Exchange program with Grenoble Ecole de Management
Exchange program with Grenoble Ecole de Management, Graduate School of Business (GGSB)…..I am sure everyone is aware of what is meant by an exchange program.… It is students of one university attending classes in a foreign university during their course time.
It was for the first time Newcastle University Business School offered its E-Business students with this opportunity. I was fortunate to be one among the 8 students who participated in this exchange program with renowned Business School in Grenoble, France for a week duration from April 11th -15th 2011.
It was wonderful occasion for us to explore and experience the essence of studying at GGSB. It was very well organised and well set up including guide to travel from Newcastle to Grenoble and booking accommodations for us. The course work was well structured, organised and offered a variety of sessions during this short study stay at GGSB.
The program began with a brief introduction session on GGSB and Grenoble city in general. The program offered a mix of class study and other activities such as visiting the famous Chagall art museum and company visit to Inria research centre. We too had fun activities like a cooking class where we thoroughly enjoyed learning and cooking French dishes in a restaurant. I would like to quote this task as a great example for building team working skills.
We were introduced to GGSB students who are studying a similar course. Everyone was very friendly and we had a good interaction with all of them discussing about their coursework and study details. They also accompanied with us in exploring the beautiful city surrounded by mountains where every road ends in a mountain as quoted by poets and famous as capital of Alps in France.
Class room sessions included guest lectures on Business Intelligence from a senior employee of HP. The sessions were flavoured and made interesting by discussing live examples from the speaker’s experience at HP over years. Insights obtained allowed us to appreciate the importance of having or adapting business intelligence software applications for the services rendered in an organisation.
The most important aspect that students can learn during their study period abroad is to know and discover how to interact with people from different cultural backgrounds. In today’s distributed world of business operations, I believe it’s important and necessary for us to be well equipped with knowledge in interacting and facing a foreigner in your day to day business activities. The required tricks and traits were well covered by the tutor with constant debate and discussions during the Multi-Cultural sessions. The program included a talk session by a young professional who works for an organisation which helps and support innovators turn into entrepreneurs in the Grenoble region. All together every session was very informative and beneficial.
The company visit to Inria was a good experience for me because as a student of engineering background, I was always curious to see how exactly research takes place in an industry. Inria was a best place to introduce me to the world of researching; they explained in detailed about their on-going research with practical demonstration of all functionality.
The response from my class friends who attended this program along with me was overwhelming and everyone enjoyed their stay in Grenoble. We all attempted to pick up speaking in French and got to learn the living style of students at GGSB and explored France a bit!
We had a day off after all the sessions and we were suggested to visit a beautiful city called Annecy. We visited Lake Annecy which is the second largest lake in France and is famous as ‘Europe’s cleanest lake’. The lake stretched for miles long and totally covered with Alps Mountains. The beauty of the combination of mountains and lake was a rare and a fantastic view. Now I personally consider this place as a mini heaven on planet earth and a must visit place!
Overall it was a very good experience which I could have ever wished during my student life. Many thanks to my program director and organisers who helped achieve this program to be a successful event in the history of the Newcastle University partnership program with GGSB.
Article written by Soujanya Nagarajarao
