# 17 UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School (UCD)

Dublin, Ireland 

Dublin is not a large city. But that is what makes it so good for a CEMS term abroad. In just a few months you can really get to know your way around town. The pub culture is definitely impossible to miss. After every strategy class, the class would go to a pub for a pint (or a Irish coffee). Very cool.

If you are into tech, then Dublin is definitely a destination to consider… often we are taken to Google, Salesforce, Qualtrics or alike, so you’ll be very exposed to what it is like to work in the European Silicon Valley.

Also, the Alumni community is quite active and engaging with the CEMS class. Expect 80% of them to work in Google. 

The student life in Dublin is the best I have seen. Never have I felt that I was networking... it was always about making friends. There is so much to do in Dublin that you’re never bored, but take your time to meet the rest of the country, including Galway, Cork and Northern Ireland. It rains a lot, but the country is so green that it is worth it. I’d suggest you to try a surf lesson when you go the west coast. 

Courses

The majority of the courses in Smurfit are CEMS exclusive. They are worth 10 ects each, which means that the workload his high and you only need to do 3. I took Chinese, Strategy and Consulting.

The Chinese module is divided in two parts: Chinese language and Chinese Business culture. You will learn the basics of oral and written Chinese as well as the principles behind the Chinese mentality and philosophy. It was by far the most enjoyable course, since the classes were always very creative (for example, the last examination was to go with the Chinese class to a Chinese restaurant and order our dish in Chinese)

Consulting was disappointing since it focused too much on the daily challenges of a consultant rather than solving consulting cases. Still, you get to do a real consulting project for a small Irish company.

Strategy is the core course. The workload is heavy but well worth it. The professor, Esther, is very competent and usually invite guest speakers from Dublin-based tech firms (Google, Dropbox, Salesforce, Qualtrics, HP, …).

Housing

On your accommodation hunt, you should focus in the city center or near the campus, in Blackrock. The bus system is fairly good, but if you live too far from the city or the campus, it gets too time-consuming to commute. Living near the campus (or on campus itself) is usually cheaper and you don’t really need to spend a lot of money on transports. However, it is a hassle to come back to Blackrock by taxi after every nigh out in the city center.

It is not as easy as it may seem to find a good and affordable room, so I’d advise to arrive a couple of weeks beforehand. Expect to pay ~700€ per month. Avoid the north side of the river Liffey.

University

The campus is exclusive for master and MBA students. It is an old monastery but the facilities are modern and reliable. As for sports, university clubs and cultural events, it all takes place in UCD main campus (in Belfield), where the bachelor students have classes. The gym and the Olympic-sized swimming pool are definitely worth visiting.

Sightseeing

Ireland is amazing. During my four months in Ireland, our CEMS club organized trips to Galway, Glendalogh, Howth and Belfast. You can really get to know a country this small in just a few months.

The pub culture is definitely one of the biggest assets of Ireland. Every night out starts in a pub, where there is always live music and plenty of Guinness.

Dublin is small but amazing. A complete tour of Dublin can be done within a couple of days, since all the monuments are very close to each other. The Spire is the most iconic monument of the city (a 130m tall needle in O’Connell Street). TIP: if you get lost in any part of the city just look around and you’ll find the Spire. 

Visa

Ireland is NOT a Schengen country (like the UK).  This means that if you are not European, you will need a visa. If you want a re-entry visa for Ireland without a European passport, expect a long line in the emigration office here in Dublin.

Vaccines

n/a

Projects

If you are into tech or start-ups, then Smurfit has the best corporate partners for you to work with: Google, Dropbox, Salesforce and Kerry Group.

Surprises

Networking here is easy. Since most companies in Ireland are high tech giants, their staff is younger and many are CEMS Alumni. More than once, they came along and went out with the CEMS class. It isn’t that bad to be a Googler for one night. 

