Travel Report Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (WU) Fall …...Travel Report Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (WU) Fall 2016/2017 Preparing for the e xchan g e I decided to go on exchange

Travel Report Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (WU) Fall 2016/2017 Preparing for the exchange

I decided to go on exchange in the beginning of my master’s programme so I was mentally ready for the paperwork, having gone on exchange during bachelor’s before. I had no problem filling in all documents Aalto and WU required, however I did have to obtain a visa to Austria due to my non-EU citizenship. I had a minor difficulty figuring out whether I would or would not need an English language certificate (e.g. IELTS) for certain WU courses I was planning to take (as they had very specific requirements) but I managed to resolve it by talking to staff in both Aalto and WU.

I reached out to the official Austrian representatives in Finland via email and they replied swiftly informing me that they are not authorized to issue visas in Finland, offering me to apply in Germany, Slovakia or Slovenia. As I planned to live in Germany whole summer, I had decided I would be applying there and the only Austrian visa center in Germany is in Munich. I have collected all necessary documents (like visa application form, bank statements, insurance) and waited until July (applications begin maximum 3 month before the beginning of study). I went to Munich by appointment with a visa officer and the visa was ready within 2 hours. The visa fee was 200 euro.

Inside WU’s main library

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In the beginning of August WU published the registration links and the registration for all courses had to be done very quickly on a first-come first-served basis. Before that I looked at the list of courses but also spoke to a fellow Aalto student who went to WU during previous academic year so I had a good idea of what kind of courses to choose. The timetables for all courses and their contents were available in advance so I had enough time to figure out what courses I wanted and my personal timetable. I chose WU in general because of the Master’s Programme in Socio-Ecological Economics (SEEP) and policy which I thought would complement Aalto’s Creative Sustainability nicely. These courses were not so popular among exchange students so I had no problem registering.

I have travelled to Vienna from my home country by plane. Vienna in general is very well connected so it is easy to get flight tickets for any date. Teaching at WU starts in October and induction for exchange students starts either 3 weeks in advance (for those taking the big induction & language introductory course) or several days before courses start. I did not choose the induction course so I arrived at a latest date in the end of September. The induction took one day where we were welcomed by WU’s international office, study coordinators and Erasmus Buddy Network. The day was organised very well and we were also taken to a small campus tour. WU has only one campus so everything is located within short walking distance.

A view on the Vienna International Center over the Danube

Accommodation

I have received guidance on finding accommodation from WU in spring. WU recommended taking the official student accommodation service of Austria - Oead - that has a lot of options

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in Vienna. It is very common in Austria to share rooms (e.g. 2 persons in the room), which is something Finnish students may find disturbing. I therefore set for choosing the cheapest option where I would have a room of my own. The application for accommodation and a deposit of 950 euro had to be paid in March. The accommodation then has been booked for me early enough and I could use that confirmation for the visa application. Oead has different residences and they are managed by different offices. In my residence it was impossible to move in a couple of days before the month begins or ends, e.g. 1 October or 31 January. Since I had to arrive few days before 1 October, I had to book an airbnb. In general, the staff of my Oead was not really friendly and administration things could have been organised much better and in a more effective way.

The view from my window My accommodation was a small room with my own bathroom, very well furnished, in a student house that is also a hotel in the very centre. The kitchen and laundry facilities were shared but for some reason one could only use the kitchen from 7 to 22 which I find inconvenient. However the location was very close to the city centre and within walking distance from the main shopping street. There were all kinds of grocery stores, shops and entertainment around and a metro just 1 min walk down the street so I couldn’t complain. It took me 25 min by metro to reach the university campus. My small room costed 385 euro per month plus an administration fee of 18 euro (which I find unjustified) and after moving out

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Oead also charges 50 euro cleaning fee. In total, I find Helsinki’s HOAS prices and facilities a way better value for money.

Exchange studies

The fall semester in WU starts in October and finishes in the beginning of February. There is a 2 weeks break for Christmas. Exams are organised throughout the semester but on master level courses exams are not so frequent like in Aalto. I have chosen courses for which there were no exams (only on the language course).

WU offers quite many courses in different areas. There were around 4 SEEP courses offered of which I chose 2. All courses are different in volume, they can be from 2 up to 10 ECTS. There are also elective courses offered which are promoted especially for exchange students. I have chosen to follow mostly the SEEP programme and what happens in it, rather than any other programmes. There was only a handful of exchange students in SEEP courses so I felt quite integrated in the programme.

Vienna is home to Gustav Klimt so you can find anything you like with his paintings

WU offers 6 ECTS business German language courses for exchange students. Upon arrival at WU I took a placement test and got into B1-B2 level. I have studied German before so this level was what I have expected. The German course started three weeks after the beginning of teaching and ended before Christmas.

