esg uqam université du québec à montréal spring 2015

ESG UQAM
UNIVERSITÉ DU QUÉBEC À MONTRÉAL
SPRING 2015
363190 & 363378
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Preparing for the exchange
For the application to UQAM, you will need the following documents:

Application form approved and signed by the home institution and signed by the student;

a copy of the individual record of civil status or any other document (e.g. birth certificate)
attesting to the identity of the person and including the names of both parents (a
requirement of the Government of Quebec);

an official transcript of all courses completed to date by the candidate in his current
program;

a list of all courses taken by the candidate during the two semesters preceding his arrival
at ESG UQAM;

when required, a certificate attesting to the French or English language skills of the
candidate (this was not required from us)
For the application form we needed signatures from the exchange student coordinator of our
school (Minna Pekkanen) and the dean of our major. The record of civil status you can get from
the magistrate of your home town.
Finnish people do not need a visa for Canada, when you are staying there for less than 6 months.
You should however have your acceptance letter from UQAM when arriving to Canada, so you
can prove that you are a student there. I don’t think there were any other documents required
upon arrival (except for your passport of course), but you will receive an e-mail from UQAM
where they have instructions for arrival in Canada.
In Canada, everybody is required to have a health insurance. This is why you will receive a bill
from UQAM to pay a health insurance fee for the spring. However, the Finnish KELA has a
contract with the government of Quebec, so we have free health insurance in Quebec through
KELA. To receive the free health insurance, you have to get a paper from KELA and take this to
Quebec with you. The document is called SF/Q4. You should order the document well in advance
of going to Quebec. We would also recommend calling back on the order to make sure you will
receive the document in time.
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On our first day of orientation we got a lot of information about which documents we have to
take to which offices etc. All in all, there wasn’t too much to do. You have to take the SF/Q4 along
with some documents from the school to a government office, and then you’ll receive your health
insurance card.
For housing, we both found our apartments beforehand. One of us used the Getyourplace service,
which is a company founded by ex-students from HEC Montreal. This service is directed towards
exchange students and they rent out apartments for 5 or 10 months. The other one found her
apartment through different sites for renting apartments. We both lived in the Plateau area,
which is a really nice part-of-town with tons of different restaurants and bars. From Plateau you
can get to UQAM quickly with the metro.
Exchange studies
The orientation period started on 6.1.2015. The orientation included 4 days of activities, but only
one of these days was at the school, and had school-related information. The rest of the
orientation was more about getting to know each other and having fun. The last exam date of the
winter term was 3.5.2015, after which everybody was finished. At UQAM it is possible to have
exams also on Saturdays and Sundays, so you should prepare for that when planning on holiday
trips for example.
The courses at UQAM are mostly offered in French, but at ESG UQAM they have some English
courses as well. They provide enough courses in English to do the whole exchange program in
English. If you can do studies in French you have a lot more choice in your courses. But, like I
said, it is possible to do the whole exchange in English courses, like one of us did. There is also a
wide selection of French language courses offered from basic studies starting from level 0 to
advanced French courses. One of us did a French language course, as you can include one
language course in the exchange program.
ESG UQAM offers both undergraduate and graduate courses in various programs, like
administration, economics and marketing communication. We studied in the administration
program, which includes sub-programs like finance, management and marketing. You can choose
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the courses freely, but they have to be from the same program. For example, we took all our
courses from the administration program. Inside the program you can take courses from
different sub-programs, for example we mixed courses from marketing and international
management.
The courses
The courses at UQAM have lectures once a week, and each lecture lasts 3 hours. The lecture times
are 9:30-12:30, 14:00-17:00 and 18:00-21:00. Most of the English speaking courses had lectures
in the evening, i.e. 18-21. All the courses we took included group assignments and a mid-term
and final exam. Some of the courses also included individual assignments.
DSR4700 - International Business Management and Culture, Undergraduate, 3 credits = 6
ECTS
Lecturer: Hanan Smidi
This was a management course, so the course contents included for example different entry
strategies, and we had lectures about how to do business with different nationalities. We had to
write one individual paper about a current event we had followed in the news, and one group
paper and presentation about how to do business with a nationality, for example we did our
paper about Saudi Arabia. In addition to the papers, we had a mid-term and final exam.
The course was maybe not very useful for my future studies or carrier, but it was still a nice and
interesting course. The lecturer was one of my favorites.
MKG5321 - International Marketing, Undergraduate, 3 credits = 6 ECTS
Lecturer: Andre Richelieu
