School Daze

It dawned on me while I was doing my readings that I haven't really mentioned much about the school on the blog, so just to reassure my parents that I'm REALLY on an exchange and not squandering their money on some extravagant holiday - Dad, Mum, here's a post on the school.

Universiteit of Maastricht - Faculty of Economics & Business Administration

Registration booth during orientation

My Orientation Group: From Top Left: Rachel (Singapore), Ci Rong (Singapore), Carrie (Hong Kong), Me (Singapore), Carlos (Hong Kong), Wilson (Hong Kong). From Bottom Left: France, An Thu (Canada), OGL (Netherlands), Nikzad (USA), Sandra (Sweden)

The school to me is a blend of our very own SMU & Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry. Its SMU'ish mainly because of its strategic city centre location, high ayo-technology networks,

Interior of school

and it simultaneously jolts back memories of Hogwarts because of its grey brickalicious, cobblestoned, fortress-like exterior. Think Ikea's modern minimalistic interior and a Hogwarts exterior! Minus the moving staircases and changing passageways of course. erm hurhur okay shuts.

See, the combination of bricks and glass!

So, we definitely got cold feet after hearing all the horror stories from both SMU students who did their exchange at Universiteit Maastricht, SMU students who heard stories from friend of a friend who did their exchange at UM, UM students who did their exchange at SMU...blah blah blah. The common consensus - It won't be a breeze at UM, this was evident when some UM exchange student who did his exchange at SMU told me, and I quote him, "Well, from my point of view tis more stressfull then SMU, but you can really learn a lot." (Seriously, to be honest, learning alot was one of the last things on my mind when I was there for an exchange!) Now I'm in my 3rd week of school, I can safely say that it is indeed true that UM's workload is about SMUx(100000), the amount of readings they do here is INSANE! For example, even during our weekend trips to Amsterdam, whatever quiet opportunity we got on the train to and fro all of us will expeditiously and diligently whip up our notes (however you'll see our heads having a life of its own - swinging 360degrees after sometime..zZz) and try to absorb. In terms of competitiveness and coping with pressure, I think its comparable to SMU.

Let me lay out the similarities/differences so you can get a clearer picture.

Academic Calendar: Here at UM, the semester commences from Feb-Jun with 2 blocks, 7 weeks per block. Each block, we can take up to a maximum to 2 subjects and have an exam 7 weeks later (equivalent to 14 lessons). Then there's about a 10 day break before the next block starts with a different 2 modules. So here, its less modules per block but the downside is a very rushed academic schedule.

Class size: At SMU its like 35-40 people in a class. At UM its 12-14 people in a class. Imagine if you don't read your literature, don't participate and simply be a mouse. Its obvious as daylight I tell you. Quoting Ian Kwoksish when I told him about the system, he said in jest, "Oh I see, so its 80% class participation, 20% final exams!?" Haha

Self-study: At SMU (well for me at least), its goes like this
1) attend class
2) learn things/participate
3) do homework and hand up
4) repeat process #1-#3
5) 2 weeks before exam study like one mad dog86.

At UM, it goes like this (for everyone):

1) read the relevant chapters and literature assigned before class
(UM recommends allocating 8 hours aside for each module per week)

...and because UM strongly believes in the PBL (Problem Based Learning) system
which is rather intriguing I might say...

2) for the whole 2 hours of class, the tutor will skip the teaching and ZOOM into whatever problem you encountered in the readings. So, its more of analyzing and doing post-evaluation of literature rather than it being the first time you are looking at this material in front of you. The tutor will post questions about the readings where you will have to take this opportunity to prove that you indeed read the articles! Its usually a heated discussion with all the 'I beg to differ' and 'To add on to what he/she said...' so you really have to keep the Guides motto "Be Prepared" at bay and don't even think of being a mouse!

3) Assign readings for the next lesson and repeat steps 1+2

Gui face with the tons of readings!

Presentations: Here at UM, there are 14 lessons per block and about 14 people in a class which means - EVERYONE gets a chance to present! There are some classes which still believe in group projects, but the norm would be individual presentations where you would have to play the role of the teacher and tutor the class in depth about the respective chapter you were assigned to. Attire here for presentations are casual-every-other-day clothes and if you dress to impress for presentations like at SMU you'll cause an unnecessary commotion.

Class composition: Because the modules that were available to us were mainly the courses conducted in English, we have a good mix of regular and exchange students. Its interesting to gain different international perspectives from this experience and also to contribute Singaporean perspectives. So to all those who lied during the first meeting that they knew where Singapore was and what our little island is all about, now you Really know! The classes for me are very 'Oh, I didn't know that, coooool!' About the tutor, its very different from Singapore. Back home, the Professor is revered more I feel because basically he/she teaches us through powerpoint slides etc, and we are confident beyond a shadow of doubt that he/she knows her stuff (note: knowing your stuff and knowing how to teach is a different issue altogether). At times, the learning system here gets so individual with you presenting the chapter and you learning everything beforehand, with your classmates involved in the problem based learning and the tutor as a mere facilitator, you can't blame your mind for straying and thinking 'What is this person doing here in the first place?'

But Poh and I are staying positive like we always do :) Its all about proper time management I guess.

On the first day we got our printer, even before school started, I printed out little motivational quotes for us as the test print. His was a simple:

and on my magnetic board I had:

Bloody Singaporean nerds, mmm hmmm I know!

Now, please take a moment to wish us both all the best because we've decided not to let UM scare the daylights outta us. The word 'fail' is in neither of our dictionaries. Only words like 'Pass', 'Travel', 'Explore', 'Fun', 'Enjoy our exchange experience', 'The time of our life!' exist.