Spring semester 2015-2016

MARCO POLO REPORT

UNIVERSITAS GADJAH MADA

Yogyakarta, Indonesia | Rosemarie Cramer | S2373548 0

A General report 1.

Host institution and exact dates of semester abroad

Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Yogyakarta, Indonesia. From 09-02-2016 until 17-06-2016.

2.

Contact with home faculty, preparation and journey

I have never really needed the home faculty. However, I have asked them some questions about the Marco Polo scholarship, which they answered quickly and adequately. To prepare myself I had read a lot about Indonesia and about Yogyakarta. The Marco Polo reports were very useful as well. I believe the culture shock was diminished by reading all these stories. I flew with Garuda Airlines on the 3 rd of February. I booked a one-way flight since I wasn’t sure about any possible travel plans after the semester. I paid €410 for the single flight, which was in my opinion quite expensive. I recommend therefore to book a flight to Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore (instead of Yogyakarta), and book another flight to Jogja by a local low-budget airline. I flew back from Bangkok to Amsterdam for €315.

3.

Residence abroad

Before August 31st I had to send about 10 forms to UGM by e-mail. This included a copy of my passport, 4 passport-sized photos, my translated resume, the nomination letter and the academic transcript (which you can apply for via Nestor), the personal statement, student exchange form and admission form (which you can find on Nestor), the proof of language proficiency, the statement of good health (make an appointment with your GP), statement of financial guarantee and my high school transcript (which I was allowed to translate myself). After they had checked the documents carefully, I had to send them to UGM hard copy, which took quite long. The suspicious thing was that I had to pay US $243 for “service fee and insurance”, but we never saw anything of that. From that moment I had to wait for a couple of months and every now and then they sent me a new form. Half December they sent me the last form so I could apply for my visa. I had to go to The Hague twice to get the visa and it was no problem for me to apply for the 6 month VITAS/KITAS, which costs €50,-.

Vaccinations About a month in advance I had my first appointment at the GGD for the vaccination. Since I was 100% insured for this, I decided to get the vaccinations for DTP, Hepatitis AB, Typhus, Rabies and

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lots of Malaria pills. You don’t need the Malaria pills on Java, but they might be useful when you travel around.

Visa Although I read in many Marco Polo reports that Indonesia is a very bureaucratic country and that I would soon get tired by the amount of forms I had to fill in all over again after my arrival, I experienced the International Office of both the UGM in general and of the FEB of UGM as of great help, they arranged almost everything for me. Within the first week of arrival I had to visit the International Office of the University and had to leave my passport behind, so they would make sure my VITAS would be turned into a KITAS. They said it would take two months, but only after 1 visit to the immigration office in Yogyakarta, they gave me back my passport including the KITAS after one month. A KITAS is more favourable than a Socio-Cultural visa, since you don’t need to extend it almost every month, it’s cheaper, and you get discounts at touristic spots.

Accommodation I arranged an accommodation beforehand via Facebook, but you could do that as well in your first week. I stayed in a house of a young couple, together with a French intern. I paid €170 per month for the room. Although in first instance I wanted to move to a luxurious villa with more international students, I decided to stay because of the good price and the nice housemates. I used a rental motorbike in Jogja for which I paid €40 per month. The traffic might seem insane in the beginning, but you will get used to it and enjoy it after a while. Motorbikes are perfect tools to make great road trips around Jogja. Although police checks are not common on Java, I recommend buying an international drivers licence at the ANWB for €17, since the chances are high that you will rent a motorbike on Bali as well, where police checks are nearly unavoidable.

Reception and introduction Every student was coupled to a buddy, a local student from UGM. Although mine wasn’t in Jogja during the first weeks of my stay, and I didn’t really get to know her, many of my fellow international students had a lot of contact with their buddies during the first weeks of their stay. The faculty organized an orientation day which was in my opinion quite boring. The buddies showed us the faculty, which is rather small if you compare it to the FEB of the RUG. The faculty organizes a few activities to get to know each other.