This course handled the whole marketing project from managing the product and designing the
distribution channels to pricing the product and promoting it, all from an international point of
view. The contents of the course did not offer that much new information, but it was still
interesting. As one of our group assignments we had to shoot a video ad to a company of our
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choosing. This was one of the most fun group assignments I have done in my whole bachelor’s
degree.
This was in our opinion the best course of our exchange. The lecturer was a little bit “coucou”, but
the lectures were always interesting and entertaining. Andre was genuinely interested in his
students and wanted us to learn as much as possible. He got the whole class to engage in his
lectures, and we had some interesting conversations.
MKG5327 - Advertising, Undergraduate, 3 credits = 6 ECTS
Lecturer: Marie-Louise Radanielina-Hita
We did a big project for an organization. It was an integrated marketing communications plan
and it had a huge potential to be a good course. However the teacher was not so inspiring, and we
got very unlucky when forming a group and had difficulties in the group work. Bot mid-term and
final exam were pretty demanding, which was surprisingly nice, maybe because we both
succeeded. In addition, we kept an individual 5 minute presentation of a chosen ad. Teacher tried
to be interactive and give us some tasks during class, but no one really took part in it.
ORH1600 - Introduction to Human Resources Management, Undergraduate, 3 credits = 6
ECTS
Lecturer: Judy Kerwin
Lecturer was super nice, sometimes even too nice. We covered all the different parts of HRM;
planning, hiring, development, health & safety etc. Teacher gave a lot of good examples based on
her own experience. Evaluation consisted of mid-term and final exam and a group project. Group
project was to interview someone, who works within HR and make a report out of it, and then
finally present it to the class. Both exams were really easy, and we both got almost 100% of the
whole course. We feel that the course was too easy and everything was provided for us; even the
questions for the exam.
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LAN3600 - Français langue seconde, niveau avancé I (oral) (hors programme),
Undergraduate, 3 credits = 6 ECTS
Lecturer: Annie Desaulniers
To be able to attend a French language course, you will have to take a French test. You’ll have to
take the test in the first week after your arrival, so remember to act fast. You’ll get an e-mail from
the exchange student services that will explain how to take the exam. Taking the exam costs
some money, I don’t remember exactly, but it was something like 10-15 CAD.
This French course was probably the least demanding of all the courses I took, if we look at the
amount of work. We had group conversations in French as our mid-term and final exam, and in
addition to the exams we had two smaller conversations in class that were evaluated. We also
had to do a small PowerPoint presentation in groups about a Quebec celebrity.
However, the course really helped to improve my French speaking skills. The whole course was
all about oral assignments, and we didn’t really write anything. This was really good for me, who
has always had more problems with actually speaking French and having a conversation than
writing or reading it.
General information
It was freezing. As Finns, we did not expect to be surprised by the cold, but we were indeed. For
two months almost in a row, it was about -20 degrees. Due to the cold, we did not get to explore
the city as much as planned. We felt that there were not great cultural differences. Some useful
information though:
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Taxes are added to the price in the cashier
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You have to leave tip in a restaurant (15%)
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To many restaurants, you can bring your own wine
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You do not weigh fruits and vegetables by yourself
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Groceries are usually packed for you
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Everyone speaks French
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In many places, you need cash. For example in the bus, in a bar etc.
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There are quite a lot of homeless people
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Many of the courses are offered in the evenings
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Make sure you have enough money
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Use Uber taxi service
Costs
Rents are approximately the same level as in Finland, whereas food in the supermarkets feels a
lot more expensive. Whereas in Finland you never have to buy schoolbooks, in Canada it is very
common. Some course books cannot be found from the library. Even used books are very
expensive; around 60 to 100 dollars. However, we ended up buying only one book, and even that
we would not have needed. Therefore, we recommend not to buy books beforehand, but to see in
class and ask from the teacher whether you really would need it. In some of the courses teachers
specifically said that books are not necessarily needed.
Student life & leisure time
UQAM organizes very little activities for exchange students. First day we had orientation about all
the practical matters such as insurance, lodging, courses etc. We also had an evening at school’s
bar, but the environment was not ideal for getting to know each other.There were also few
parties in cooperation with other schools. Interstude is an organization, which arranges parties
and trips for all the exchange students of Montreal. They throw parties in bars, Saint Patrick’s