Here’s a summary of the courses I took: ● 2202 - Building Cleantech Startups (Elective), graduate, 6 ECTS; Wolfgang

Sachsenhofer, Kathrin Weisberger, Albrecht Karlusch, Verena Kontschieder ○ Summary: The course is about building a startup around an idea in climate

change technology in groups. Various aspects of entrepreneurship are

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explored like design thinking, business modelling, working in groups, pitching.

○ Evaluation: final presentation, business proposal paper, working paper assignments during the course

○ Scheduling: There were several sessions from 2 up to 8 hours throughout the semester, mostly in late afternoons or evenings

○ Teaching: All instructors were from the Institute of Strategy and Innovation doing work related to the field of entrepreneurship. One was a trained design thinking instructor. They were all quite young and seemed to have the right mindset for the topic. There were also incoming experts from Austrian business and guest lecturers.

○ Overall impression: The course was not organised very well and the instructors did not keep their promise of including students from Vienna Technical University (TU Wien) as was promised before the course start. In general, entrepreneurship courses are organised in Aalto much better and WU is very far from Aalto’s entrepreneurial spirit. No considerable facilities like Startup Sauna or Design Factory for entrepreneurship on WU’s campus either.

● 2274 - Environmental Change and Policy II, graduate, 10 ECTS; Sigrid Stagl, Reinhard Mechler, Martin Bruekner

○ Summary: The course is about environmental science informing policymaking institutions and key methods in environmental science that are used, in particular, to develop climate change problematique

○ Evaluation: wiki (online), group paper and two individual papers (all up to 2500 words)

○ Scheduling: weekly 3 hour lectures ○ Teaching: All instructors have vast experiences in their areas and were able to

complement lectures with real life examples. They were all very good, knew the subject very well and encouraged discussions in class

○ Overall impression: This is a very good course for anyone interested in environment, sustainability and the policymaking around it. It is a great opportunity to learn the methods of integrated environmental science that is not offered in Aalto.

● 1316 - Globalisation and Multi-Level Policy, graduate, 10 ECTS; Andreas Novy, Verena Madner

○ Summary: The course tackles key concepts of governance, as well as power, democracy, social innovation, transition and transformation.

○ Evaluation: 3 short case studies, study report, presentation and joint research project (6000 words) in groups

○ Scheduling: one 2 hour lecture per week, 3 lectures of 5 hours throughout the semester

○ Teaching: Very good instructors well-connected to the policy works in relevant topics. Interesting local case studies and guest lecturers. The lecturers provided very good support for research projects.

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○ Overall impression: The course is quite interesting but close to quite philosophical questions. European governance and policies were often discussed, especially in relation to Austria so not everybody in the class could really follow. In general, the course teaches very well how to use different concepts in research and gives a good training before master’s thesis.

● 0064 - Wirtschaftskommunikation Deutsch III (German Business Communication), graduate/undergraduate, 6 ECTS; Peter Wassertheurer

○ Summary: this is a B1-B2 German language course with focus on communication (speaking)

○ Evaluation: several vocabulary tests during the course, one final exam (grammar, reading, writing, no speaking)

○ Scheduling: once per week for 3.5 hours in the evening ○ Teaching: The instructor was a native speaker but spoke excellent English as

well and was peculiar in learning Austrian pronunciation which was good. There was a lot of emphasis on learning vocabulary. Unfortunately for a language class there were too many students (more than 25) which undermined the discipline.

○ Overall impression: The course was fun and really helped me enhance my German skills and familiarise myself with business German and Austrian business life

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A sunny day at WU

Now a couple of words in general about the academic culture at WU. I had a tiny culture shock when I saw that instead of clapping here students knock on the tables. This might be an Austrian thing but I still think it’s weird. WU has an amazing huge library designed by Zaha Hadid (local Sehenswuerdigkeit ). For security reasons no bags/jackets can be taken inside so everyone must enter with transparent plastic bags which you can get for free at the entrance desk. There are then hundreds of lockers in the library to put personal stuff in. There are two other libraries for social sciences and legal affairs. The book collection is impressive and the online access is very handy too. There is plenty of study spaces inside the library so the majority of the students spend their study time there.

WU has a bright new campus built in 2013 with state of the art modern buildings. It is a block on its own located between a park, an exhibition centre and Prater (a big street). There are two metro stations next to the campus. Students can eat in the big canteen (Mensa) for reduced price, or in restaurants (Scandinavian (!), burger, mexican, coffee places). There is also a supermarket on campus selling a plenty of sandwiches, salads, baked stuff, coffee and

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groceries in general. Eating during lectures is considered appropriate. Austria has a very high quality tap water flowing from the mountains so everyone drinks tap water like in Finland. Every building has convenient study rooms that can be booked from an online system.

