Travel Report 286992 Fall 2016 ESAN Business School Lima, Peru Introduction I had the opportunity to be the first Aalto student to attend the International MBA exchange program of Universidad ESAN during the fall 2016. I was happy to go to ESAN and to Peru, as I had two different goals for my master s exchange. I wanted challenging last studies of my master s degree, but also to study in an environment where I could travel, hike and discover places I couldn t have imagined. These all were combined in attending the IMBA program in Lima, and I am super happy to have this experience! Preparing for the exchange Preparing for exchange in Esan was ridiculously easy. Within a month after getting elected to the program in Aalto, Esan sent me a welcoming email. However, this email was NOT their nomination yet, and later on during the spring I had to send all my papers and a motivation letter into their electronic applying system. The final nomination from Universidad ESAN was in April meaning, that it was 3-4kk before the program started. In addition to normal application papers (CV, transcript of records etc.) there was no need to order any extra papers and all documents were sent electronically no need to send a letter to Peru. In addition to these, confirmation of travel insurance needed to be handed in upon arrival. In Esan, they have an office of 4 people working in the International MBA program. Tamara, the secretary who sends all the emails, always answered my mails within few days and was very helpful. And a few emails were sent, because the information they sent automatically was sometimes lacking important information. So don t hesitate to ask! For example, I asked for help with 1
accommodation and got a nice list with places to stay in. But the list is not automatically sent to new exchange students. The same goes on with many things, Tamara is extremely helpful and answers quickly, but you may have to ask yourself to get any extra info (read more in the courses section)! Don t, however, worry about the deadlines. She is very proactive with informing students about the formal procedures. I booked my flights 3 months before the trip and decided to fly through Madrid to avoid immigration protocol of passing through the states. The cheapest flights available seem all to have a stop in the states. I guess the most important thing on finding the right flight is to start looking ahead of time. The prices vary a lot! From what I have heard, the 2- way ticket can be anywhere between 500 and 1500. And then the most complicated part: visa. Esan told us that as EU citizens we did not need to apply for visa because we can automatically get 6 months visa at the border as we enter the country. That is the case with tourist visa. However I am not sure how legal that was, since the official rules I have found online states that all students entering the country to study should have student visa Well, I followed the advise of Esan and just entered the country with a 6 months tourist visa which I was given directly at the immigration of the airport. I am not sure what would have happened if I have told them that I was planning to study in Peru, so I didn t mention that in the immigration. The 6 months long tourists visa worked well, I traveled in and out of the country with no problems. When you enter the country, be sure to be given the full 6 months to stay. It is the maximum you can get for a tourist visa, and if you don t require it, they might mark something less than that to your visa. If you enter the country with fewer days in your visa, it is difficulty to extend it afterwards. (To read more, there are plenty of discussions about the issue online). Exchange studies Our MBA exchange program started 1.8. but there was a intensive one week long Spanish course offered for free during the last week of July. Many of us (including me) arrived only to the beginning of the term, because I had to work in Finland until the end of July. The mandatory part started 1.8. but the first week was really easy with some introductions and so. The courses started from 3.8. onwards. Despite the few mandatory introduction days, there was no getting to know each other activities organized by the Uni. The representatives of the program stated on the first days, that the dress code of the school is formal and that the exchange students should respect the formality as well. It is very obvious in the campus, that undergraduates wore 2
casual clothes and graduates had very formal clothes. In between, the international students of the IMBA program dressed in smart casual. Our program had just 6 domestic students when we arrived, as others from the program were doing their own exchange studies as well. We, arriving exchange students were 15. So in total, we were a really small group. In the other hand, I got to know everyone and it was easier to get to know people and organize events for the group. The situation is totally different in the undergraduate level, they were a bigger group but at least inside the university these two groups were totally separated. Courses The IMBA program started already in the first of August and lasted to 9 th of December with a más o menos 2 weeks vacation in October. The IMBA program has mandatory attendance in all courses. We were offered only MBA level courses, which were held privately to our small student group. This made it easier to negotiate the lecture times etc. with the professors and also made the courses very interactive. The style of all the courses I had was interactive. The course list Tamara sent us had only the names of the courses and nothing more. Many exchange students decided their courses only based on that, as we needed to choose our courses prior to starting the term. I got the syllabuses of the previous year by asking some more info from Tamara, but these were not sent to the students automatically. Make sure you know what the courses are really about, as the names are really general. The exchange students got to choose freely which courses to take from a list and all the offered courses were in English. It is good to know, that the full time MBA- students of the program do all the courses of the list you choose your courses from. You just have to select like half of them. If you are wondering how many to take to the first term (for us it was from august to mid October) and how many to the second (Nov- Dec), remember that there are students that take all the courses on the list. So you can do it. It is hard, but doable. In general I enjoyed all my courses and am happy of my selection. However, some of them were really challenging and some were easier. Strategic Management 6 ECTS The course was held by an American professor Douglas Miller who visited the university just to teach this course. Therefore, the course was quite intensive. It was held during the first 4 weeks of our semester, so that the professor would be back in states when their semester starts there. The course was based on case 3
