A ) General Report:
1. Host institution and Study Period: Host institution: BI Business School, Oslo, Norway Study period from: August 12 to December 22
2. Contact with home faculty, preparation and journey
During my stay abroad I’ve contacted my home faculty for discussing my courses, and for the Learning Agreement. Contact with the home faculty is easily done by E-mail.
Before going abroad I picked my courses, the courses available will be sent to you by E-mail if you’re selected for the semester. You will also be emailed about housing, and this can all be done very easily, and all online. I can recommend to choose your housing as soon as you can, as you can still look for the cheapest/nicest places. It is recommendable to buy your flight ticket as soon as possible as this will also save you some money. Make sure to stop the product on your public transport card, as you’ll receive a subsidy for every month you’re not using it (about €100, so that’s worth it!)(Also I guess in a few years this is non-applicable). To be honest, the preparation for going abroad was super easy and simple, don’t worry about this.
The journey to Oslo itself is not very long, it takes roughly 1.5 hours of flying from Amsterdam to Oslo Gardermoen. Once you arrive at Oslo Gardermoen (which is about 30km from Oslo itself), you can either take the train, taxi or bus. I recommend you travel with the Norwegian railway company NSB, for this is the cheapest way to get to Oslo, and the trains depart about twice every hour. BI also organises buddy groups to pick you up from the airport, I don’t exactly know how it works because I arrived at night, but it seems like a good opportunity to already meet some people. Again, you will be emailed about this once you get selected. Once in Oslo you can buy a public transport card that allows you to use all the public transport in the city, this costs about €50 per 30 days.
3. Residence Abroad
No arrangements for a visa had to be made. During the introduction lecture at BI they will tell you when to fill in the application form online for the residence permit, and to deliver a scan of your passport/IDcard and insurance card at the international office at BI, you’ll also be emailed about this. So again everything is taken really good care of. Then after a few weeks you can pick up your
residence permit at the international office at BI.
I arrived at Sunday 11th of August, but some social events for exchange students started a few day earlier. I left on the 17th of December, although if you want you can stay a while longer as you will probably have no courses in January in the home university.
The accommodation will be arranged for you through the host university, they will send you an email that will link you to an online application form. Student housing is offered by both BI itself and a private organisation called SiO. The housing offered from BI is on a campus about 5 minutes walking from BI itself, the rooms are quite nice and pretty large. You’ll share your kitchen and bathroom with one other person, and the campus looks, same as BI does, quite new. The housing provided by BI is however quite expensive, about 525 euro not including gas, water and electricity. The rooms are furnished. The link below will inform you some more about it:
http://www.bi.edu/prospectivestudent/practical-information/Housing/Housing-alternatives/ Housing through SiO is cheaper, starting around 400 euro per month, including gas, water and electricity. SiO allows you to choose a room from multiple campuses, and you can choose between furnished or unfurnished rooms. Also with SiO you can fairly easily change rooms if you want. I did my housing through SiO, living in the Kringsja student village. This student village had a lot of
international students, and is at the edge of Oslo, so you’ll be surrounded by beautiful nature. The lake Sognsvann is very close and is a place where many Norwegians go for sports, as it is a cool place to go running, or just for hanging out. If you google SiO housing you’ll find all you need about the housing process through SiO.
4. Grant
The Erasmus grant was 250 euro per month, which did not cover the expenses so you’ll have to save some money before going to Norway as it is pretty expensive. The grant for the public transport (OV) amounted for 92 euros per month. Norway is really expensive so be prepared for that. Also it is useful to bring a credit card as in some shops normal Dutch bank cards do not work! Also if you want to do some trips you’ll need a credit card for the rent of a car etc.
5. Study
I took a few courses, but what I heard from almost everyone is that the courses are not very hard. They are actually pretty easy compared to the Dutch courses. Also the programme did not take a lot of time so I had enough time for travelling and doing stuff in and around Oslo. There will be an introduction week for the first year students, kind of like the Kei-week we have in Groningen, with also some introduction lectures for the international students, and some workshops which are good to meet some new people. The courses will take a full semester to complete with in the end an examination period. It differs per course when you are done, and some courses also require mid-terms, but they will send some information about this is you are selected.
Overall there is no problem in the communication. Most Norwegians speak English pretty well so that was really nice. As stated earlier, the level of education is a bit lower than in the Netherlands as the courses were not too hard.
If you want a quiet place to study you can do this in the school itself, which is pretty nice. There are multiple areas for studies. There’s also a restaurant in the school which sells pretty decent meals for a decent price.
I took the courses social entrepreneurship, in which we discussed social entrepreneurs and what actually defines it, and business methods for social entrepreneurs
Media Economics, which is about the different economic situation media companies are in.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship, about how to be innovative, and how to create your own start-up and the business methods necessary.
Project management about how to set up a project and the methods necessary to lead a good project.
