Travel Report Rotterdam School of Management

Master’s Exchange, Fall 2016 288945

1. Introduction

I spent the fall of 2016 studying at Rotterdam School of Management, and overall had a great time in

the Netherlands. In this report, I will describe my Master’s exchange experience, and give you

information about RSM as a potential alternative to the many universities you are probably comparing

right now. If you are looking for a high-level university in an open-minded country, look no further.

Additionally, I will try to include as much useful advice as possible for those who have already decided

to go for RSM, and are about to embark on this epic journey.

2. Preparing for the exchange

After the international office has nominated you for exchange, there is an orientation at Aalto for all

students. Join the event to get information about the formalities, paperwork etc. you must do before

leaving. Since RSM is part of the Erasmus program, it is good to be prepared for a lot of filling in and

sending documents back and forth. Do not feel alarmed though, there is a lot of communication from

both universities throughout the process so simply follow guidelines (and deadlines), and ask questions

if anything bothers you.

A welcome e-mail arrived from the lovely international coordinator Ellen Vermeulen at the end of April.

Within it was for example information about RSM, the academic calendar and preliminary course

choices. At this point, they request you to fill in a couple of online applications, send official transcript

of records (remember to get a signature and stamp from Aalto, I learned the hard way), and upload

photos for a student ID. Even though Finnish citizens do not need to apply for a Visa to Netherlands,

you are required to complete a Visa/Residence permit checklist for RSM.

After successfully completing everything, you receive the letter of acceptance from RSM. The

international office also sends course timetables, and a form to fill in course-choices by mid-July. It is

up to you to make sure the courses do not overlap too much (read instructions for using the SIN-Online

portal), but there is still some room to make changes once you get to Rotterdam. Prior to leaving, Aalto

requires sending an Erasmus Learning Agreement with the course choices, and if anything changes

during the exchange, you need to send a new one afterwards. Some additional Erasmus-related stuff

to take care of include a language test, a letter of confirmation after the exchange, and the Erasmus

scholarship commitment. You will get enough info about these from Aalto.

Finally a few important things to do:

Buy plane tickets after receiving the letter of confirmation from the host university. Finnair flies to Amsterdam Schiphol in 2 hours 30 minutes and costs around 200+ euros one way. RSM organizes a pick-up service from the airport, but taking a train straight to Rotterdam is convenient by yourself.

Search for accommodation early! Getting a place to stay at in Rotterdam is arguably the hardest part of the exchange, and some students struggled the first few weeks without housing. I have included a section later in this report that focuses on getting accommodation.

Make sure your travel insurance is up to date. I had to extend mine by one month.

Join the RSM exchange student Facebook group(s), and contact your RSM student buddy to say hi.

Be prepared to work hard, and if it is your thing, play hard.

3. Exchange studies

There was a mandatory introduction day on August 26, which was very useful. I would advise arriving

to Rotterdam a day or two prior to this to be accustomed to moving around the city. The introduction

day first consisted of receiving information about the campus and studies, the city, and getting a

welcome package with a bunch of brochures, a t-shirt and your student ID. Then we met the

international office staff, whom helped with any issues during the exchange. Finally, after the formal

part, there was traditional Dutch lunch (cold sandwiches) at a restaurant, and a fun game to explore

the city with your RSM buddy and group. The introduction day was a great way to get to know other

students, so definitely take part if possible.

The actual studies started on 29 August and lasted until 16 of December. RSM has a block system, which

resembles the periods we have at Aalto so there were two blocks during fall semester. Block I courses

took place 29 August – 14 October, and block II courses 24 October - 9 December 2016 (with exams

afterwards). What I found quite strange though was that some of the courses lasted the whole block,

but then others lasted only a few weeks with a couple more classes, still with similar ECTS. Consider

this when planning your timetable.

Overall, I think that the business course selection at RSM is fairly wide as you can choose freely from

ten different Master’s programs:

Accounting & Financial Management

Business Information Management

Finance & Investments

Global Business & Sustainability

Human Resource Management

Management of Innovation

Marketing Management

Organizational Change & Consulting

Strategic Entrepreneurship

Strategic Management

This results in about 45 different courses in the fall semester. However, it is up to you to make sure that

the courses do not overlap too much, and especially that they don’t have the same final exam date

unless you want to fly back to take a re-sit exam (happened to a friend of mine). Also, if you’ve taken a

similar course in Aalto, be sure to ask beforehand if it’s possible to be included in your exchange

program. During fall, the courses are core-courses, meaning that most students who have come to

study in these Master’s programs are required to take them, and the contents start from the basic to

more advanced. If you decide to come to Rotterdam during spring, the courses are mostly electives,

which can be more interesting (e.g. Neuromarketing, Big Data analytics), but also more difficult without

previous knowledge of the major.