Days celebration in Boston, trips to New York and to Niagara Falls, among others. Events and
trips are a great way to meet students from other universities and countries. They are very
affordable, but also very modest; they go everywhere by bus, which may mean that you will
spend 4/5 nights in a bus.
Montréal is a city full of culture and life. It has many museums, malls, restaurants, cafés, bars,
festivals and other cultural events. From Saint-Denis you can find affordable and cozy
restaurants. We attended to Igloofest, an outside festival, which is held in January, in four
weekends. In Tuesdays you can find most of exchange students from the bar named Café
Campus.
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Travelling
We travelled a lot when in Montreal; some of the trips together and some separately. Inside
Canada, we visited Québec City that was a small but beautiful town. However, the weather of -25
degrees was not the most idyllic one.. We also visited Toronto, the biggest city of Canada, a few
times. By train the trip took about 5 hours and by bus 7 hours. When entering the state of
Ontario from Québec, we could really see the difference. Toronto was a lot more like USA. In
addition that everyone spoke English, they were also a lot kinder and more inclined for small
talk.
We also visited Niagara falls; another one of us in winter when it was mostly ice and another one
later in the spring Niagara falls is situated about one hour drive/train away from Toronto.
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We visited New York couple of times; by bus it was affordable but took 8 hours. Still highly
recommend it. With Interstude we went to New York and to Boston to see the Saint Patrick’s Day
parade.
For “reading “week we decided to head to the sun to get a break from Montreal’s freezing
weather. We made a dream come true by spending a week in Cuba, Varadero. An all-inclusive
package cost around 625 dollars (450euros). The hotel and its foods were not the best ones, but
hey, it was super cheap and the beaches were awesome. The trip was also a learning and
somewhat shocking experience due to Cuba’s political and economic situation (note: remember
to buy shampoo, tampons and condoms before going).
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We heard only good things about Chicago, so we decided to go there for Easter. We were
positively surprised by the city; we fell in love especially in the river and architecture. Also the
fact that the sun was shining through our stay, may have affected our positive feelings towards
the city.
When the semester ended, we both did a road trip in the West coast. The other one only for a
little over week and other for a bit over 3 weeks. We started from flying from Montreal to San
Francisco. We totally fell in love with the city; super cute houses, cafés, bars, restaurants and
shops.
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After few days in SFO, we rented a car and drove along the coast. We made some stops along the
way in small towns, and the views were amazing.
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Did you know that Los Angeles is actually not a city? We visited Santa Monica, Venice Beach,
Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills with the mansions. We also did a tour in Universal Studio and
Warner Brothers and got to see the sets for many famous shows and movies.
Las Vegas and Grand Canyon were amazing. We also made a stop in San Diego and Tijuana,
Mexico, where you could go by foot.
Final Comments
As always, also in our exchange and university, there where its pros and cons.
We felt that UQAM was not the most high quality university, even though teachers were relatively
good and wanted us to learn. We would also have hoped more events organized by the school to
be able to naturally get to know to other students. A major con in our university was the strike
that was on for weeks. Some of the students got aggressive, blocked all the doors to the school
and broke places. Sometimes they intruded classes and made everyone leave the room. We did
not feel that they threatened us and were not too afraid, but it sure sucked to come to school and
find out that all the classes were cancelled. It was also weird to sit in class while teachers had to
lock the doors.
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What we liked in the university was that we had long weekends free as we did not have school on
Fridays. School was relatively easy, which is okey when exchange so you won’t have to stress too
much. The teachers felt committed and motivated to make us learn, and not only teach because
they had to. We also liked the fact that evaluation consisted of many pieces such as mid-term
exam, individual work, group work and final exam. That way one piece did not get too big
importance. We did however have some challenges in group works when working with different
cultures, but that we consider as a learning and valuable experience for the future. Time before
mid-terms was a little bit confusing as we did not know the level of the courses and exams, so we
studied way too much. Canada was a good choice since everything was different, but not too big
of a shock, and because it was relatively close for different destination we wanted to see.
During the exchange, we improved our ability to cope with uncertainties. We also learned to
understand and work with people from all over the world. Numerous presentations made us
better presenters and more comfortable with presenting and especially presenting in English.
The spring and summer in Montreal came really fast and is hot and full of life; festivals, picnics,
Formula 1 competition etc. So we were sad to leave and thus definitely recommend going to
Montreal in summer!
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