 3 Application of business administration (ch.6-9, Crane & Matten) 4 Application of business administration (ch.9-12, Crane & Matten). Introduction to assignment on practical application

9 5 Guest lecture HM, Hanna Hallin, on HM s work on sustainability 6 Guest lecture Ethix, Ulrika Hasselgren, on sustainable responsible investments 7 Reflections and discussions on the guest lectures 8 Introduction to Arthur Andersen case Each lecture in the week has its own subject. For the seminar meeting we had to prepare a case. Each week it had a different theme. Attendance during this course was very important. It also influences your grade. During this course you had to write an ethical diary where you explain some decisions that you made during this course. Contents: This course introduces the main ethical theories to business practices and related issues such as CSR and SRI, Sustainability reporting and more. The quest lectures provide a glimpse of what is going on in the practical world. The main idea behind writing your diary leads to a better understanding of the ethical theories. Lecture related activities: The lecture related activities were the discussions during the lectures and seminars, guest lectures from companies in the real world and writing your ethical diary. Relevance to Groningen study program This course is relevant for my study program, because this course is also in my program. By mistake my LA was approved. But it is a very interesting topic. Study load The study load for this course wasn t high compared with some courses at the university at home. Lectures: 6 hours a week Seminar: 2 hours a week Preparation group work: 6 hours a week Selfstudie: 15 hours a week (week before the exam 6 hours.) Total study load: 29 hours a week Assessment in Groningen In this course there was one teacher that was responsible for the grades, lectures and seminars. There are 7,5 ECTS to obtain in this course. Real estate management Lectures and literature: This course was spread over two periods so total amount of lectures and seminars was spread out. There wasn t a fixed scheduale for the lectures each week. In the first week there were 2 or 3 lectures during the week. In the first period there were also three calculation seminars to practice some financial calculations. In the second period we had three seminars were we had to prepare 3 assignments.

10 The course book that we used was Real Estate Finance and Investments by McGraw and Hill (2010) (800 pages). The teacher also recommended some articles. Overview of lecture program: Lecture Contect 1 Introduction Ch. 1, 3, 9 Legal Concepts, Leases and Rents 2 Ch. 2, 4, 9 Financing Mortgage Loans 3 Ch. 11, 12 Taxation and Financial leverage 4 Ch. 10 Valuation of Income Properties 5 Ch. 10, 11 Valuation of Income properties cont. 6 Ch. 9 & 13 in B&F, Risk, Development and Real Option Analysis 7 Ch 16 & 17 in B&F, Valuation, Architecture 8 Ch. 12, 15 Financing Corporate Real Estate 9 Ch. 7 & 22 in B&F, (pp ), Residential Real Estate & Rent Control 10 Examples and Wrapping up Each lecture in the week has its own subject. For the calculation meetings we were working on some calculations with the whole class and the teacher was willing to help us when necessary. For the seminars we had to prepare three assignments with different subjects. In these calculations we had to use the calculations that we learned during the calculation seminars. The assignments were very difficult in my opinion. Contents: The focus in this course was on exploring the relevance of the objectives of real estate management in the context of the link between theoretical perspectives and practical decisions that investors in real estate are faced with. It includes the fundamental principles of real estate investments, financing and valuation Lecture related activities: The lecture related activities were the calculation seminars. Relevance to Groningen study program This course wasn t relevant for my study program, because I am in the business and management track and accounting isn t a relevant topic in this course. It will fit better in the accounting track. But it was nice to do some calculations again. Study load The study load for this course wasn t high compared with some courses at the university at home. Lectures: 6 hours a week Seminar: 2 hours a week Preparation group work: 5 hours a week Self-study: 12 hours a week (week before the exam 6 hours.) Total study load: 25 hours a week Assessment in Groningen In this course there were two teacher responsible for the grades, lectures and seminars. There are 7,5 ECTS to obtain in this course. obtained.