Period 4 at Maastricht University – summary

In February I started my second semester at Maastricht University. The difference to the previous time spent there was, that I was no longer an Erasmus exchange student, but I got accepted as regular master student into studyprogramme called Infonomics.

Garden next to the SBE, source: my picture

The fact, that I changed my student status didn't change much in the reality. As I described before nobody at SBE makes difference between exchange and regular master students. You have the same workload and duties. Therefore it was just another period, new courses and new people. I decided to go for Infonomics master programme. Even thought there were only 4 students who started this programme in September, I didn't have any course with them this time. But I met my new fellow Infonomics masters – we were 4 again. We had ICT, Innovation and Economic performance course together as this one is a compulsory for our programme. For the elective course I was the only Infonomics student who decided to enrol in Information Economics the rest 7 students went for IT project management. I am glad that I decided that way, finally I got was I was missing – a bit of math again. Well, I was really excited about the new period. Even if the student status change is basically only some paperwork it meant a lot to me. Especially because about a year ago, it didn't come to my mind that I would ever become a regular master student abroad. Isn't it awesome?

Period 3 at Maastricht University – summary

Period 3 lasts only 2 weeks and you have a skill course. This intensive training was the last part of my exchange semester in Maastricht.

Andrea Chegut – our Excel tutor, Source: www.fdewb.unimaas.nl

Most of the exchange students do not attend the skill course in Period 3, because coming back for 2 weeks does not make sense if you live far away. The exams for period 2 are scheduled before Christmas and period 3 begins in the mid January so only those who need the credits come back after 3 weeks holiday. The second factor is the course selection possibility. As most of the master programmes lasts only one year, the only skill courses provided at master level are thesis connected and as Erasmus exchange student, you are not allowed to enroll and of course it does not make any sense to do so. Your choice is then restricted to the offered skill courses at bachelor level.

Period 2 at Maastricht University – summary

As I always did on my blog when I wrote about my bachelor studies, I am now going to summarize the exams and my courses I took in period 2 during my studies at SBE at Maastricht University. But not only the courses are described in the article, we cannot forgot the overall experience.

Exams at MECC, source: my picture

After I got acquainted with the rules at Maastricht University during the Period 1 I was no longer worried about the local school system. As an Exchange student I enrolled myself for courses not from one master track and therefore in second period at SBE I also met completely new people in my tutorial groups (there were a few Infonomics exceptions obviously). I first thought about writing separate articles about each course but than I realized that it's not necessary and also it's more interesting to have a shorter summary. Also the exams were very similar this time – both written at MECC, which is also a quite interesting story for someone, who is not familiar with practices at Maastricht University. Well, as I recently got to know, there are different practices at different faculties and even study programmes, but let's generalize it for the case of written exams As I may have (or also not) mentioned, I attended Intellectual propety law and Information Society (EBC4027) and International competitiveness and Antitrust policy (EBC4026) courses.

SBE Introduction day for Exchange Students

There are a lot of exchange students at School of Business and Economics every year and in order to present the Faculty of the Maastricht University and to provide people with contact with other exchange students, SBE organizes Introduction Day.

My group, Source: www.facebook.com

As I mentioned in the last article about SBE Master's Introduction Day, I kind of took this introduction day at SBE twice. But I am really glad as each of those two days provided a bit different experience and as a result, I know more and I also had something interesting to do and I met a lot of people. Obviously I made the same mistake twice – I can't find any any pictures of the day, but I definitely took some and there are only a few provided by the University so the description has to be enough.

Introduction day for Exchange students is compulsory – you have to be there to get your Student card and let the UM know that you arrived and also to get all necessary instructions. And you also get a plenty of additional stuff including quite useful student handbook. You can also find it online, but printed version is more handy.

Master’s Introduction Day at SBE

Today is the last day of August and my first official day at School of Business and Economics at Maastricht University. Let's talk about how was my first impression of the Faculty, PBL system and the people I met today.

Slide from welcoming presentation, source: my picture

First I have to mention that I am an exchange student, but quite an active one. I took part at , which is more for regular students and also today – it's introduction prepared for regular master students, as will be tomorrow But I've already signed in and it's better to have more information and see the school from different points of view, don't you think?

The whole day was great, ideal introduction to the university and also to the city. Great thing is, that you are the whole day in a small group where are also your future fellow students – ideal for getting know each other a bit. You get the information about the most important things and also how to get along. If you still have any problems with the student card, missing documents or are you just not sure about something and do not know where to ask, than Introduction day will help you! Well, I had a great tutor so I can only give a very positive feedback and I hope that also other students had the same experience.

Period 1 at Maastricht University – summary

Going to school and passing exams is what full time student does. Period 1 including the exams is over and therefore it's ideal time for evaluation. How were my courses and how did I enjoy the first part of the autumn semester?

Lecture room at Maastricht University, source: my picture

For three years I started my winter semester at the beginning of October. It's normal in the Czech republic, but the system is different in Netherlands. After Master's Introduction day we had weekend to get prepared for the lectures and tutorials starting the week after that. The first period at SBE took place from 5th September till 21st October followed by the exam week from 24th till 28th October. Obviously everything happens pretty fast so you are expected to be prepared even for the first class. It's your responsibility to check the EleEUM, where the tutors post material and information about the course. Maastricht University has problem based learning (PBL) approach and therefore students are required to read a lot and be really prepared for each class. No excuses like "I'm Erasmus" works here. Team assignments are common practice and therefore for most of the students, one of the university library becomes a second home. Get ready for that.

Short summary of my winter holidays

Christmas break is over and it's time to get back to Maastricht to continue with studying at SBE. Today I will talk about the time I spent in the Czech republic and than about my superb weekend in Maastricht before period 3 started.

My favourite Maastricht University hoodie, source: my picture

I was home for three weeks and now it's time to return to Maastricht University. I really appreciate the fact, that all exams are written before the Christmas break. I could enjoy my holiday and relax. On the other hand, waiting for the results has an opposite effect – getting more and more nervous whether I passed and how. As I didn't fail any exam in the first period, I had now 3 weeks of free time. As I only visited my country – Czech Republic – for a few days at the end of October, I was looking forward to seeing my friends and family again. Christmas is an ideal time for stuff like that and after spending the New Year's Eve with my university buddies, time was going faster than I realized. I enjoyed great Czech beer, which is one of the things that I really miss in Maastricht. I spent during last two weeks quite a lot of time in pubs despite the fact that I am definitely not a big drinker.

Growth, Well-being and Quality of Life

Guest lecture with promising title by Prof. Dr. Christoph M. Schmidt, but was it really that good? It really depends, but I had definitely more fun in a pub afterwards, even I again couldn't drink any beer because of my eating experiment.

Prof. Dr. Christoph M. Schmidt, Source: scope-economics.nl

There were several guest lectures since the beginning of the semester, but for some reasons I haven't visited any of them so far, mostly because of my salsa lectures. Also my fellow Infonomics guys wanted to come, so we agreed to go into a pub after the lecture. For those, who know my economic believes, might be a bit surprise that I even wanted to spent my time at this lecture, but I was also expecting something more let's say descriptive and theoretical and then it's a good topic for discussion.

Prof. Dr. Christoph M. Schmidt introduced himself as the president of the RWI in Essen and a member of the German Council of Economic Experts, which is a group of economists that gives advise to the German government. At that point started to be a bit worried and hoped, that we will focus more on economics than on politics. Sometimes he managed to. Well, I mostly liked his comments about results from some research.