studies; most of them were Harvard case studies. There was a lot to read, but the professor was very helpful and cultivated a lot of conversation during the lectures. We had to hand in several case works, both individual and group works but we always got good grades. The professor encourages us to argue upon our choses and as long as we explained well the reasoning behind the decisions, good grades were granted. Overall, this course was one of my favorites as the lectures included a lot of discussion, the cases were interesting and the professor encouraged us to find alternative solutions for business strategies rather than only teaching us theories of strategic management. Evaluating Investment projects 3 ECTS This course was a full finance course. We used Corporate Finance as our course book and the lectures consisted of calculating project cash flows etc. As I haven t studied finance, this course was a real challenge for me. However, the professor was helpful and always ready to answer our stupid questions. The bright side is, that many people in the MBA program had the same situation, some students had above 10 years since their last finance course and I am grateful that I took this course here were I was able to get support from others. We had several quizzes from the book chapters and a couple of bigger group case works were we had to calculate NPV s of different project appraisals. I was afraid of failing the course, but at the same time the course was easy for some students more confortable with finance as it only covered some basic concepts like cash flows, net present values and value creation calculations. I would recommend the course, as it was a great opportunity to learn with a professor who was ready to help when needed. Business and Government 3 ECTS This course was the most interesting and the most terrible. The first half of the course was basically about the world economics with IS LM curves, concentrating in Latin America. The second half consisted of topics like structural reforms, privatization, pension system and health care in Latin America. As the content was new and challenging to many students, we were lacking behind the syllabus schedule. The professor did not cut the topics, but we had about twice the amount of lectures than what we were supposed to have. This was because we were slow to learn and did not fully catch the subprime crises and Chinas affects to Latin America in 15 minutes and needed more time and explanations. Once again, the professor took his time to explain in more detail so that we had a real possibility to learn, but in total the course was a lot of work and time. This course had several quizzes about home readings, a mid term and a final exam. 4
Ethics and Social Responsibility 3 ECTS This course was held during the weekends, as the teacher was not a professor at the uni. The topics were quite basic CSR issues and we did not go too deep into it. We had 1 individual assignment and a couple of group works. The topics were interesting and I did not find them too difficult. The final exam was a tick- a- box and write an answer with two sentences style. Business Simulation Game 3 ECTS The Simulation game was really interesting and the professor was extremely nice and helpful. I was expecting a little more theory, but basically the course consisted of going through the rules and then just playing the business simulation game. We had to form teams of 2 and then competed against the other teams in a ready set simulation environment where a plenty of decisions needed to be made every quarter. The game was interesting, but the results felt a bit random as we competed against each other s and everyone tried to do the same. Furthermore, we only had one quiz and a final exam with the simulation game, but they were both easy and did not require any extra readings. Business Environment 3 ECTS The course business environment was about the Peruvian business context. During the first lecture the professor asked what we would like to learn about business in Peru, and then she provided presentations about those issues. The course was interesting and really laid back. Our grade was based solely to one group presentation, and we had the opportunity to choose our presentation theme. The professor invited several speakers to help her, as the issues we wanted to learn more about required deep knowledge. For example, she invited a politic science professor to tell as more about the political situation of Peru. This course was very strictly modified by the needs of international students and worked as relief between other more challenging courses, as the lectures were not very interactive and we were only there to listen and learn. Living in Lima Esan does not offer accommodation, but there are plenty of student houses available in Lima. Most of the exchange students lived in those, and mainly in the district of Miraflores. I lived in apartments rented from Airbnb because I was not travelling alone, but otherwise I would have chosen a small student house. There was some that had only 3-4 students living in, and they sounded decent. The big student houses are okay too, but mostly for party people. Do not dream about cooking in the big student houses, people living in those told that the dishes were 5
always dirty etc. I lived half of the time in Miraflores close to the sea and half in Barranco where you can feel more authentic Peruvian atmosphere. Both of those districts are really nice and I recommend them for living. Transportation in Lima When choosing accommodation, it is extremely important to think about how you get to the campus. From Miraflores, it took me over an hour to get to the campus even when I lived right next to a bus stop, which went directly to the school. The is no easy and reliable way to find out how the bus system work, so give it some time and Google Lima transportation before choosing the apartment. Free time and other information Bear in mind that the weather in Lima is NOT NICE during their winter, at least around June - October. During my exchange, I had to use a warm jacket until October. Not just that it is cold outside, but it is freaking cold inside. At your home and at school. There is no isolation in the buildings and it is cold and moist also inside. Other than that (and the terrible traffic) Lima is a nice city to live in. There are plenty of things to do and see. Even when the city is not known for tourist attractions, I found it a pleasant city to live in and explore. The most I enjoyed the endless options of restaurants. Plenty of places for a cheap eat but also gorgeous top- notch restaurants to enjoy. I did not party a lot, but sure others did. So if you are a party person, don t mind even when my report tells you nothing about that aspect. There are parties for sure. Final comments I am grateful for spending this semester in Latin America. Peru is a great destination as the country itself offers endless opportunities to wonder around the driest desserts, amazing landscapes of the Andes, Amazon rainforest with its unexplored wonders and the heart of the Inca culture, Machu Picchu itself. In top of that, the coastline of the Pacific Ocean offers plenty of nice beaches and surfing opportunities. Peru is a great destination for an adventurist. Just do it! 6