GUIDELINES FOR WRITING THE EXPERIENCE REPORT E-mail: l.g.a.vanbremen@tilburguniversity.edu Study Program: Bedrijfseconomie Exchange semester: Fall Academic year: 2016-2017 Host University: University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) Country: Australia I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL The school and its surroundings: please describe the city you lived in; Sydney is the biggest and oldest city of Australia. The first week I went to explore the highlights of the city. Me and some friends walked around to the opera house, harbour bridge, Circular Quay, the Rocks, the Royal Botanic Garden, Chinatown, Queen Victoria Building and darling harbour. In the introduction week of UTS housing, we went to see the most popular beaches of Sydney. I love what a big city as Sydney has to offer, from hundreds of parks, islands and beaches to a big business district with high buildings and a hip neighbourhoods with nightlife that is popular among students. Even though Sydney is a modern metropolitan you re never far from nature, everywhere you look there are trees and small parks, it is very green compared to other world cities. Sydney is very international and multicultural, the food but also the people. A lot of Asians live there and this shows in the restaurants and some of the stores. It is a young, innovating and green city. Sydneyers are known for being relaxed, openminded and helpful people and this is exactly how I experienced the locals. One of the things I liked the most about Sydney is how safe it is. I never felt threatened at all or worried about anything happening. Sydney has everything! where is the university located in the city? UTS is located at the southern edge of the Sydney centre business district, it is a gateway to many attractions, including Darling Harbour and Chinatown. It is across the central train station and therefore easy to reach. I lived only 10-20 minutes away from the buildings my lectures were giving. please describe the campus of your host university The campus of UTS consist of different buildings but they are all in less than a 15 minutes walk away from each other. I would like to mention UTS their shuttle bus concept; every day there was a shuttle bus who drove UTS students from UTS college buildings (like the library) to their UTS housing until 12 am! UTS staff was very friendly and cared about the safety of their students. The campus has older buildings but also very modern and new buildings. I liked the modern architecture of most of them. Every building offers study rooms and computers. what is the best place to go to eat/drink/dance/do sports/etc.? The food in Australia is amazing. The don t have traditional food like Italia but Australia is known for barbequing on the beach. I ate a lot of Asian food since they have a big influence in Sydney. Near my apartment there were several Thai places and food courts where you could get all sort of food. There are so many sushi shops that are mostly very good and people generally eat well with various health cafes all over the city. The district I lived in was popular among students and there were everywhere small lunch cafes that surfed the newest food trends like avocado. I almost never cooked a meal for myself alone since buying healthy food for just one person is more expensive than getting food.
Going out in Sydney is more expensive than in Tilburg. In the bar or club, you paid around 6-9 AUD for a beer. This is why, me and my friends came together at the rooftop on one of the UTS Housing buildings before going out. We drank there till 9/10 oclock and after that we went out. Sydney has all sort of places where you can go out as a student. I really liked the big club Ivy, this is a 3 floors club with a pool on the rooftop! We also went out to a silence disco bar, this was funny because everybody was dancing with headphones listening to different music. Bars like Starbar and Sidebar were popular among backpackers but also nice! A membership at a sport centre is quite expensive but there are other ways in Sydney. Everywhere you look people are exercising, running on the harbour bridge and in the royal botanic gardens. When you are at the beach it is rammed with surfers and people doing a bootcamp or yoga session. what are interesting things to see and do in your host city? Sydney is full of highlights! Just walking through the city is an activity on its own. You can see all the beautiful buildings like opera house, darling harbour and the harbour bridge. I really would recommend to visit tangaroo zoo with the ferry where you get to know all the Australian animals. I also visited the Aquarium and several museum in Sydney. The thing I loved the most about Sydney were all the beaches. Sydney has beaches in and around the city. There are so many to choose from, I visited the popular beaches like Bondi, manly and Coogee most of the time. My personal favourite is shelly beach on the manly island. You had to take the ferry to come there and if you go back around sunset you have a beautiful view on the opera house and harbour bridge with the whole city in the