6. Summary
In conclusion I would like to say that it is really cool to go abroad, I had a really good time. For Norway it is really important that you are prepared for the prices, as it is really expensive. The
registration etc for the school and housing is really straightforward and really easy, almost everything will be done for you and you only have to send a few mails, and register on some sites, which will all be explained if you get selected.
Specific Report
Course: Innovation and Entrepreneurship 1. Host institution and study period
BI Business School Oslo, 12-8-2014 till 22-12-2014 2. Lectures and literature
This course had around one lecture per week where the book for the course was discussed, and some general discussion about certain companies. In total there were 7 lectures.
The book we used was Bessant, John and Joe Tidd. 2011. Innovation and entrepreneurship. 2nd ed. Wiley, from which we had to read all the chapters.
3. Overview of lecture program Course outline
The course is organized in the following sequences: Models & Types of Innovation
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Organization
Proactive Links
Generation of Innovations
Search for & Selection of Opportunities
Implementation, Development & Commercialization of Innovations
Strategic Leadership
The preparation for this course was to ready the chapters in advance of the lectures. 4. Contents Summary
Recommended workload in hours
Activity
Hours
Participation during lectures
32
Preparation for lectures/reading literature
75
Preparation for presentations and participation in class
27
Project paper
66
Recommended total workload
200
This is the workload for the course, but you will not actually put this much time in it as it can be done much faster.
5. Lecture-related activities
For this course you will have to create a group-paper, in which you analyse an innovative company or a paper about your own start-up. You will also have to present this in class, and pitch the idea once.
6. Relevance to Groningen study program
There is a course in Groningen which also discusses entrepreneurship and I think it is pretty similar. The course itself will does not have any overlap with my own study, but it was interesting to learn how to develop your own idea into a company.
7. Study load Estimated I discusses this at point 4.
8. Assessment in Groningen
This course was approved by Kine Robertsen, the exchange coordinator, 7.5EC is obtained by completing it. Heidi Wiig Aslesen is responsible for the course.
Course: Social Entrepreneurship: 1. Host institution and study period
BI Business School Oslo, 12-8-2014 till 22-12-2014 2. Lectures and Literature
This course had one lecture every week, for twelve weeks. During the lectures we discussed the chapters of the book, and articles. We also had a few guest speakers come over, who gave presentations about their social companies.
There was quite a lot of reading for this course:
-Bornstein, David. 2007. How to change the world. Updated ed. Oxford University Press. Kap. 1. Restless people. Kap. 2. From little acords do great trees grow. Kap. 3. The light in my head went on. pp. 1-40 (First three chapters)
-Social Enterprise Alliance. 2010. Succeeding at social enterprise : hard-won lessons for non-profits and social entrepreneurs. Jossey-Bass. pp. 1-304
And:
Collection of articles:
2010. Collection of articles - ELE 3702 Soscial Entrepreneurship. Handelshøyskolen BI. - Light, Paul C. 2008. The search for social entrepreneurship. Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution Press. Chapter 1. Declaring assumptions, pp. 1-29
- Nicholls, A.. 2006. Social entrepreneurship. In Carter, S. and Jones-Evans, D.(eds.) Enterprise and small business. Principles, practice and policy.. Prentice Hall. pp 220-242
- Spinosa, Charles, Fernando Flores, Hubert L. Dreyfus. 1997. Disclosing new worlds :
entrepreneurship, democratic action, and the cultivation of solidarity. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press. Chapter 3. Entrepreneurship. The skill of cultural innovation. pp. 34-68
- Lindh de Montoya, M.. 2000. Entrepreneurship and culture. The case of Freddy the strawberry man. Swedberg, R. (ed.) Entrepreneurship. The social science view. Oxford University Press. pp. 332-355
3. Overview of the lecture program:
You had to read the chapters/articles before the lecture, as these will be thoroughly discussed during the lecture. You’ll also have to prepare a presentation on a social company.
4. Contents Summary
Introduction to the field of social entrepreneurship Social entrepreneurs
Market, state and civil society
Global movements and networks of transformation The moral in the social enterprise
Setting up a social enterprise Entrepreneurship as social practice 5. Lecture related activities
You will need to do a group presentation on a social company, but this will not be graded. Also there will be a lot of discussion of the topic in class, rather than discussing business methods.
6. Relevance to Groningen Study Program
For my own study program this course was not really relevant, but I chose it because I was really interested in the topic. If you are interested in social companies then this is an interesting choice for you.
7. Study load estimation: Recommended workload in hours
Activity Hours
Participation at lectures 24
Case work including 12 hours in classroom 36 Assignments at Internet and communication 36
Work on syllabus and readings 101
Exam 3
Recommended total workload 200
When I did this course there was no internet assignment, other than just preparing for lectures, or maybe reading something about a special company. So most of the time spend on this course will be reading and being in class.