Student life, culture and leisure The student life, culture and leisure were definitely the best part of my semester. Because of the large amount of courses the faculty offered, it was easy to schedule all courses on two days, which meant I had a five-day weekend every week. Since many students did the same, we had plenty of time to travel 2

together. Furthermore, you are allowed to miss two or three lectures per course, which means you can take a few weeks off to travel. During my semester, I have been to several beaches near Jogja, the Merapi volcano, Dieng Plateau, the Bromo and Ijen volcanoes, Jakarta, South-Sulawesi, Bunaken, Lombok, the Gili islands, Flores and several times to Bali. Staying in Jogja was a pleasure as well, since there are many restaurants and bars, and house parties organized by the international students. Make sure to enjoy this part of your semester as much as you can.

Language The people in Jogja speak Bahasa Indonesia. The basics of this language are easy to learn. Many people offer a private course, or you could follow a course with fellow students. Knowing the basics is especially very useful for bargaining.

4.

Grant

I received the Marco Polo Scholarship which was €900. You get 70% in advance and 30% when you return. Furthermore, you can apply for DUO OV-vergoeding, which is about €100 per month. Make sure to apply at least 1-2 months before you leave. Jogja is known for its cheap food, so you go out for dinner every day for about €1-4. My highest costs were obviously on travelling, although this is still relatively cheap.

5.

Study (general)

To be honest, the study in general was not very interesting. I followed some management courses which were quite easy. The level of education and the way of teaching reminded me a lot of secondary school. Some teachers do not have a good level of English and others don’t have the proper knowledge to teach the course. Luckily, every course consisted only of a 2,5-hour lecture per week. It was obligatory to attend at least 75% of the lectures. We had to write many papers and give many presentations, which meant that the grades for the exams didn’t have a lot of weight (5-30%).

My five courses accounted for 6 ECTS each, and all courses took place during the entire semester. I took the courses E-Marketing, Marketing Management, Operations and Innovations Management, Indonesian Values and Ideology and Business Communication and Negotiations. After the first 7 weeks, we had a mid-term period in the first two weeks of April. Then another 6 weeks of lectures, one week of holiday and two weeks of final exams in mid-June. The first lecture of the day starts at 7

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AM and the last lecture ends at 7 PM. You are not allowed to wear sandals, shorts or T-shirts in the university; you must wear long pants, shoes and polos.

UGM is said to be one of the best universities in Indonesia, but the education is different than we are used to. For example, the exam schedule will be announced about one week in advance, and they can change the dates of the whole exam period during the semester. When a lecture is cancelled you get a text message from the university, and a make-up classes will be announced last-minute. During the exam period, one of my teachers even forgot we had to write an exam, so we were sent home and had to do it later. Furthermore, I have asked several questions during the semester to the International Office of the faculty, but they did not always know the answers.

6.

Culture shock

Going abroad more or less all by yourself, to a country which is so different from The Netherlands, demands preparations. Especially when you have never visited an Asian country before, you should be aware of a culture shock. Many things are different in Asia compared to the Netherlands. Indonesians are amongst the friendliest and most helpful people in the world. However, if you are white, they consider you as special and they won’t mind to tell you that. There are many things where you should get used to. Indonesia is for instance the largest Muslim country in the world, it is therefore important to dress properly. Furthermore, unlike in Groningen, you cannot buy beers in every bar or restaurant in Jogja. Moreover, I soon found out that you need to be quite patient if you want to deal with Indonesian people. Everything takes a bit longer and is less efficient, and people never seem stressed or in a hurry. But the best part is: everything is possible in Indonesia!

7.

Summary impression

Living in Indonesia will teach you that it is the best country in the world for an exchange semester. You will have so much time to explore the country, make many new friends and live a luxurious life on a low budget. However, don’t let yourself get frustrated by the laidback way the Indonesians deal with everything. Keep in mind that studying in Indonesia is different than in Groningen, which gives you even more reasons to explore the country and the culture.

