Aalto University School of Business Exchange Report Exchange report Universidad Torcuato di Tella/ Buenos Aires

Transcription

1 Exchange report Universidad Torcuato di Tella/ Buenos Aires

2 1. Preparing for the exchange In the beginning of the apply process for exchange, it was necessary to send to Universidad Torcuato di Tella the following documents: - Copy of a passport, passport picture, student transcript of the Aalto University, Motivation Letter, Certificate of your Spanish skills (from the Spanish professor of Aalto) The university requires everyone to have a student visa and a health security in Argentina. However, the visa will be issued while arrived to the country. Student enters the country with a 90-day tourist-visa, and during these 90 days should the student visa be issued in local Migrations. For 6-month visa, a student needs to bring 2 passport photos, the approval letter from Torcuato di Tella. Criminal record from Finland isn't required if the student stays maximum 6 months. Other documents will be provided from the exchange office of Di Tella, and they we're always very helpful with all the concerns considering the visa application. The University is located in area called Nuñez. From popular living areas, from Palermo for example, it is convenient to travel with a bus, for example 29 or 15. There is also a shuttle service provided by the university, which leaves near the metro station Juramento every 40 min. Schedule of the shuttle can be found from the school website, "bonditellano". In the reception they will inform you with classrooms used of the courses or other information the student might need. When using Spanish the service is better and more detailed compared to asking in English.

3 2. Exchange studies If the student wants, it is possible to take a 3-week intensive Spanish course in the university. In the fall semester 2013, the price was 200 USD. The course is divided for two groups, and the idea is to familiarize the student with the Argentinean accent and give the student basic knowledge of the local culture. The Spanish course is held before the initial exchange period. When the semester starts, there is a one-day orientation for all the students. During the day, different departments inform the students with activities provided and the basic regulations of the university and in general of studying in Di Tella and Argentina. During the orientation day the health security is also issued. Generally, there are pretty much variety in the course offering. However, depending the semester, the variety might change. A lot also depends which kind of courses the student wants to take. The bachelor's degree in Di Tella is 4 years, so the university suggests the students to take courses from the 3 rd or 4 th year. The student doesn't have to follow any certain program, so the courses can be chosen in different departments. However, it is important to verify from Aalto University that they also accept the courses. When the semester starts, the first week is a trial week when student can try any course he/she wants. The first classes present the course content and the evaluation and the course schedule, so the more courses student tries the more information he/she gets that helps choosing the courses. At the end of the week, the student submits his/hers choices to the student coordinator. In addition, during the first two months it is still possible to drop out from a course if for example the course doesn t meet the student s expectations.

4 All the courses are taught in Spanish in Torcuato Di Tella, without exceptions. In some courses, the exams can be written in English as well and some of the course materials are in English Intensive Spanish Course The course was held every day during a 3-week period before the actual semester. In the course, the students familiarize with the argentinian culture, accent and differences with the Spanish of Spain and other Latin American countries. During the course, the student must write a few essays, give two group presentations and read a book in Spanish, which will be discussed during the course. During the course, it is required to participate in a few cultural tours in the city center as well. The course includes grammatical exercises as well, depending on the course level (intermediate/advanced) Human Resources (Recursos Humanos) A 3 rd year course for all the students. The idea of the course is to give the student a wide perspective of themes regarding Human Resources. Required tasks during the course: - One approximately minute pair presentations, resuming the latest class - One group work: a case study for a local company, what is the current situation of Human resources; how satisfied are the employers and how human resources could be improved. A group presentation and a report required, given during the mid-terms. - Final exam at the end of the semester, including all the themes discussed during the course.

5 - Participation in class is part of the course evaluation, the student has to be present at least in 75 per cent of the classes. The course combines a theoretical aspect with more practical one. Mainly the classes are theoretical discussing different themes, but there are many practical classes in which the idea is to apply the learnt theory in practice, in for example job interviews or solving problematical situations Innovations (Innovación) The idea is to develop everyone's ability to innovate and come up with innovational solutions to different problems, focus in business. During the course, a large group work is conducted during the whole semester. The idea is to develop solution for institution/company through different phases using variety of approaches and innovative techniques. At the end of semester, a group presentation is given of the findings. (50% of the grade)during mid-terms, everyone had to return an open-book exam (50% grade), considering the themes discussed. There is no additional final exam. The exam consists of two parts: theoretical and innovative, which is similar to the larger group work, only done individually. The student needs to develop the company given and find solutions to the problems. The course consists of theoretical and practical classes. In the theory class, different kind of innovative strategies as well as more detailed information about brain functionality were discussed. In practice classes we usually worked with the case group with a function to develop the case of each group or trying some innovation strategies in practice. The professor was a strong character and the lessons were interesting, especially if a student doesn t consider him/herself a very innovative person.