--
By Diogo Sassetti, Class of 2014/2015

Term abroad - Fall 2014

Nationality: Portuguese

Country of residence: Portugal

Home School: Nova School of Business and Economics

Host School: UCD Michael Smurfit Gradate Business School       

 

#16 Ivey Business School (IVEY)

London (Ontario), Canada

I had an awesome time in Canada! I was at Ivey during the fall semester of 2014. I had warm days, average days and super super cold days (-15 C).

Canadians are super relaxed people that will want to help you and integrate you in the community, especially Ivey students.

The teaching method is very different from what I was used to though. Here they used the case method, which means that you will have one or two cases plus readings to prepare for every single class, and as around 35% of your grade depends on relevant class participation, you will have/want to master those materials. It is as if you had to give a class on the subject, being the teacher the moderator of the student debate. Class sizes are small; at most you will have 30 students per class.

If I were to compare Ivey and Nova, I would say that at Ivey you work every day, you read a lot; but it is way more relaxed than Nova’s teaching style. Here I never felt over-charged with projects+reports+case analysis+exams, but I always had something to do/read, being it a case preparation, a case analysis or a group project.

Ah! And I had no exams :)!

Courses

Global Strategy: This is the mandatory course for the first semester of the CEMS year. At Ivey, it was a really interesting learning experience with a final research project on a company where you apply the theories learned to a Multinational Company. Also, you will have to deliver three case analysis out of 7 possible cases.

Global Supply Chain Management: Very interesting course that will change your perspective of the importance of supply chain management in an organization’s strategy. Challenging class discussions where you will be put in the role of a consultant and explain how you would solve the issue at hand. One small commodity forecasting team assignment and two out of three graded case write ups.

Legal Environment in the Multinational Enterprise: This course will give you the basic legal tools that managers use in a company. You will learn legal concepts and strategies that will be helpful if you deal with legal issues in your future career, especially when talking with lawyers. The difficulty level is not very demanding but the classes are a little bit dull. One team assignment on a current legal issue in a Multinational company and three case write ups.

Entrepreneurship & Growth: This course does not need any introductions. It will not teach you how to write business plans, but instead how to go from your problem statement to a perfectly developed and targeted business opportunity that solves a specific problem for a specific target of people that will want to pay for it.

The difficulty level is also average. You’ll have to develop a business opportunity in teams and a business idea log that is graded on quantity of ideas.

Housing

The best option for a CEMSie is to contact Varsity Housing and rent a room at Varsity Mills. It was where I lived and the houses are super cool in a student neighborhood. If you are tight on money, you can rent a room somewhere else but the quality will not be as good as in Varsity Mills. Also, it is relatively (considering Canadian distances) close from downtown where the clubs and bars are and only 15 minute bus ride from Ivey.

Only negative point is that the Renting Company does not provide any house appliances or apparel. The most you get is a fridge, stove, dishwasher and laundry machine. You will have to buy plates, forks, knifes, glasses, bed linen, bed cover, light bulbs, hangers, etc.

University

Ivey Building is probably the best campus in the CEMS network. Classrooms are top-of-the-class and they have several meeting rooms equipped with everything you need, even writable tables and walls! However, the rooms have to be booked and you have a limit of 2 hours per student per day to use a room.

Wi-Fi connection is good inside classrooms and the main atrium, but you’ll loose it if you move around from one room to the other.

Food offer at Ivey is below acceptable. You have a main eatery where you can only have pizza, bacon cheeseburgers or Indian. Also, it is super expensive from a quantity-cost perspective.

Sightseeing

The city is the typical Canadian/American student city. Wide diversity of cultures and a lot (really a lot) of students.

Expect to go to a lot of student parties either hosted in students’ houses or bar/clubs.

In terms of sightseeing, there is nothing special to be seen in the city. But the good part is that here we are 2 hour drive distance from Toronto, Niagara Falls or Detroit so if you can rent a car you have plenty to see.

Furthermore – and as a typical North American city – the concept of distance is not the same as in Europe, i.e. here everything is really really far away and as everyone has a car, public transportation services are not optimal (euphemism).

Visa

If you your country is on Canada’s list of eligible countries for a visa waiver AND you are staying in Canada for a period inferior to 6 months from the arrival date, you do not need to apply for a Visa. Otherwise, you’ll need to do it.