As an Aalto student, you are required to take 24 ECTS, which amounts to about five courses at RSM.

You’ll be studying a lot, since the local master’s students take only four and even they seemed

overburdened sometimes. This of course depends on the difficulty and workload of the courses you

decide to choose.

I think that the level of teaching at RSM is high, and I enjoyed the lectures (and even most of the

assignments) very much since they were quite different to Aalto. The teachers are passionate about the

topic they are talking about, and encourage the class to take part in conversation. Coming back to Aalto

lectures it was like night and day: over there students are actively participating and even arguing about

the topic, while here we often have a talking head in front and everyone listens quietly. I enjoyed

working with other students too, both Dutch and international (in some majors about 80% were from

other countries), as they were so motivated to do their best. The only real issues I had was working with

some exchange students, whom did not always put enough effort for some of the rather challenging

assignments, so I would advise you to choose group members wisely at the beginning of each course.

The easiest way to do this is to go to the first lecture, talk with other students and ask to join the

Facebook groups for each Master’s program. There people are looking for group members, but also

sharing extremely valuable summaries of course contents.

Next, I will briefly go through the courses I took.

BLOCK I

Information Strategy (BM01BIM, 5 ECTS, Professor: Dr. Ting Li)

The first core-course of Business Information Management, Information Strategy is about the ways in

which information technology (IT) is transforming business. The objective of the course is to learn how

IT enables new business models, and alters marketing, sales, operations, as well as business practices.

Lecture-topics included issues in e-commerce, changes in consumer behavior, electronic markets and

auctions, pricing and versioning of digital goods, and platform mediated networks. Overall quite basic,

yet important stuff.

The grading was based on two group assignments (20% and 30%), writing a few blog posts about

interesting new technologies (10%), and a final exam (40%). This can seem like a little, but do not

underestimate the workload. In the first assignment, we had to make a professional-level

video/animation about the week’s topic. The second assignment was going to a real company,

interviewing them and proposing a digital solution to their current problem(s). Deliverables included

again a video, and a 15-page report. The final exam was quite relaxed though.

I would recommend choosing this one because of its usefulness to all study backgrounds. I also liked

the innovative nature of the assignments; they made learning the topics more fun. The only real minus

comes from the lectures. Business Information Management is by far the most popular program in RSM,

which means 300+ students in mass-lectures. Professor Ting Li handled the crowd well, but peer

discussion about the topic was minimal. Thankfully, you could watch a lecture live-stream at home if

you wanted.

Strategy of Innovation (BM02MI, 5 ECTS, Professor: Dr. Murat Tarakci)

The course gives a great overview on the fundamentals of crafting and executing strategies to facilitate

innovation in organizations. Topics involved formulation and execution of innovation strategy, patents

as strategic weapons, technology roadmaps, and innovation portfolio-management. Additionally,

special attention was given to disruptive - and business model innovation.

The grade consisted of one assignment (30%) and a final exam (70%). You could choose to do an

individual or a group assignment. In the group assignment, you went out to talk to employees from

different businesses about their company’s innovation strategy, and based on the course contents gave

advice on what they could do better. Groups then wrote a short report about the discussions. I did the

individual assignment, were I analyzed Supercells innovation strategy with concepts, theories and tools

learned in the course. I think that the final exam was one of the more difficult ones in RSM. You basically

had to study all academic articles of the lectures (3-4 per lecture) well, and then apply the knowledge

in different situations. However, lecture-summaries by other students made studying for the final exam

easier.

Strategy of innovation is a fascinating course, and discussions in class were top-notch. Murat actively

challenged everyone to participate. It was especially nice to analyze for example Nokia’s rise and failure

from a management point of view. An additional plus comes from a few interesting guest lectures (e.g.

Senior VP of Unilever). A minor negative about the course was the large amount of academic articles

you had to read.

Organization of Innovation (BM03MI, 5 ECTS, Professor: Dr. Stefano Tasselli)

A continuation to the previous course, Organization of Innovation focused on the management and

organization of the innovation process at large and small enterprises from a global perspective, as well

as the organizational conditions that either facilitate or hamper delivering high-quality products and

services to the market. Topics comprised of for example how to leverage windows of opportunity, idea

generation and product development, and designing an organizational structure for innovation.

