What Is Academic Life Like at WU?
- Cori
- Oct 30, 2017
- 4 min read
I thought it would be interesting to delve into the academic life here at WU since that is the main reason I am here, right? School? Studying? That is what my focus is here right? Not traveling?
As of right now, it is the beginning of my fifth week of classes here, but that does not mean that I have had five weeks worth of classes… Back home in Oregon, my weekly schedule would look something like this: Either (total of four to five classes) one to two classes a day, every day of the week, each class ranging between one to two hours, OR three to four classes a day for only two days a week, again each class is only one to two hours long. I’ve had both these type of schedules at Oregon State depending on my work schedule that term and the availability of classes.
First, for the campus. The Vienna University of Economics and Business is a very new campus, but not a new University. This campus was finished in late 2013 so everything is still brand new. Very nice amenities, shops, classrooms and everything else included. Every building has a unique architectural style so there is no way you can get buildings mixed up. My personal favorite, as is everyone else's, is the library which looks like a spaceship! All the pictures above are the buildings I have classes in, and the most interesting buildings as well.
Now here in Austria, my class schedule is extremely odd and weirdly timed. I might have stated this in an earlier blog post but I am taking five classes here: International Management, International Strategic Management, Corporate Finance, Global Branding, and Global Marketing Research. Two management, two marketing and one finance. For an international student, this is pretty average. I know people here who are taking three classes, and I know some who are taking six, so my load isn’t too bad. Now for the schedule…
My two marketing classes, and one of my management classes have relatively the same structure: meet once a week for three hours, for around nine weeks. My finance class just began last week and again, meets for three hours, once a week, for nine weeks. However, the other management class I have could be classified as a form of psychological torture for the twenty-five students involved. We meet once a week, for five weeks, for FIVE hours from 16:00-21:00 at night. It’s long, it’s dark out, it’s the end of the day, and no one wants to be there. At least it is only five weeks long, and I only have one meeting left.
Another fun thing about classes here is that the meeting time, day and location can be different every week. It if is in the same location as last week then it will most likely be at a different time this coming week. If we meet on a different day than the previous week, then it will most likely be in a different building as well. No week is the same, and my schedule can even change last minute, so keeping up to date with my schedule is really important. I usually have two to three random days off every week. For example last week I didn't have class on Tuesday and Thursday, but this week I don't have class on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Most of my classes have a number of between twenty to thirty-five students in them, but one of my classes is a very small, interpersonal group of thirteen students. Most of my classes are a mix of international students and domestic WU students, but I do believe that the majority are international students only here for the one fall term with most going back home in December or January after finals.
Now for the important part of classes: the content. Because I am taking two management and two marketing classes, I hear the same things over and over again… It could get boring and annoying, but the way that the professors teach make so it isn’t boring at all. All the professors here teach relatively the same way, and that is mainly by involvement. One of my professor’s gave me this quote, and I believe it really describes how the students are taught here at WU, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn” (Xun Kuang). At Oregon State, we have all gotten used to the fact that the majority of our classes are lecture form: listen to a professor speak nonstop, with maybe a few projects and group discussions. Here at WU, the professor does lecture, but the ratio to students talking and the professor talking is easily 50:50. The way that the professors involve the students in discussions is unlike anything I’ve seen in high school or college at OSU. The class time can be broken into 30% lecture from the professor, 30% students talking to the professor about a topic/asking questions/etc, 20% student groups presenting to the class about a topic/project, 15% group discussion with other students, 5% time for test taking. I don’t know who else from WU you’d ask about this, but I thought id just state that this is my personal observation about classes here and it may be different if you ask other students. I have never felt so involved in class and I can say I have never spoken this much in class either.
And for the last topic, the majority of my grades depend on the final exam. Most of my classes have the same rundown for grade points, with 50-60% of your final grade being the final exam, 30% of our grade is project/essay related, and around 10% being attendance and participation. This is pretty basic because some of my classes have quizzes, some have up to 5 projects, but this is the basic rundown. Overall, the final exam is just about the be-all-end-all of our grade. Which is horrifying.
I don’t know if this is a normal teaching style for academics in Europe but it is for this specific University in Vienna, Austria. I really enjoy my classes here and I feel like I am actually learning because we are so involved. I do prefer it this way, but it would be nice if the final exam didn’t take up so much of our final grade, but beggars can't be choosers.
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