Erasmus Policy Statement (EPS)
I The mission of BI Norwegian School of Management is to be a business school that both nationally and internationally carries out research-based, lifelong learning in collaboration with individual students, business and industry and the public sector. This intended to strengthen BI financially so as to enable the institution to further develop its academic strength for the benefit of its users.
The mission statement places a strong emphasis on internationalization, and in this context the activities comprised by Erasmus and the lifelong Learning Programme will constitute a very important element.
BI is experiencing a fairly strong increase in student mobility. In order to further increase this mobility to Erasmus partners, the school will focus on providing better information about mobility opportunities within the Erasmus Programme and encourage both students and staff to avail themselves of these opportunities. The school is also in the process of reviewing its different programmes and their structure, particularly at Bachelor’s level, focusing on facilitating mobility and making it easier for students to spend a semester or a year abroad.
The school has also just recently entered into agreements with Erasmus partner institutions for awarding a double degree in finance and economics. This will also result in increased mobility of both students and staff. The partners in this co-operation are the University of Amsterdam, Pompeau Fabra in Barcelona and University of Ljubljana. This agreement will take effect this year. BI will also target other relevant partners to form consortia for the development of joint programmes. Already, we offer joint programmes with Erasmus partners both at Bachelor’s and Master’s level in international marketing (Bachelor) and International Marketing and Management (Master) where the students spend one year abroad, where we aim at increasing the number of students in the years to come. For the Master of Science in International Marketing and Management where our partners are the University of Bath, the University of Mannheim and ESCP-EAP, the goal is to make this mobility reciprocal. BI is also interested in entering into agreements for Erasmus Mundus Programmes in relevant fields provided that the conditions for such collaboration are conducive to having such programmes approved.
BI is an equal opportunities organization that offers the same opportunities to all students. Overall, slightly more than half of the students (51%) are female. All the campuses, and particularly the new campus in Oslo, have been designed to provide full integration of disabled students and staff. The school focuses on integrating all students, Norwegian and international students alike, in the campus community. Information is provided both in Norwegian and English, and to an increasing degree student associations are being involved in this work. The EPS will be published on our website, as will information about the EUC.
II Quality of academic mobility activities
BI has an International Relations Office with a staff of seven that is responsible for all exchange agreements with both European and other partners. BI has fully implemented the Bologna degree structure. This also applies to the ECTS system both with respect to credits and grades and learning agreements. All courses taken at the partner institution will be recognized as part of the student’s degree. Students are required to take 30 ECTS, which is equivalent to a full semester at BI.
The school has prepared exchange handbooks, which are updated annually, and published on the website, both for outgoing and incoming students. The handbook for outgoing students contains information on the partners with direct links to the partners’ websites, including information on courses and programmes, previous student reports, the application process and other practical information. We also organize information meetings for all students, as well as an international day where we involve students from our partner institutions and own students who have been abroad as exchange students. A study abroad seminar is also offered. All written information to students is published on the website.
Incoming students are required to participate in the induction week and are offered information meetings, an intercultural workshop and various social events at the start of the semester. Individual counselling is provided for both outgoing and incoming students. In collaboration with SiO (the Student Welfare Organization) and BSN (housing facility) BI guarantees accommodation for all incoming international students, as well as pick-up service upon arrival. An introductory course in Norwegian is provided at a reasonable charge.
We provide health services and student Social Counselling free of charge, and we have a system for IT support. There is a fitness centre at the school and all students have access to extended sports facilities. The student union is responsible to help integrate the international students into Norwegian Student environment.
Both incoming and outgoing exchange students are covered by an emergency plan.
The school also has a department for careers services that is available to all students.
