UNIVERSIDADE NOVA DE LISBOA

NOVA SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

FALL 2017

363378

Preparing for the exchange

To complete my application to Nova SBE, I had to deliver the following documents:

CV

colour portrait photo of myself

copy of my passport

my Bachelor’s degree (as I went for a master’s exchange)

a master’s up-to-date transcript of records

As Nova SBE is in Lisbon, Portugal, as an EU citizen you do not need a visa, or any other

papers to move to Lisbon.

In regards to housing, I found my apartment before arriving to Lisbon. I was recommended a

website called “Uniplaces” and used this website to find my apartment. It is a safe way to book

your accommodation, as Uniplaces is the middleman and will help if any problems occur with

the landlord. Some exchange students booked their housing through Airbnb, and some came

to Lisbon to search for accommodation while living in a hostel.

Nova SBE’s campus is in Campolide, Lisbon, which is on the blue metro line, stop “São

Sebastiao”. However, the school is going to move to a new campus sometime in the near

future, I think 2018 is their target year. The new campus will be in Carcavelos, which is at the

beach, a bit further from the centre of Lisbon, but an easy train ride away.

At the beginning of the semester we had a week of planned activities hosted by Nova Student

Union for exchange students to get to know each other. The week included among other

things a pub crawl, a city tour on a TukTuk, a trip to Ikea, and a welcome weekend in

Portimão, Algarve, in the south of Portugal. Some of the events were free, like the Ikea trip, but

for most we had to pay. There was also an option to buy the whole welcome weekend

package, which was 100 euros including the transport and accommodation in Portimão, so it

was relatively cheap.

The first event hosted by Nova SBE itself was a welcome session and tour of the campus on

Thursday 8.9.2016. It was quite odd that the first session organized by the school was on 8.9.,

as the master students’ classes started already on Wednesday, 7.9., and so us master’s

exchange students had not even had a welcome session or tour of the campus and we already

are expected to go to class and find the class rooms.

Exchange studies

As I mentioned above, the semester started with the welcome week on 5.9.2016 with a casual

meeting of the exchange students organized by the Nova Student Union. The welcome week

went from 5.9. until 11.9. The academic start of the semester for master students was

7.9.2016 with the first classes. The first welcome session and orientation at the university was

the following day 8.9.2016. The last day of the fall semester for master students was

22.12.2016, the date of the last exam of the December exam week. The semester is divided

into two terms, each lasting for six weeks. There are courses lasting for one term, i.e. six week

courses worth 3,50 ECTS, and courses that last for the entire semester, worth 7,00 ECTS.

There are two exam weeks, one after the first term in October, and one after the second term

in December.

Nova SBE has quite a wide variety of courses that the university offers, and all of the master’s

courses are in English, so it is easy to choose the suitable courses for you. I studied at the

graduate level, so I could only choose graduate level courses. From the graduate level courses

you can choose your courses freely, and you can include courses from the Masters in

Management, Finance, Economics and Marketing programs.

In the master’s program, the enrollment for the courses is done through a bidding system.

Each of the students is given a fixed amount of points to bid on courses. The bidding system is

explained to the exchange students through videos which are provided in Nova SBE’s Moodle,

in the “International Office Area”, along with the academic calendar, course offer, etc. The

instructions on the video are clear, and the bidding system quite easy to use, so I did not have

any problems with it. I did not get all of the courses I wanted in the initial bidding round, but

there are add/drop periods at the beginning of each term, lasting for one week, where

students can change courses, and during these periods I was able to get into the rest of the

courses I wanted.

During my exchange semester, I studied the following courses:

2461 Business Intelligence – graduate – 7,00 ECTS

Lecturer: Miguel de Castro Neto & Miguel Gago

Evaluation: 1. Project - 50% (Introductory Business Analysis 40% and Decision Support

Dashboard 60% of this)

2. Final individual written exam - 50%

The goal of this course was to provide an introduction to the topic of business intelligence and

to the business intelligence program Power BI by Microsoft. The course included theoretical

lectures by prof. Miguel Neto and practical lab sessions by prof. Miguel Gago. The course

included a business project to be done to a real life company. The BI project included an

introductory business analysis in the first part, and a decision support dashboard done in the

Microsoft Power BI program in the second part.