The final grade came from one group assignment (20%), an individual assignment (10%), class

contribution (5%) and exam (65%). In the group assignment, we solved a business case given by guest

speaker Richard Muller from Philips. The assignment highlighted searching for out-of-the-box solutions

to Philips Shavers. In the individual assignment, students analyzed their own social networks and

reflected upon how to improve them. The final exam was an absolute joke; you could choose two essay

questions out of four to answer. Therefore, everyone got high grades from the course.

I have mixed feelings about Organization of Innovation. On one hand, it was nice to listen to ex-

McKinsey & Company consultant Stefano’s relaxed rambling about the topics in a lively, simple way. In

addition, learning about the real issues from guest speakers from Engie and Philips was good. On the

other hand, I don’t think this course brought enough value in addition to the previous one. My

recommendation is to choose Strategy of Innovation over this, if you want more bang for buck.

Block II

Marketing Strategy (BM04MM, 6 ECTS, Professor: Dr. Stefano Puntoni)

The primary objectives of this course were to: a) Understand the elements of marketing strategy b)

Provide a wide array of strategic tools to empower students in their future career and personal

development. Contentwise most of the focus was in learning how develop a marketing strategy, how

to determine an organization’s competitive position, and how to recognize sources of meaningful

differentiation. There were also separate lectures on for example open-source innovation

(collaborating with customers), and market-driving strategies.

Grading consisted of two individual assignments (30%), a group assignment (20%) and exam (50%). All

of these emphasized real life case-analysis, which is quite different from marketing courses at Aalto.

For example, in the final exam you had to solve a 17-page case in three hours, applying different

marketing tools/frameworks learned in class.

Marketing Strategy was my favorite course at RSM simply because it found the perfect balance between

challenging enough and learning a lot. Instead of the theoretical focus we have in Aalto, this one went

straight into practice. There’s no academic articles or concepts to memorize, but instead you learn to

apply effective tools in creating a marketing strategy for a company. Overall, useful stuff for students

from all study backgrounds. Stefano Puntoni has an insightful and passionate way of teaching. His

lecture slides are full of practical examples and images that highlight the topics. A final bonus was a full-

day event at a place called “Uit je Eigen Stad”, were students tackled issues of various start-up

companies.

Entrepreneurial Skillset (CM03SE, 5.5 ECTS, Professor: Dr. Magdalena Cholakova)

The only course I took from the Strategic Entrepreneurship major, Entrepreneurial Skillset was the

biggest disappointment in RSM. On paper, the learning objectives were interesting e.g. analyzing

leadership characteristics and styles, identifying how to make better decisions, analyzing negotiation

styles and improving your negotiation skills, acquiring a set of effective presentation techniques,

learning conflict resolution techniques and so on. However, in practice the course was as chaotic as

running a start-up company.

Evaluation consisted of three case analysis assignments (50%) and critical self-reflection reports (50%).

The cases were mostly exciting, but the main issue were the self-reflection reports. We had up to three

classes a week, and after every single lecture, you had to write 1000 words about the topic of the day.

On one occasion we did a teambuilding activity called Marshmallow Challenge (look it up if you wish),

and afterwards you were supposed to write the 1000 words about it (while referring to 3-6 assigned

academic articles). Horrible.

I would not recommend this to anyone, unless you like critical self-reflection torture. However, I heard

that the other Strategic Entrepreneurship courses are much more practical, so they might be worth to

consider.

4. Free time and other information

General info about Rotterdam and the Netherlands

During World War II, much of Rotterdam was completely destroyed, and then later rebuilt with

beautiful modern architecture. Today, Rotterdam has undeniably the most spectacular skyline in the

Netherlands. Another interesting fact is that Rotterdam has the largest and busiest port in Europe,

which has made the city into a major business center. Firms such as Unilever, Protecter & Gamble and

Shell all have headquarters (and work opportunities) in the area. Rotterdam is the second largest city

in Netherlands, with a population count similar to Helsinki, and overall the city feels like home straight

away. The vibe in general is international, vibrant and safe.

On the cultural side, I think that Dutch people are quite similar to us Finns, except a bit more outgoing

and confident. As an example, if you have some food on your mouth, the Dutch are quick to say about

it. They also are very proud of their country and heritage, which shows in different festivals and

customs. Everyone speaks English well, and if you get lost, the Dutch are eager to help. What I really

enjoyed was their open-mindedness and relaxed attitude towards life in general. It is for example

completely okay to enjoy a beer before (but preferably after) class with your classmates at the campus

cafeteria. The only “issue” I had about the Dutch are their eating habits. They usually never have a warm

lunch, instead living on sandwiches and toasts the whole day. The sandwiches are delicious of course,

but after a few months start to feel like a chore. Thankfully, there are excellent food choices on campus

ranging from Indonesian food to grilled delicacies (e.g. grilled salmon on Fridays).