8. Assessment in Groningen
This course was approved by Kine Robertsen, the exchange coordinator, 7.5EC is obtained by completing it. Tor Haugnes is responsible for the course.
Course: Media Economics:
1. Host institution and study period
BI Business School Oslo, 12-8-2014 till 22-12-2014 2. Lectures and Literature
There was one lecture each week, for 14 weeks, so 14 lectures total. During these lectures we mostly discussed the book, and there were a few guest speakers. This course was given by three different professors.
Books:
Doyle, Gillian. 2013. Understanding media economics. 2nd ed. Sage. 232 pages
Articles:
Picard, R. 2005: Unique Characteristics and Business Dynamics of Media Products. Journal of Media Business Studies, 2(2), 61-69.9 pages, available from http://www.jombpagecom/articles/2005224.pdf
Bakker, Piet. 2002: Free Daily Newspapers – Business models and strategies (8 pages). Available
fromhttp://www.newspaperinnovation.com/overview/files/JMM_4_3_Bakker.pdf
Picard, van der Wurff and Piet Bakker (2008): Economic Growth and Advertising Expenditures in different countries, 25 pages, available
from http://www.robertpicard.net/files/econgrowthandadvertising.pdf
Johnsen, Hallvard og Mona Solvoll. 2007. Demand for television sport. European Sport Management Quarterly. 4:7. 311-335, 24 pages.
Available from databases at the BI library.
Eisenmann et al. (2006): Strategies for two- sided markets, Harward Business Review, 11 pages. 3. Overview of Lecture Program:
The only preparation necessary for this course was to read the chapters in advance of the lectures. 4. Contents Summary:
Introduction to media economics - key characteristics of the media (Macro- and microeconomics, the firm, competitive market structures)
Public goods versus private goods (Business models for television (PSB, commercial, Pay per view) and news production (online and print))
Old and new supply chains in media – co-production with customers (Growth strategies, convergence, expansion and integration, produsage in content-driven media)
Economics of media firms - “a market point of view” or “a social policy point of view” (The advertising industry, public policy and consumer choices)
Characteristics of major media sectors (Television, print and internet)
Digital media economics (Business models, transaction cost theory, windowing, rights) The global media economics – when Mecom came to Norway (Media ownership, media
houses, technological and cultural constrains and opportunities) 5. Lecture Related Activities:
For this course you will have to write a group paper on a media company, using the frameworks and theory learned during the course. This is actually a take home examination which has to be done in 72 hours, but they will post the assignment way earlier so you have time to prepare.
6. Relevance to Groningen Study Program
I thought this course would have more overlap with my own studies but I was kind of disappointed by this course. The topic itself is interesting and so are the articles, but not all lectures were very good. This course had almost no overlap with my own courses.
7. Study Load estimation: Activity
Hours
Attending lectures
30 Preparation for lectures
45 Seminars
15 Preparation for seminars with presentations
Self-study/reading literature
80 Take-home exam
50
Total recommended use of time
200 We actually did not have to do the presentation so the study load is a bit lower than this table suggests.
8. Assessment in Groningen
This course was approved by Kine Robertsen, the exchange coordinator, 7.5EC is obtained by completing it. Mona K Solvoll is responsible for the course.
Course: Project Management:
1. Host institution and study period
BI Business School Oslo, 12-8-2014 till 22-12-2014 2. Lectures and Literature:
This course had 11 lectures, one lecture every week. This course had the biggest group of students of all my courses (about 150). The required book for this course is: Andersen, Erling S., Kristoffer V. Grude, Tor Haug. 2009. Goal directed project management : effective techniques and strategies. 4th ed. Kogan Page
There is also a collection of articles, but these were never discussed during the lecture, and were not incorporated into the exam.
3. Overview of the Lecture program:
For this course all you had to do is read the chapters before the lecture. 4. Contents Summary:
What is a project and project work Strategy and project management Selection and defining the project Time planning
Cost and quality planning
Organizational structures and teamwork Risk management||
Project leadership and management Stakeholder management
Project control Scope management Contract administration
Project completion and success evaluation
5. Lecture Related Activities
There were no lecture related activities other than reading the chapters from the book before the lectures.
6. Relevance to Groningen Study Program:
This course helps you to become more organized when doing a project. There was little overlap with my own courses, and to be honest this course was pretty easy.
7. Study Load estimation: Activities Hours Lectures 30 Reading literature 100 Case studies, exercises
60 Work on Microsoft Project
10
Total recommended use of time
200 This study load is severly overestimated. We never used Microsoft project or had any introduction about it. The literature is pretty easy to read so 100 hours is way too much. The exercises are also pretty easy to do.
8. Assesment in Groningen.
This course was approved by Kine Robertsen, the exchange coordinator, 7.5EC is obtained by completing it. Jan Terje Karlsen is responsible for the course.