Vaccines

n/a (Not that I was aware of)

Surprises

The main positive surprises were the state of the art building that provides the necessary conditions to get an exceptional learning experience in class. Then, the academic services are really fast to address any issue you have and will do everything in their power to help you. Finally, teachers at Ivey are really approachable and you can even call them by their first name. They try to establish a real connection with students from day 1, even calling us by our name (although we have name plates at every class).

On a negative side – and this is really IMPORTANT – YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY AROUND 500 CANADIAN DOLLARS (approx. 360€) per semester for insurance and casebooks. This presented itself to be a surprise, as I was not counting on this amount of school fees.

 

--
By Gonçalo Dias, Class of 2014/2015

Term abroad - Fall 2014

 

Nationality: Portuguese

Country of residence: Portugal

Home School: Nova School of Business and Economics (NOVA)

Host School: Ivey Business School (IVEY)

 

#15 Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) (2)

  Rotterdam, The Netherlands

 

CEMS Communications Committee Rotterdam

I believe that RSM is a great University to boost your CV, gaining academic expertise and profiting from great corporate events. I think that RSM is definitely manageable and not as bad and tough as everyone is saying. But I think one has to be aware of the fact that it is hard to get very good grades even though you worked very hard and the average is also always lower than I experienced at other Universities. In general, the education system in the Netherlands is hard and very high grades are almost impossible.

I enjoyed very much the life in Rotterdam, the area I lived in (Kralingen), the amazing sports opportunities (outside and gym), the very nice bars and restaurants at Witte de Withstraat, and the very convenient way to get to the airport and to Amsterdam by train. I also loved the biking culture and there is no way to live in Rotterdam without a bike. Everything is very easy and fast to reach with a bike and public transport is very expensive.

Courses

·        Mandatory Course Global Strategy (7,5 ECTS): You can choose between International Strategy and International Entrepreneurship, both courses are accepted for the mandatory Global Strategy course. I highly recommend International Entrepreneurship, less workload and better grades. Only one big group assignment, which counts 50% of your grade. The task is to work closely with a startup together on a topic concerning growth and international expansion and writing a teaching case and note and preparing a presentation. 10% participation and exam 40%. In the exam you get a case to which you have to apply the theory learned in class.

·        Strategy of Innovation (5 ECTS): A core course of the Innovation Master at RSM, very interesting course but demanding professor. You have several group assignments to do on the basis of cases and articles, which are all relevant for the exam. But, since each case and article is discussed in class extensively and you work on it in the group assignments, there is not much in terms of exam preparation, if you really read all the articles and participated during class. Good grades definitely possible, but requires a good understanding of the theories! But very interesting course.

·        Marketing Strategy Research (4 ECTS): Major of the Marketing Master and requires a very good level of statistics and SPSS. The course consists of 5 individual assignments and an exam both worth 50%. Out of the 5 individual assignments only the best 3 are counted. The professor explains in the 3 hours lecture new concepts in SPSS and in the afternoon in the lab session you get your individual assignment, which you have to fulfil within one week. In the lab session there is always a tutor, who helps you and answers questions regarding the assignment. Exam is based only on SPSS output, which you have to interpret. Would only recommend this course if you have fun and prior experience in working with SPSS.

·        Corporate Development: Strategies for Acquisition and Alliances (5,5 ECTS): A core course of the Strategy Master at RSM. The professor has a great level of expertise in this field, which you definitely get to profit from in class, where he uses a variety of real life cases of M&As and alliances. The course consists of 5 group assignments out of which 2 get randomly selected and thus 40% of your total grade is derived from. We also did not get any feedback on the assignments until the end, since it is a course of over 300 students and 45 groups. Hence, grading took a long time. You also have the potential to write a company assignment on a selected company and a potential alliance or M&A, which allows you to gain 0,25; 0,5; or 1 point higher of your final grade, which is a very nice option for a 5-page assignment to boost your grade. Exam very easy and very close to the group assignment you did during class. I really enjoyed the course and learned a lot, but he is very hard in giving good grades.