background. The Blue Mountains, only an hour and a half drive out of Sydney is absolutely beautiful. It was so weird to see such a big national park so close to such a big city. Another must do in Sydney is the figure 8 pools. The walking track is around 2 hours with beautiful views and you walk through a palm forest. In the end of the track you arrive at a place like I have never seen before. what was different than in Tilburg? I liked Sydney way better then Tilburg. Sydney is bigger and more modern but still not too chaotic and a safe place. People were nice and helpful, the weather was amazing, especially at the end of the semester. I liked that you could have lectures in the morning and in the afternoon, you could lay on the beach. Current faculty divisions and special area: -Faculty of arts and social sciences -UTS Business School -Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building -Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology -Faculty of Health -Faculty of Law -Faculty of Science -Graduate School of Health Number of students: 42,674 Postgraduate: 10865 Undergraduate: 30088 Exchange student: 12384 Study structure The way of teaching is like Tilburg University, they had lectures and tutorials where we discussed the content of the subjects and related cases & assignments. However, the way of grading the students was different. The exams were most of the time only 40% of the whole grade and I even had one course with no written exam. UTS
focusses more on individual assignments and group assignments and this shows in their grading system. II PRACTICAL INFORMATION Information before you left When did you receive the pre-arrival information from the host university? I received clear information from the host university on 8 march 2017. The mail explained in steps how to apply for the university and how to prepare in the upcoming months before going to Australia. Any difficulties? No. Visa procedure and arrival How long did it take you to arrange your (student) visa (if relevant)? I had a few problems arranging my visa. I needed a code from UTS and I could only get that code, if I passed all my first-year courses in Tilburg. I had to wait for my result of that first-year course I was very stressed since UTS recommended to arrange the student visa before the 1th of July. On the 1th of July the Australian government was going to change the visa rules and it could take longer. After a lot of calls and emails with both Tilburg University and UTS I arranged my visa in time. It took 2 weeks and a lot of stress for me, because first I had to wait for the result of my exam in Tilburg then I needed the code and I couldn t always call UTS because of the time differences. When I received the code, it was already after the 1th of July so the visa took longer than normally. It was nobody s fault and it couldn t have been avoided but everything went well in the end. Everybody was very helpful. How much did you pay for the visa (if relevant)? Nothing the Visa was free. How was your arrival organized? Did someone pick you up from the airport/station? My arrival was good! I didn t live on campus but I had found a room in an apartment via a Dutch girl. She gave me the contact numbers of the landlord and he made sure I could go in my room as soon as I arrived. He even picked me and a friend up at the airport. How was the reception at the school? The UTS help desk was great! They were nice and willing to help you with every question you had, even if it took an hour to solve it. Was the administration and faculty well prepared for your arrival? The administration was prepared. What problems, if any did you encounter? I had some problems enrolling for subjects and the helpdesk helped me with this. At UTS it is common to submit to ten courses and you can get into four out of those ten. Seven of my courses were already full so I didn t know what to do. Helpdesk showed me how to register for other courses. Orientation/Introduction activities Was an orientation or introduction activity organized? UTS had an introduction week where they welcome you at the university and give you tours on the campus and explain how to use the library. They had English improvement workshops and international advice to help international exchange students. UTS housing arranged a lot of fun activities to get to know other exchange students; dinner, night out, bond-to-cogee beach walk. This was a great opportunity to learn other students, who also didn t know anybody yet. Did the school s students participate in the reception of the exchange students? No, only exchange students were at this orientation activities. Did you have a student mentor/buddy? No, but if you lived at UTShousing you had a student mentor. Housing How was accommodation organized? My accommodation was good. I lived in an apartment with 5 other international students near the UTS campus. Did you have to book your accommodation in advance or did you have to search for a place to live after you arrived? I booked my accommodation in advance. A friend and I both didn t get into UTS housing so we decided to look for a place together.
