Name and surname

FINAL REPORT
I stayed abroad via “Fonds Studiepunten Buiten Nederland”
Name and surname:
Sander van der Putten
E-mail address:
s.m.v.d.putten@student.tue.nl
Department:
Department of Technology Management
Contact person TU/e:
Bea van de Ven
Subject of your studies/practical training abroad:
Business and Management courses
Period of stay:
4 months, september-december 2003
Name institution/company abroad:
University of Manitoba, Asper School of Business
City and country:
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
1 Preparation and financial matters
Not much preparation was needed, as the department already had contacts with the
University of Manitoba (U of M). Application for housing was sent and returned
(deadline may 1 st if you’re staying for the first term) as well as the application for the U
of M itself (deadline june 1 st ). Make sure you have a credit card to make advance
payments (it also comes in handy in Canada). By june 1 st , you should also have your list
of courses ready and make sure it is sent to the university. I stayed for 4 months and for
this period, no special visum is needed. Try to sublet your room and be sure to turn in
your OV-jaarkaart for this period. Besides FSBN, there’s a contribution from the
department of TM, which was € 680,00 in my case.
2 Accomodation
Exchange (and a lot of other) students live on campus during their stay. As mentioned
before, these forms will be sent to you. You can either stay in Speechly/Tache or the new
Arthur V. Mauro, which are both very close to the management building. In
speechly/tache there are no real kitchens, instead there are meal plansfor Pembina Hall,
which serves 3 meals a day. In Arthur V. Mauro you do have a kitchen, but a meal plan
will still be pretty convenient, even though the food from Pembina Hall probably isn’t the
best you ever had.
3 Language and culture
Canadian is pretty easy to understand, it sounds like American English with no real
accent. There are a lot of foreign teachers and professors, whose English is somewhat
harder to understand, but it shouldn’t be a problem. It will take you some time to get used

to the common expressions and other “slang” used by students, but you’ll learn this soon
enough, especially because you live on campus. Canadian people overall are very
friendly.
4 Free time and travelling
Even though all classes are somewhat mandatory, there is still pretty of free time to do
stuff. Make sure you join AIMS, as this association for international management
students organizes a lot of fun activities for exchange students.
I saw Clear Lake, a national park in Manitoba, and also travelled to Toronto and
Montreal. Both of them are great cities. I especially liked Toronto; make sure, if you
decide to go there, you also go to see the Niagara Falls (the helicopter ride is expensive
but a fantastic experience).
5 Contents of the project abroad
I took 5 courses at the Asper School of Business. Overall it can be said that the courses
are pretty easy compared to Eindhoven, but some of them require a bit more work, as a
lot of them require group projects, individual papers, individual presentations, etc.
The courses I took:
Consumer Behavior by Sridhar Samu.
Pretty easy, but fun course in marketing and how people with their different
characteristics are influenced by different promotions, shopping experiences, etc.
Business Government Relations by Howard Harmatz.
Very interesting course with a very bright professor. Not easy to pass, requires a lot of
work and a lot of thougt, but it really changes your view on things.
Information Systems for Management by Marcel Joaquin.
Introductory course in IT, I found it to be too easy, but the teacher brings a lot of
experience from the business world into the course.
Data Communications and Networking by Geoff Besko.
Nice in-depth course if you like IT.
International Marketing, by Fang Wan.
Very enthusiastic teacher and some nice insights in the differences across cultures, as
almost all of the exchange students take this course and (are asked to) speak up in class
about their culture.
6 What was your best experience.
The whole trip to Canada was one great experience. The people are friendly, the country
itself is huge and full of beautiful nature and I really liked living on the campus. Within 2
or 3 minutes you can be in your classroom, the gym or even the Wiseguys on campus
(great bar). Downtown Winnipeg is pretty far away (45 minutes by bus), but public
transportation is well organized and cheap, and you will soon get to know a lot of people
with a car (as most Canadian students have one). I’d recommend going to Winnipeg for
an international stay to everybody.
7 What was your worst experience

Without a doubt it would be the food from Pembina Hall. You get pretty sick from the
same greasy food three times a day, and it is hard to find an alternative (as mentioned
before, downtown Winnipeg is a pretty long bus ride). But don’t let the food stop you
from going to Winnipeg!