Final report

None of the courses are taught in Eindhoven, and I think they were a very valuable supplement to
the ones I already did. I really appreciated their contents and the quality and profoundness of the
material. Disappointing were the quality of the teaching and the clarity of the lectures (probably due
to my expectations and language problems on part of the professors), and the logistics, i.e.
communication of timetables, room numbers, changes, etc.
The system is also different from that in Eindhoven. Bocconi works with a scoring system of
0…30, and 30 with honours. To pass a course, you need at least 18 credits. I found that it is almost
impossible not to pass a course. In fact, about a third of the exams are passed with grades equal to
or higher than 28, which is equivalent to at least 9.3 in terms of Dutch grades. And while it is
virtually impossible to pass a Dutch subject with a 10, it is considerably easy to pass an Italian
subject with 30.
Another difference is that students can choose how they want to be examined, distinguishing
between attending and non-attending students. Almost all courses have an obligatory exam. But
where the non-attending students have to study for instance only five books, attending students only
have to study one. But attending students always have additional group work, assignments, papers
and presentations (which non-attending students do not have to do) that contribute to the final
grade. Basically it is a choice between a more practical and theoretical course; the amount of time
spent is about the same for both. The advantage for non-attending students is that they do not
necessarily have to go to class – and thus may follow two subjects at the same time. But they miss
the practical training. For attending students, particular challenging is the group work, especially if
there are Italians in the group. While Dutch students prefer to divide tasks and work individually,
Italians always work in a group behind one computer, discussing together about every aspect of the
assignment. In one class I had group work with only Italians and found it very frustrating to be at
the university from eight in the morning until six in the evening and not having written even more
than one paragraph, and this continued for weeks. To me this was highly inefficient, but as I was
not in the position to change it. Nonetheless, I regarded these projects, also with students of other
nationalities, as a highly valuable experience.
I also did my graduation project at Bocconi, at the Centre of Research on Innovation and
Internationalisation (Cespri) of Professor Franco Malerba. Although it was really an honour to be
able and to my research with that group, I found it disappointing that graduation students are not
involved in their activities and neither do they get a place to work (which I was told is very
uncommon in Italy). So except for the usual contacts with my thesis supervisor, I had to work either
at the library or at home. In terms of literature on economics, business, law, and innovation, the
library is excellent. They have virtually no resources, however, on engineering, which I found
disappointing considering the fact that this university does a lot of research on innovation. Another
disappointment is that actually working in the library is very difficult. It is very noisy and you are
not allowed to use a laptop – there are no Internet connections anyway. Because there are
practically no other places where one can work undisturbedly, I was forced to work at home.
Fortunately I had a quiet apartment and a desk, but most exchange students do not have this luxury.
6. My best experience
The thing I liked best about my stay in Milan was the lively, international atmosphere. In fact, I
think it is the most European Italian city; the Milanese have a different mentality than the rest of
Italy. It is the financial and fashion centre of Italy and there are really a lot of people from different
nationalities. And although Milan is not really a student town – and it surely is not the most
beautiful city in Italy – it is a city that never sleeps, offering many opportunities for entertainment
and sports. And it offers many opportunities for those who want to follow courses or pursue a
career.