We found one on the Facebook Dutchies in Australië, where a Dutch girl, who also stayed in Sydney for 6 months, offered her room. What kind of housing does the university provide? UTS housing provides very nice rooms if you are lucky. I didn t get a room in the houses with roommates but they offered me a studio for almost 600 AUD per week. I didn t like that so I looked for another place. I have made a lot of friends that did lived in the housing of UTS and they all really liked it! What support did you receive from the school in locating housing? I could apply for housing in May and they warned us about the available places. Were you satisfied with your accommodation? My accommodation was good but I would have liked to life at UTS housing Any special issues or good ideas/useful websites for prospective students? Facebook and gumtree Living Costs How did you finance your exchange period, apart from the grant you received from Tilburg University? I saved a lot of money before going on exchange and I lent from my parents. What were your living expenses abroad like compared to Tilburg? Sydney is one of the most expensive cities in the world. When it comes to going out and drinking a beer in a bar you spend way more compared to Tilburg. Also the food and accommodation is more expensive. What did you spend most of your money on? I spend most of my money on little trips in the weekends and traveling after the exam period.
What would you advice future students to spend their money on? I would advise to see as much as possible from Australia and maybe New Zealand! Please outline your approximate monthly budget whilst on exchange: o Housing: 720 AUD o Food: 300 AUD o Transport: 25 AUD o Books: 0 AUD o Miscellaneous: 250 AUD Academic Calendar Arrival date & introductory week: 25th of July - 19th of August First day of the semester?: 1th of August Last day of classes?: 21th of October Mid-term break?: 12th of September - 18th of September Examination period?: 31th of October 11 th of October The International Office Does the host university have an International Office? UTS does have an office for exchange students and an international office Who is responsible for incoming exchange students? The student abroad and exchange team How does the International Office function? On the UTS website there is a special page with information for exchange students with for example the requirements and how to be prepared and how to apply. If you have questions you could call or email them and they reply within a few days. I think the office functions very well. Are you satisfied with the information provided to you by the International Office? Yes the international office emailed the needed information on time and in clear steps. Exchange promotion What kind of activity did you take part in to promote exchange to Tilburg University at your exchange university? I met many Australian students at the tutorials. They were very interested in the Netherlands and asked me questions about the teaching system at my home university. I was enthusiastic and told them how it is to be a student in Tilburg. Social Activities Which social activities are organized by the university/students for exchange students? The housing of UTS organized many activities for the exchange students especially in the beginning. Trips around the city and beaches so the students would get to know Sydney, dinners and parties to get to know other students. Is there a student organization for international student? Yes, in the first week there was a welcome presentation for exchange students and they told us about several clubs for international students. Did you have contact with local students? Yes, in the tutorials. For every course, we had to do a group project or presentation with local students. Did you have contact with other exchange students? Yes, all my new friends are exchange students. We travelled together and organized other activities like going to the beach or an opera. Did you travel to other places/countries during your exchange? Yes, it was an indescribably experience. In the middle of the semester we had a week off and I went on a road trip with friends to the south of Australia. The semester at UTS ended in the beginning of November so I travelled 4 weeks in Australia and 2 weeks in New Zealand. Culture and Language
Did you experience culture shock while on exchange? No, Australia has a western culture and does not differ much from the Netherlands expect that there are more Asian people (only in big cities like Sydney). How would you compare your host culture to your own culture? There is almost no difference in the culture compared to the Netherlands. The only difference is how helpful and open the Australians are. They are sincerely interested in your story. What did you learn about your own culture while on exchange? Dutch people are always rushing and hurrying while Australians take their time. Dutch people are also very on their own, they are not sincerely interested in strangers and not that helpful. What was different about your host culture than you expected? How nice and helpful people are. They are interested in you and open about their lives, while Dutch people are more on their own and not that helpful towards people they don t know. How would you describe your host country s culture? Western, open, relaxed and helpful. What did you like and not like about your host culture? That they are so relaxed and laid-back. It has pros and cons but it was sometimes annoying that the local students are not on time or relaxed about assignment dues. Do you feel you learned a lot about your host culture, and if not, what would you like to learn more? I learned to be more relaxed