I had the impression that the SEEP programme collects the most serious and mature students who are keen on deep academic discussions in class. In general, the exchange felt really academic and since I studied with second year master students too, we all felt like we’re upon graduation and should take the studies very seriously. Despite the students being so responsible, I was often annoyed how unpunctual both lecturers and students can be, coming to class 30 minutes late. Classes often started later because we waited for “some more people to come” or lecturers were late. Another thing that I find annoying is the titles which is true for Austrian and German-speaking countries in general. All titles are mentioned everywhere like Prof., Mag., Doctor etc and teachers have to be addressed by titles. This is hard to get accustomed to after Finland where teachers can be addressed by their first name.

I have been positively surprised that WU lecturers and students have treated exchange students with understanding and offered help in keeping up with course content and local requirements for tasks, giving extra literature to read. WU was very much academic compared to Aalto and it got me some time to get it right of what is expected from me as a student in such university environment.

A couple of annoying organisational things - WU’s learning platform Learn@WU is not as good as MyCourses and the teachers often can’t manage it properly and have to address their secretaries. Course feedback was collected on papers instead of online survey and then had to be taken by a student to some coordinator. In general, there is unnecessary paperwork and bureaucracy at WU that could be reduced. Grading assignments also takes ages and it is normal when one doesn’t receive a grade within one month from completing an assignment.

Free time and other information

Cost of living

Vienna is known as not so expensive. The biggest expense is accommodation. The transport ticket for the whole semester (September-January) costs 75 euro and is valid for the greater city of Vienna for all kinds of transport. Food is slightly cheaper than in Finland, restaurants are cheaper and it’s possible to get a good meal for 10 euro. Cheapest phone tariffs are around 10 euro per month. Student card fees were about 30 euros in total and no money had to be spent on study books.

Free time

Vienna is a very big city where there are unlimited opportunities for free time. It is a true cultural centre so if you like music you can spend your whole time attending concerts and operas. There are a plenty of museums, especially art museums. I have attended the Vienna Museums Night where for a 12 euro ticket you can attend more than 100 museums in 8

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hours in the night. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Albertina and Leopold Museum are definitely worth visiting if you’re into visual arts.

Traditional dessert Kaiserschmarrn

Vienna’s main shopping street Mariahilferstrasse offers all the main brands. A good place to shop is Donauzentrum on the other side of Donau. Vienna has plenty of parks and a quiet and long Donauinsel which is ideal for cycling, walking or roller skating. In September-October it’s great to visit Viennese vineyards located in the city and try some local wine. Of course if you’re in Vienna it is recommended to go to one of the traditional cafes and try coffee, Sacher torte and schnitzel.

I am personally into cinema so I have been a frequent guest at Haydn cinema which only shows movies in English. I paid 50 euros for a loyalty card and for that price went to the cinema 7 times.

Local Erasmus Business Network organised trips and parties for international students quite often. There were local student parties to attend as well. A prominent feature of Viennese life in general is balls so it’s normal when it takes several months for local students to learn how to waltz and to find find a partner.

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I have personally enjoyed exploring various areas of Vienna and its architecture. The transport connections in the city are excellent and it’s easy to get whenever you want.

Not all people in Vienna speak English. Often in some service points like local residence register office or bank it’s normal when you speak German and you’re being answered in German with no care whether you in fact speak or understand German yourself. I can understand German so it was okay but I still find it impolite, especially for the people who don’t speak German. There are a lot of foreigners in the city since Vienna is in the center of Europe but somehow people often refuse to speak English.

Lastly, there is no real winter in Vienna. The coldest temperature in January was -9C and there were only 3 days of real snow.

Final comments

Would I recommend WU to other students? I would definitely recommend WU to students from Aalto. In my opinion, here you can familiarise yourself with the Austrian school and tradition of economics and enjoy your time in an internationally acknowledged institution. You can also travel a lot since there is a plenty of interesting countries around Austria.

Would I do anything differently had I gone on exchange to WU again? I don’t think I would do anything differently but I would pay more attention to the contents of the courses offered to make sure they really align with my expectations.

What did I learn during my exchange? I received a great knowledge on substantive topics like multi-level governance, science and technology studies (STS), environmental policy and informing policy. I have got better in my German as well. On top of this, I have greatly improved my research skills and now feel way more prepared for a master’s thesis.

What did I learn about myself during the exchange? During the exchange I mostly reflected on my approach to learning and how to learn to shift to different learning environments. I also learned that Aalto’s innovative and somewhat hip academic environment better suits my personality than very academic and research-based environment at WU.

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