This fall was the first time this course was held, so it was very unorganized. In addition, the

professors were from Nova IMS (Information Management Systems), and they had higher

expectations of us business students’ capabilities in BI and data management than what an

average business student knows about this field. Thus, they had to change the contents of the

course and provide more support, but in the end we managed to complete the project and the

course with good marks. However, this course was quite time consuming and not the easiest

one.

The course was quite useful for me as I have not had any courses in IMS, BI, or data

management before. For someone who knows more about this area the course might not be

that useful as it covers the basics. However, getting to know how to use the Microsoft Power

BI program may also be useful in itself.

2448 Business Model Innovation – graduate – 3,50 ECTS

Lecturer: Rui Rolão de Carvalho

Evalution: 1. Written exam – 50%

2. Group work – 40% (20% x 2 cases per group)

3. Class Participation – 10%

This course included two group works about real life case companies and their business

models to be done in groups of 4-5 people, and a final exam. During the first lecture, the

professor introduces the case companies, and the companies are divided to groups. Then the

following lectures consist of groups presenting their group works, comments and questions

from the other students and the professor’s comments. Also, the professor always gives an

introduction of the next week’s case companies and gives the groups suggestions on what to

focus on in their paper and presentation.

The final exam had 20 questions, one about each group work, and each student had to answer

four questions. Thus, we only had to study four group works for the final exam.

This course was quite easy, although the group works were a bit time consuming, as each

group work included a 20-page report and a 15-minute PowerPoint presentation in class.

However, after doing the group works and participating in class, studying for the final exam

was easy. The academic takeaway from the course was quite limited, but it was interesting to

study real life companies in the group works.

2128 Competition Policy – graduate – 3,50 ECTS

Lecturer: Pedro Pita Barros

Evaluation: 1. Final exam (F) – 40% (a minimum grade of 8 in the exam is required)

2. Assignments (A) – 25% each, 3 assignments have to be delivered

The worst 15% of the grade will be discarded.

The final grade, G, is obtained, before adjustment for participation in class, as

G=0,4 F + 0,25 A1 + 0,25 A2 + 0,25 A3 – 0,15 min{ A1, A2, A3}

This course included three assignments, two individual assignments and one done in a group.

The first assignment was a paper about the competition policy in a country of your own

choosing, the second was the group assignment which was an analysis of a research paper,

and the final assignment was a case study about an acquisition. The final assignment included

a draft paper to be done before an M&A professional came to the class to talk about the case,

and then a final paper to be submitted after the class discussion. The final exam included

questions about the most important topics of the course, so it was a very “normal” exam.

This course was an economics course, and thus for me who has not studied economics after

the introductory course in the first year, it was a bit tough. However, the evaluation was not

harsh at all, so I managed to get a good grade in the end. In my opinion, the course was useful

as it gave an introduction to competition policy and competition laws, which are important to

be aware of as a business student and later business professional. The professor was very

experienced and a good teacher.

2257 Futures and Options – graduate – 3,50 ECTS

Lecturer: João Amaro de Matos

Evaluation: 1. Case study - 25%

2. Quizzes - 25%

3. Final exam - 50%

This course gave insights to the world of futures and options, as the title says. It is a finance

course, but completing it doesn’t require extensive knowledge in finance, it is enough to have

completed the introduction to finance and maybe corporate finance course. The course

included weekly quizzes done online covering that week’s lectures’ topics, a case study on a

swap deal done in a group of 3-4 people, and the final exam. The lecturer is seems quite tough

at first, but he was a good teacher in my opinion, and fair in the grading.