and take time to do certain things. I also improved my English and the Australian culture showed me to be more helpful towards strangers. If you travelled to other cities/countries during your exchange, were they different than your host city/country, and how? I travelled to other cities in Australia and to New Zealand. The culture was not different then in Sydney. New Zealand is very similar to Australia. The people in the smaller cities at the coast of Australia are even more relaxed and interested in your life. The only city that had a clear cultural difference was Alice Spring, a city in the dessert of Australia. Alice Springs is a really small city and a lot of indigenous people are living there. The aboriginals have many old life-lesson stories and with a guide I had the opportunity to see more of their history and life style. It is not the main culture of Australia anymore but still a big part of the history. Did you have any language problems with the faculty or other students? No, I improved my English and when I didn t know how to say something I asked or was able to explain myself with other words. Did you follow language courses during your exchange? No, all the courses where in English Did you follow the Erasmus Intensive Language Course? No Personal Development How do you think the exchange experience will affect you from a cultural and social point of view? I learned to be more open to new people and how to be alone and take care of my problems. How do you think the exchange experience will influence your future career possibilities? Exchange influenced my career possibilities in a positive way. I learned to deal with situations that I am not familiar with in a different country on the other side of the world. I followed courses that are not offered in Tilburg and I improved my English. What did you learn from the people you met during your exchange? I met people from all over the world. Other exchange students and other cultures. It was an interesting experience and learned that some students are used to other norms and values. Would you do things differently if you had the chance and what would you do differently? No, I would not do things differently. I made a lot of great friends and learned from all of them in different ways. What was your best experience, and what was your worst experience? My best experience were the nights out with my friends and the daytrips. I loved traveling and the country but the overall experience with the people I met and way of living in Australia was the best! My worst experience was when my boyfriend, who visited me, had to leave. That day I was really
homesick and just wanted to go home with him. This didn t last long since I had a great time after this. What will you never forget about your exchange period? The friends I made and all the trips and activities we did during my exchange. I will also never forget the beautiful countries and cities I have been to. What was the most important lesson you learned about yourself during your exchange period? That I am more independent than expected.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION Academic level at a host university In what language(s) are the courses offered at a partner university? All the courses were in English Did you follow any courses taught in the language of the host country? Yes, in English Which courses did you take and why? -Business Futures appealed to me because Tilburg University does not offer this course and the course focussed on how businesses should deal with problems in the future and how to predict them. This was an useful course looking at my bachelor in Tilburg University. -Management consulting was for me a challenging course to take, because it was a lot about presenting yourself and a made-up company. I want to be better in presenting and this is one of the main reason why I chose this course. I also like management and think it is important to know the basics of management consulting. -International Marketing. Before I went to Sydney I was considering to do a marketing master. I wanted to take a few marketing courses to learn more and see if I do like marketing. I chose international marketing because I am interested in working with or in big international companies. -Emerging marketing issues and Social media. Social media is currently increasing phenomenon and is becoming very important in the marketing strategies of big and small companies all over the world. I am very interested in how companies use this online service to advertise their product. This seemed the perfect change to learn more about social media since Tilburg University does not offer a course like this. Which courses would you recommend? I liked emerging marketing issues and social media the most. The lecturer used news or adds that were popular on social media that week and we discussed them in a very interactive way. How would compare the academic level at your host university to the academic level at Tilburg University (e.g.: level of the courses, use of extra material, level of English, workload, etc.)