6 2.4. Competitive Strategy (Estrategía competitiva) Professor: Marcelo Celani, 4 th grade class The final grade is based 100% on exams, (2 exams during the course, 1 additional if not received a grade good enough from the first two) The course is based quite a lot of economics. It consists of parts of the game theory, market theory and price discrimination and segmentation. This course is also divided to theory and practice classes. Theory classes are basically pure theory on the matter and practices more mathematical. There are weekly exercises that they discuss in the practical class. The course was very interesting and useful, especially if you have studied/are interested in economics and want to learn more about strategy from that perspective. However, the course is pretty demanding with a large amount of theory. Torcuato di Tella is a university, which has one of the best programs in economics, so nearly all of the students have a lot of experience of economics courses. 3. Free time and other information Buenos Aires for Europeans is quite affordable to live in. At school no university fees need to be paid, but some materials (photocopies of the books or other materials) the student need to pay. However, the expenses are not that high, maybe 10 to 15 euros for the whole course material or even less. The school has two cafeterias to buy lunch/snacks, which aren t that cheap or complete compared with the offering in Finland, but ok quality and affordable. In general the prices in Argentina are constantly rising, but especially food is quite cheap as well as public transport. Clothes etc are pretty much the same level as in Europe.

7 Getting to know other students is pretty simple. Especially if the student takes the preparing Spanish course, it is easy to get to know other exchange students. Every exchange student has a madrina or padrino from di Tella, to get to know local students and who helps with choosing the courses and integrating in Buenos Aires. There are a lot of exchange student organizations in Buenos Aires that arrange a lot of parties and other events to get to know people. Buenos Aires is a big chaotic city, so it needs a while to get to know to. But once you know the city, it is easy to get around with busses and metro. Although the don t really follow the schedule, the connections are frequent. In the beginnig the local Guía T infobook comes handy, it has all the buss and metro lines listed with maps. Taxes are cheap compared to Europe, and are safe to use. Recommendable is to use the official taxi companies, Radio Taxis. Travelling in Argentina and in South-America is easiest to do by bus. There are a lot of connections; bus since the distances are long it requires time. In addition, the buses are comfortable and safe. Flights are pretty expensive in South-America, especially compared to prices in Europe. The climate in Buenos Aires is varying a lot, during the winter it can be close to zero degrees and during the hottest months of the summer the temperature might rise to even 40 degrees. During the summer or winter the weather is quite dry, but sometimes during the spring/autumn it might rain pretty heavily. 4. What I learnt during the exchange Torcuato di Tella is one the most expensive, even the most expensive, university in Argentina. So for students in Aalto University School of Business, it has a good level of education and good variety of courses. Especially for students interested in economics di Tella is a perfect option.

8 The advantage for international students is that all the courses are taught in Spanish, so if a student wants to advance his/hers Spanish skills, di Tella is a perfect option. Nearly all the international students are really eager to practice and learn Spanish, since in Argentina it really helps a lot for the integration in the Argentinean culture. Due to these two reasons, I would recommend the University of Torcuato d Tella to other students. If I could something differently, I would maybe try even more courses during the trial week, since when taking into account all the selection of courses, there is a lot of variety and it would have been more useful to try more courses, since later on there might have been even more useful courses for me. During my exchange I learned several things, in academic and personal level. In academic level, I learned to broaden my perspective of business to more global level. When getting to know the Argentinean business culture, it s interesting to learn the differences with the Finnish one. In addition, the courses that I chose were a lot different than my major in Finland, so that way I also learned a lot new things of marketing and human resources etc. More importantly, I was really able to take my Spanish to a next level. Compared to when I arrived it was difficult to participate to a basic conversation; at the end of semester I could do pretty fluent presentations in Spanish and have decent conversations with others. Personally when living in another country I learned to be more independent and understand new cultures and perspectives even more.