This course was quite useful if you have not studied futures and options before and are

interested in the topic. The course gave a good overview of the topics, and the quizzes and

case help to put the learnings to practice.

2300 Management Seminar – graduate – 3,50 ECTS

Lecturer: Carlos Alberto Alves Marques

Evaluation: 1. Sessions Participation - 30%

2. Individual Reports - 70%

This course features a speaker from a company each week, and the speakers are always from

different companies and the different companies represent different topics. The structure of

the classes is so, that in the first hour the guest speaker gives a presentation, in the second

hour there are questions and comments from the audience and discussion, and in the final

hour each student writes a 1-page individual report on the topic discussed. The grade of the

course is determined on these individual reports and class participation. Each student is

required to choose one company/topic where he/she is supposed to be prepared to ask

questions, and this class counts the most for the participation grade.

There is no final exam or out-of-class assignments, but it is advised that the students should

familiarize themselves with the companies and topics before class. However, the course is not

at all time-consuming. It is also exciting to have so many guest speakers from different

companies and to be able to ask questions. In our course, we had speakers from e.g. L’Oréal

and Unilever. In my opinion, the course was interesting, but maybe not the most useful in

terms of takeaways from the course.

Portuguese language course – A1 level – 4,00 ECTS

Lecturer: Sandro Dias

Evaluation: 1. Mid-term exam

2. Oral presentation

3. Final exam

I decided to take a Portuguese language course in addition to the business courses, as one

local language or culture course can be studied during the exchange and taken into account in

the credits. This course was not held at Nova SBE, but the FCSH faculty, which is Nova’s faculty

for humanities and social sciences, as well as languages. The enrollment was simple, however

it has to be done in person at the FCSH faculty which is quite close to Nova SBE. As an

Erasmus-student, you are only required to pay an enrollment fee of EUR50. The courses are

held at several different times, always twice per week, so it is quite easy to find a course with

hours that suit your schedule.

The Portuguese course I took was A1 level, i.e. the introductory course, as I had not studied

Portuguese before. The course was quite useful in the end, as I noticed that I could make small

conversation in a café for example. Although in Lisbon most people speak very good English,

and it is easy to manage with just English, I think it is always useful to speak even a little bit of

the local language, and sometimes some if the older people in Lisbon do not speak any

English.

Free time and other information

Portugal is a very inexpensive country to live in compared to Finland. Generally, prices are

about half of the prices in Finland, for things like eating out, drinks, taxis, etc. However,

accommodation is not as cheap in comparison; most rooms go for 250-500 euros per month

depending on the condition and location of the apartment.

At Nova SBE, there were not any school fees, except for the enrollment fee of EUR50 for the

Portuguese language course, if you decide to take this course. Books are generally not

required, and I did not buy or read any of the course books of my courses.

At Nova SBE and in Lisbon in general I found it very easy to get to know people. There are

many many universities in Lisbon, and thus many many exchange and Erasmus students, who

are looking for new friends. In fact, the Erasmus life is such a big deal in Lisbon that there are

two Erasmus organizations, Erasmus Student Network i.e. ESN, and Erasmus Life Lisboa, i.e.

ELL, both organizing events for exchange students practically every day. There is even a place

in Bairro Alto (which is a good place for a night out) called Erasmus Corner, known by every

exchange student in Lisbon. In addition, the Nova Student Union organized several events for

us, including the Welcome Week, where it was easy to get to know the other exchange

students.

So, Lisbon is big on exchange students, and the atmosphere is very international. Lisbon is

also very relaxed, maybe even unorganized, and some things can take a lot of time. The local

attitude is similar to other Southern European countries; “no need to stress out, things will

work out in the end”. However, the “mañana”-type thinking can be a bit annoying coming from

Finland where things are very organized and structured. In the end, I found that things do

work out eventually, and it is good to have a little practice in patience and trying not to stress

the small stuff.