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B Specific report E-marketing

1.

Host institution and study period Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Spring semester 2015-2016.

2.

Lectures and literature The course consisted of one lecture per week, for 13 weeks. Every lecture took 2.5 hours. We used a book, articles and lecture slides made by the lecturer.

3.

Overview of lecture program During the entire course, the class (which consisted of 7 students) was divided into two groups. During the first part of the course, each group had to present a critical review of a compulsory article. During the second part, we had to give a presentation of a critical review of a webstore. Furthermore, we had to develop an online webstore and had to write a report about our choices regarding that webstore. We had to present that as well. Every lecture ended with a small assignment, which was always part of the exam later on.

4.

Contents During the course, we discussed about consumer behaviour and online marketing. The lecturer managed to give many examples and taught us a lot about these topics in Indonesia. Since our class had consisted of seven different nationalities, we learned a lot about emarketing in different countries. The articles we had to read were for instance about electronic word-of-mouth.

5.

Lecture-related activities Each group had to give two presentations about article critical reviews, two presentations about web critical reviews and one presentation about our own designed website. We also had several simulation cases, which meant we sat in the computer room, where we had to copy what the teacher did in programs such as SPSS and POM. Afterwards, we had to write a report about the results. Furthermore, we had to create our own webpage and write a report about that. We had small assignments at the end of every lecture. The mid-term and final exams were open book. They consisted of many questions (around 10) of which we had to answer 3.

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6.

Relevance to Groningen study program The course is related to the course International Marketing. However, this course is more focussed on the use of internet as a marketing tool which is more modern and therefore more interesting.

7.

Study load Lectures: 13 x 2,5 hours = 32,5 hours Discussion and preparation with other students: 40 hours Exam: 10 hours Participation rate: allowed to miss 2 lectures.

8.

Assessment in Groningen 6 ECTS.

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Marketing Management 1.

Host institution and study period Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Spring semester 2015-2016.

2.

Lectures and literature The course consisted of one lecture per week, for 13 weeks. Every lecture took 2.5 hours. We used a book, articles and lecture slides made by the lecturer.

3.

Overview of lecture program During the entire course, we worked together with a group of 4 students. During the first part of the course, every group had to present a critical review of a compulsory article. During the second part, every group had to find, analyse and present a marketing battle which had occurred in the Indonesian market. After every presentation, the other groups had ten minutes each to ask questions to the presenting group. This meant there was a lot of interaction among students.

4.

Contents During the course, we discussed about consumer behaviour and marketing methods. The lecturer managed to give many examples and taught us a lot about these topics in Indonesia. Knowledge about marketing methods is relevant for companies to know how to add value for customers. During the course we learned to analyse different marketing methods and we learned about integrated marketing communication programs.

5.

Lecture-related activities Each group had to give a presentation about the article critical review and about the marketing battle. Every lecture ended with a small assignment which always came back in the exam. There were 6 simulation cases which were executed in the computer room. We had to write reports about the results of these simulation cases. In the end of the course, we had to write an integrated marketing communication program. The mid-term and final exams were open book and contained more questions than you actually had to answer.

6.

Relevance to Groningen study program The course is related to the course International Marketing. But this course gave more examples and showed us what about marketing in Indonesia.

7.

Study load 7

Lectures: 13 x 2,5 hours = 32,5 hours Discussion and preparation with other students: 25 hours Exam: 10 hours Participation rate: allowed to miss 2 lectures.

8.

Assessment in Groningen 6 ECTS.

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Operations and Innovations Management

1.

Host institution and study period Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Spring semester 2015-2016.

2.

Lectures and literature The course consisted of one lecture per week, for 12 weeks. Every lecture took 2.5 hours. We used a book and notes written down on the white board by the lecturer.

3.

Overview of lecture program The courses gave us a clear insight about operations management, supply chain management and innovations management. We learned many theories and we learned to work with several computer tools.

4.