·        Building Healthy Organizations for Optimal Human Performance (5 ECTS): A course of the Human Resources Management Master at RSM. Similar to the “Positive Organizations” course at NOVA in terms of topics covered in class. Very nice and interesting professor, who has immense expertise in Psychology including topics, among others, like burn out.  You have one big group assignment (25%), several group assignments on a pass and fail basis (10%) and a so-called “self-reflection” assignment (20%), for which you get each week new work like tests, or exercises to do. In general, there are a variety of assignments to do for the course but very easy. Exam 45% on the basis of multiple-choice question, which are definitely not to underestimate. Good grades definitely possible.

Housing

I lived in Kralingen (close to the Metro station Voorschoterlaan), which is a beautiful area with a lot of families beautiful houses and also the area where most of the students live. It takes you with the bike 3-10 minutes to Uni, depending on where you are living. There is also everything you need in Kralingen many shops, supermarkets cafes and an amazing lake perfect for running.

Also a very cool and “in-place” to live is around Witte de Withstraat, where all the nice bars and restaurant are, basically the place to be when you plan to go out. But you need at least 20 min with the bike to Uni and of course it is a very lively area.

Living on the campus is also an option. The Hatta building is the student-housing place on the campus with very modern facilities. However, I believe it is very expensive and you are able to get way better rooms for a cheaper price outside Uni for example in Kralingen.

Searching for places is almost solely done via Facebook on pages like Commodity Market Rotterdam; Housing Rotterdam; Buying & Sell Rotterdam; Housing Rotterdam RSM. Beginning of each new semester you find an abundance of offers in these groups. But, good areas like Kralingen are very competitive and you really have to try to stand out in the application for a room and why you fit into the apartment.

 University

RSM offers an amazing modern gym with also a lot of courses every day, several squash courts and many more for 65 Euros for 5 months in total. When you get to RSM you should definitely get a gym card, it is the best offer you can get by far in Rotterdam for a gym contract.

There are many study possibilities like in the T building there is a library only for master students or the big library for everyone in the C building. I also liked to study in the Erasmus Paviljoen, since it is a very nice building and a good place to study.

The campus also offers a supermarket, 2 cafeterias with very nice and cheap food, Starbucks, and many more restaurants and snack bars in the so-called “Food Corner”. In the Erasmus Paviljoen is also a very nice restaurant and bar, where it is definitely recommendable to have lunch or dinner as well for fair prices.

Sightseeing

Holland offers a lot of places to see. Especially Amsterdam, The Hague, and Delft should be on the list. Everything is easy accessible by train. Also in Rotterdam there is a lot to see, like the brand new and one of the biggest indoor market halls in Europe.

You should definitely get the “Rotterdam Pass”, which allows you to get great offers in restaurants, several cinema visits for free, discounts on museum entrance or the famous harbor boat trips and many more. Officially you have to be registered for the Rotterdam Pass, which is difficult to realize when you rent a private apartment for only a semester, but usually there is still a way to get it.

Saturday and Tuesday there is the big market at Blaak and I highly recommend getting fruits and vegetables there since it way cheaper than in any supermarket and the quality is especially in the summer even better. Also for getting fresh fish, seafood and good cheese it is very recommendable.

I also recommend “Café Belmondo” between Blaak and Kralingen where usually students go to study offering free Wi-Fi, nice coffee and snacks. The café also offers a silent area or the usual public place for everyone.

 Visa

Since I am a European citizen I did not need a Visa.

Vaccines

Not necessary.

Work Projects

I did not do my work project at RSM. Generally RSM offers a variety of corporate events every week, usually published in the weekly CEMS Newsletter. I highly recommend staying updated regarding these opportunities, since there are really a variety of very good events you can participate in.

Surprises

Positive: Gym facility on the campus.

--

By Roxana Plötz, Class of 2014/2015

Term abroad - Fall 2014

Nationality: German

Country of residence: Germany

Home School: NOVA

Host School: Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University