I did not really experience the dreaded Dutch-weather everyone was talking about in previous travel

reports as it was sunny and warm for most of the exchange. In the fall summer lasted well until October.

September and October were very warm and it was especially nice to relax on the beaches of Den Haag

and Kralingse Bos in Rotterdam. However, towards the end of the exchange it got significantly colder

and rainier, so most likely, if you go in the spring period be prepared.

Accommodation

The housing situation is Rotterdam is horrible. There’s way too many students and expats coming to

the city compared to the number of apartments offered, which means a fierce fight for free places and

high rental costs. To me it is completely baffling that you can buy an apartment in the center of

Rotterdam for up to three times cheaper than in Helsinki, but the rents are the same or higher.

One way to secure an apartment is to do it through SSH (international student housing agency). SSH

has a limited amount of rooms available for RSM students, but you have to be extremely quick to get

one. After I received the welcome e-mail in August, the rooms were full the next day. It’s impossible to

get single rooms, but if you don’t mind a few roommates, then I would recommend the Hatta-building

or the F-building. Both are perfectly situated on campus and cost about 520+ euros per month.

I chose to book a room in the Student Hotel (https://www.thestudenthotel.com/rotterdam) and was

satisfied with the choice. My fiancé came to Netherlands for an extended holiday so we ended up

paying about 1100 euros a month 50/50 for a 30m2 superior suite (the Hotel staff upgraded us for the

whole duration for free because of a slight mix-up in the beginning). Normally student hotel has 23m2

suites with an own kitchen, bathroom, flat screen TV and queen-size bed for the price. However, this

means booking as a normal hotel guest. The price for a room as a “student guest” is about 800+ euros,

but the problem is you have to reserve it for five months. Since the exchange lasts four months, you

will have to find a new tenant for the last month. What makes the Student Hotel completely worth it is

everything that is included in the price: cleaning every Friday, great food (and beer) for a discounted

price from the restaurant, fresh towels, kitchen utensils, a bike (!!) and maintenance for it, hotel staff

to answer any questions, countless parties at the venue, a pretty decent gym, laundry room and so on.

Save up during the summer and go for the student hotel.

Other private market options include www.housinganywhere.com, www.nestpick.com and

www.rotterdam2stay.nl. Again, if you find something good be quick to reserve it.

Moving around Rotterdam

The first thing to do once you get to Netherlands is to buy an OV-chipkaart for about 7 euros at the

train station or any Albert Heijn store. The OV-chipkaart is a travel card that works in buses, metros,

trams and trains all over Netherlands. You can top it up at any station, and you only pay for the

kilometers travelled. For planning trips, you can use 9292, which is the local “Reittiopas”. What makes

9292 great is that it shows the estimated price of the journey. You’ll likely use the OV-chipkaart only for

longer distances or on rainy days. Most of the travelling within Rotterdam is done by bike.

Therefore, the second crucial thing to do is to buy a bike. There are countless second-hand bike shops

around the city and one at the campus. Low quality bikes go for about 80 euros and nicer ones well

over 100 euros. Like mentioned, a sweet bike is included for Student Hotel guests. At this point, it is

important to state that you should lock the bike well because of the Rotterdam bicycle mafia. A friend

of mine bought an expensive bicycle, locked it up with a steel chain and the next night it was stolen.

I absolutely loved biking around Rotterdam. It’s really safe and convenient as everywhere you go there

are biking lanes (sometimes wider than roads) and cars are accustomed to making way for you. One of

my fondest memories is joining the hundreds of other bicyclists every morning on the way to school.

Food, shopping and other expenses

The price level in Netherlands is similar to Finland, but of course, there are some differences. Firstly

food. Eating out at a nice restaurant is a couple of euros cheaper than here. Meals at the campus area

restaurants are about 5-7 euros. Since we had our own kitchen, we decided to cook at home to save

money. Another way to save money is to go full-on Dutch, and bring your own sandwiches to school.

Typical groceries from Albert Heijn are about the same level as in Prisma, but you can find much cheaper

stuff at Lidl or Aldi. Tip: If you love hamburgers, I recommend going to a street called Witte de

Withstraat. I had the best hamburgers I’ve ever tasted at the restaurants “Hamburg” and “Termarsch

& Co” there for around 12 euros.