Contents This base of this course was to learn how to create value for the customer. Operation management is a very important part of most business since it is the department where effectiveness and efficiency are being maximized and costs are being minimized. Those factors are a must to stay ahead of the competition and have everything to do with improving the supply chain, improving learning management and improving innovation management.

5.

Lecture-related activities Most of the time, the lecture wrote a lot of notes on the whiteboard and tried to explain what he wrote. We were supposed to copy the notes and remember them for our assignments. Three of the lectures took place in the computer room, where the teacher showed us what we were supposed to do using different programs. Most often, at the end of the lecture, the lecturer gave us an assignment for the following week. He always graded the assignments without having a look at the assignment and without noting down the grades. At the end of the course, we had to hand in a postcard on which we had written down all our grades. Both the mid-term and final exam consisted of a take-home part about theories and an in-class part regarding calculations. The mid-term exam was open book and the final-exam was even open-laptop.

6.

Relevance to Groningen study program

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The course is related to the first-year IB course Global Supply Chain Management. In my opinion, most of the topics lack in the regular IB program, it was therefore a good complementation to the Groningen study program.

7.

Study load Lectures: 12 x 2,5 hours = 30 hours Discussion and preparation with other students: 10 hours Exam: 5 hours Participation rate: 75%

8.

Assessment in Groningen 6 ECTS.

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Indonesian Values and Ideology

1.

Host institution and study period Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Spring semester 2015-2016.

2.

Lectures and literature The course consisted of one lecture per week, for 12 weeks. Every lecture took 2.5 hours. We used articles and one movie.

3.

Overview of lecture program Every lecture started with a presentation of a group of 4-5 students. This presentation was supposed to take 90 minutes, but some students were finished after 20 minutes, which was no problem. The content of the presentation regarded the content of the obligatory article of that week, which could have had anything to do with Indonesia. After the presentation, the lecturer gave a presentation or started a discussion about the differences of the subject between Indonesia and the countries of the international students.

4.

Contents The subject of the presentations and discussion could be anything from Javanese history until Indonesian politics or Asian economy.

5.

Lecture-related activities Each group had to give one presentation during the course. Every week, every student had to make a critical review about the weekly article of around 500 words. There was only a final exam which was a paper about a self-chosen topic of the semester. The paper was supposed to be around 2000 words.

6.

Relevance to Groningen study program The course is not related to any course in the International Business program in Groningen since it only covers local topics.

7.

Study load Lectures: 13 x 2,5 hours = 32,5 hours Discussion and preparation with other students: 15 hours Exam: 8 hours Participation rate: 75% 11

8.

Assessment in Groningen 6 ECTS.

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Business Communication and Negotiation

1.

Host institution and study period Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Spring semester 2015-2016.

2.

Lectures and literature The course consisted of one lecture per week, for 13 weeks. Every lecture took 2.5 hours. We used several books and lecture slides.

3.

Overview of lecture program The first part of the course was about business communication whereas the second part contained the business negotiation subject. During most of the lectures the lecturer gave us a presentation and we could ask questions which gave us bonus points. There was one guest lecture. Furthermore, there was one lecture where we had to go to the street Malioboro to conduct interviews. The final two lectures consisted of presentations given by groups of students.

4.

Contents We learned about business communication subjects such as resumes, cover letters and job interviews. We also learned about business negotiation subjects such as different negotiation techniques, in what cases you use them and how you recognize them.

5.

Lecture-related activities Every now and then we received homework, e.g. write a cover letter or hand in your CV. We had to give one presentation in a group of 5-6 students. The mid-term exam was an open book exam and the final exam was a take-home exam in which we had to answer questions regarding negotiation techniques of a certain Hollywood movie.

6.

Relevance to Groningen study program This course is not related to any course in the IB program in Groningen, even though the subjects are very useful in the IB industry.

7.

Study load Lectures: 13 x 2,5 hours = 32,5 hours Discussion and preparation with other students: 25 hours Exam: 10 hours 13

Participation rate: 75%.

8.

Assessment in Groningen 6 ECTS.

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