The weather in Lisbon is pretty amazing. In the end of summer and early fall, it was very hot,

even +40 degrees on some days. Even in October, the weather was good enough to go to the

beach. Normally, the winter is very rainy, but I had great luck as we only had a handful of

rainy days, and mostly enjoyed sunshine and warmth. Even on my last day, December 22nd, it

was still +15 degrees and sunny with blue skies.

For activities in Lisbon, I would recommend trying surfing, as Portugal is known for the

surfing culture. If the surfing is not your thing, also just lying on the beach in +30 is pretty

nice. In addition, there are a lot of cultural activities in and around Lisbon, like visiting Belem

and Sintra, or just walking around in Lisbon and admiring the architecture.

The Belem Tower

Besides enjoying Lisbon, I traveled around a bit. Traveling around Portugal is quite cheap.

During my semester, I went to the south of Portugal, the region of Algarve two times, once

during our Welcome Weekend, when we were in Portimão, and the second time we went for a

road-trip around Algarve. I would highly recommend visiting this part of Portugal, the

beaches and views are breathtaking. Renting a car for a road-trip was a good option in my

opinion, it was quite cheap and we could visit many different places in one trip.

Somewhere in the Algarve

I also visited Oporto (or Porto in Finnish and Portuguese), which is the second largest city in

Portugal. Reaching Oporto is easy and cheap, we flew there with Ryanair for about EUR30 for

a round-trip. This was also a great trip, Oporto has a lot to see, and it is a very cute city. One

speciality of Oporto is the Port wine; there are several wineries and Port wine tours and

tastings offered there. We went to Taylor’s tour and tasting, which was very interesting.

Streets of Oporto

In addition, I visited the Azores, which is a group of islands belonging to Portugal in the

middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Ryanair flies here too, and you can get a roundtrip for as cheap

as EUR50, I paid EUR100 for my roundtrip as I only booked it about one week before the trip.

We spent our whole trip in the São Miguel Island, which is the biggest one. The Azores trip

was an amazing experience. These islands are in a volcanic area, and can be compared to

Iceland for the views and hot lagoons etc. This trip is a definite must for a nature-lover!

Sete Cidades lake in the Azores

As my final trip, I went to Madrid, Spain. This was my first time in Madrid, and I really liked

the city. There is a lot of good food, shopping and sightseeing in Madrid. You can get cheap

flights from Lisbon to Madrid, and there are also buses. This trip to Madrid was the only trip I

made outside of Portugal during my exchange. I was surprised at how many must-see places

there are already in Portugal! And I think it is worth it to enjoy living in Lisbon too and not

spend all your time traveling around, as Lisbon is an amazing city in itself!

The Crystal Palace in El Retiro Park, Madrid

Final Comments

I would definitely recommend Lisbon as an exchange city. Lisbon is full of universities, so it is

also full of exchange and Erasmus students, and thus all kinds of events. The atmosphere in

Lisbon is very international and relaxed, and I think it would be difficult not to fall in love with

the city.

Coming to the university, Nova SBE is one of the most-highly ranked business schools in

Europe, and also in the world. In 2016, Nova SBE’s “International Master in Management”

program was ranked nr 17 in the world by Financial Times. It is also the most prestigious

business school in Portugal. Thus, studying at Nova SBE might not be the easiest choice for an

exchange semester, but coming from our school, there is not much of a change in the

workload or the expectations of the professors. If I were to do the same exchange semester

again, I definitely would go to Lisbon and Nova SBE again, and can’t think of anything I would

change from my experience.

During my exchange, I learned that I can easily adapt to new situations and environments. I

have done an exchange before Lisbon in my Bachelor’s Degree, and this time around it was

definitely easier to adjust to living abroad. Thus, I am confident that having the experience of

living abroad makes it easier to adjust to new situations. In addition, I gained more experience

in presenting to audiences. Having studied accounting, I have done many group works during

my studies, but not that many presentations. At Nova SBE, I studied mostly management

courses, and in addition to doing group work, we had to present many of our works, which

was good practice for the future.

Lisbon by night