? I think it is safe to say that the academic level at Tilburg University is way higher. It was not hard to pass the courses but this is because every course has one group project, one individual assignment and one exam. If you get a high mark on 2 of those you already passed the course. I didn t need to buy books for the courses and most of them didn t even offer a book. For the exams, you needed to learn the slides of the lectures and practice with cases. Workload was more than at Tilburg University because of all the individual assignments and group projects. You needed to work together with others and write your own essays while in Tilburg I didn t have that many assignments and group project, not all in one semester at least. Is the teaching style primarily practical or theoretical? Primarily practical, every course discussed cases each week. What teaching method is practiced by the host university: case studies, group work, seminars or lectures (or a mix)? The teaching method at UTS was quite similar to Tilburg University. Every course had lectures and tutorials. In the lectures the teacher explained a lot of theoretical stuff but also a lot of cases. In the tutorials it was most of the time group work, where you had to discuss a case giving that tutorial with your group or where you could work with your group on the group project. How would you describe the relationship between the students and the teaching staff? Every week there were announcements on blackboard and if you had questions you could asked them in the tutorials or in an email. I think you can compare the relationship between the students and the teachers at UTS with the relationship at Tilburg University. You have to be polite, but they see you as an adult and expect you to act like it. They are happy to help you. In general, were you happy with your academic achievements during your exchange? I am happy with my academic achievement. I learned a new way of working with other students but also a lot of practical lessons that we don t have in Tilburg. I liked the use of current news and cases in the lectures and the courses that aren t offered in Tilburg. Exams What types of exams did you have to sit? Management consulting: - Individual report (45%)
- Group presentation (30%) - Individual essay (25%) Business futures: - Group project (30%) - Individual essay (40%) - Individual written exam (30%) International marketing: - Two mid semester exams (20%) - Group project (30%) - Individual written Exam (50%) Emerging marketing issues and social media: - Group project (30%) - Presentation individual (30%) - Individual written exam (40%) Other Can students easily access the library and its resources? Every UTS building had its own study rooms with computers. The library was a 5 floor building with 3 silence floors and 2 floors where you could talk every floor has computers where you could work all day if you wanted. Other facilities like printing and borrowing books was very easy to access. Were there public computers available on campus/in university buildings? Every UTS building had its own study rooms with computers. The library had the most computers and even in the exam period you could sit and work there if you were on time. Description of Courses Please list all courses you have taken at the partner university in the form below: Business future: Code: 21510 Course level (BA/MA): BA Form of exam: Groupproject, individual project and written exam ECTS credits you have obtained in total: 7,5 Management consulting Code: 21228 Course level (BA/MA): BA Form of exam: Group presentation, individual project and individual essay ECTS credits you have obtained in total: 7,5 International marketing: Code: 24220 Course level (BA/MA): BA Form of exam: Two mid exams, Group project and Written exam ECTS credits you have obtained in total: 7,5 Emerging marketing issues and social media: Code: 24104 Course level (BA/MA): BA Form of exam: Group project and presentation, individual presentation and written exam ECTS credits you have obtained in total: 7,5 Tips for future students: Would you recommend an exchange period?
Yes! It is a great way to learn English and to be alone for the first time. The host university shows you a new way of teaching and thinking. You learn how to deal with new situations and you meet new people make new friends. Exchange gives you a chance to develop yourself socially and personally. It is a one-in-a-lifetime-experience to life in another city for half a year, and follow courses you can t follow at home, to make new friends and travel. Would you recommend your host university? Yes, UTS is a very modern and up-to-date university that offers courses they don t have in Tilburg. It is in the centre of Sydney but still has a big campus. I think you learn a lot from all the practical lessons with other students and also from the individual assignments. What should prospective students absolutely not forget before going on exchange? I want to warn future students that is is not easy to get a job in Sydney. If you want to work in horeca you need to have a special diploma/license. Just be prepared that it might not come along as quickly as you d like. How can they better prepare before going on exchange to this destination? Make sure you have a financial plan since living in Australia is expensive. Another thing that was unexpected for me was the weather. I thought Australia was hot all year round. Wrong, it can get really cold in winter and with no central heating or double glazing. I had to buy a few warmer sweaters and long pants. Make sure you have enough warm cloths because it is winter in Sydney when you arrive in July. Was there anything you should have arranged before departure that you haven t? No. A picture is worth a thousand words If you took any pictures or made any videos that you would like to share with future exchange students, please include them (or e-mail them separately). Pictures that show your daily life or symbolize your exchange period are especially interesting for future exchange students.
Contact details: Can the International Office share your e-mail address with prospective exchange students, so that other students can contact you for more information? If yes, make sure to write down you e-mail address on the first page of this report. No, thank you.