Good beers (Leffe, Tripel Karmeliet etc.) go for about 1.5 euros in grocery stores and 4-5 euros at

bars/restaurants. Social drinking seemed like a part of the culture, for example the campus bar “Café

In de Smitse” was full of people daily until midnight. However, I never experienced the same kind of

over the top drinking we sometimes have in Finland.

Shopping-wise Rotterdam is slightly better and cheaper than Helsinki, or at least that’s what my fiancé

told me. Apart from the usual H&M, Zara and Hugo Boss, they have a large number of designer fashion

boutiques scattered across the city. I bought most of my clothes at Primark because it’s dirt cheap.

Primark is in Alexandrium Shopping Mall, that has over 200 stores for every taste. Blaak Market Hall in

the city center is the go to place for buying excellent cheese, premium chocolate, Dutch fries & mayo,

and bagels (check out cafe Bagels and Beans).

Finally, other expenses include going to the movies, watching a high-level football match or two, and

travelling. Rotterdam has an IMAX movie theatre, and if you haven’t experienced IMAX before, go.

Tickets are about 8 euros, which is nothing compared to how epic the quality is. Rotterdam has three

football teams (Feyenoord, Sparta & SBV Excelsior) playing in the Eredivisie league so there’s plenty of

matches to choose. However, if you want to see for example a Feyenoord match, think about booking

tickets (30e and up) as soon as you get to Rotterdam. Next, I’ll discuss travelling.

Travelling

When Rotterdam gets boring, it’s time to explore Netherlands and other countries. The number one

place to visit is Den Haag (The Hague), a beautiful city located 26km north-west from Rotterdam. The

city has a wide sandy beach, and many historic landmarks to experience. Additionally, there are several

nice restaurants and bars for all tastes. My favorite was the “Fiddler”, a micro-brewery located by the

old church, with a great selection of craft beers. The blue metro (line E) travels straight to Den Haag in

about 30 minutes and costs a couple of euros.

Next on the travel list is of course Amsterdam. I don’t really have to hype up the city, so I’ll simply state

that there’s something for everyone. Check out Anne Frank’s museum, the several famous arts

museums, the Heineken Experience, and go on a canal cruise. Food-wise my recommendation in

Amsterdam is Cannibal Royale, a must visit place if you love steaks. The only thing I didn’t really like

about Amsterdam is the huge number of tourists, so after the craziness it felt good to come back to

peaceful Rotterdam. Trains travel to Amsterdam in 30 minutes and cost a bit over 10 euros.

ESN-Rotterdam (Erasmus Student Network) organizes several travel trips throughout the year, within

Netherlands as well as abroad. The travel trips are a great way to get to know other students and see

new places. I took part in the Oktoberfest trip to Munich, which was extremely well organized and at a

cheaper price, than if I travelled alone. Here’s a list of trips you can expect for the next semesters too:

http://www.esn-rotterdam.nl/city-trips-0 .

One final travel suggestion I have is to fly abroad if you have the chance. Flights are inexpensive from

Amsterdam Schiphol airport to basically anywhere around the world. We booked a travel package

through Tui.nl (might take some effort to navigate the Dutch language) to Orlando, Florida. It cost 600

euros each (1200 in total) for a 10-day trip to USA at a four-star hotel. For this price, you can usually

only fly to The States from Finland. Hotel packages to Tenerife, and other Canary Islands go for about

200 euros a week. If you want to travel abroad for a longer time, the best time to do so is in December

after your exams.

5. Final comments

In the end, I very much recommend choosing RSM as your master’s exchange destination. Apart from

the fact that the school is exceptionally good, and highly regarded worldwide, I really fell in love with

the open-minded Dutch culture. This was my second exchange, the first being at Thailand, and this time

I felt like I could definitely come back to the country to work after graduation. Choose a destination like

Thailand if you want a more relaxed experience, choose Netherlands if you really want to challenge

yourself, and improve your professional skillset and knowledge.

If I went to RSM again, I would try not to stress about the exams or assignments too much. Even if they

sometimes felt difficult, getting good grades as an Aalto student was relatively straightforward.

Remember, doing well at school is only part of the amazing experience of meeting new people and

cultures from around the world.

I learned a lot both in terms of my studies and as a person. Most importantly, I gained new confidence

in my own abilities to solve problems and create solutions in an international setting. After every single

time living abroad, I value Finland and Aalto University more. We really get an exceptional education

here, and any obstacles we face in our professional lives can be overcome with what we have already

learned. So, speak-up confidently like the Dutch, because you have the answers.