During the exchange days at Aalto University in Finland, I had a lot of unforgettable and unique experiences. In the first week of arriving at school, I went to the streets with CEMS classmates to complete many interesting challenges. In the course of becoming a consultant, I was fortunate enough to visit a number of world-renowned consulting companies and experience the charm of consulting in games and practical sharing. In the sustainable development class, I not only learned about Finland’s great efforts in this field, but also visited the most famous local chocolate factory and tested delicious chocolate. At the event organized by CEMS club, I steamed the sauna, jumped the ice lake and felt the traditional culture of Finland with friends from all over the world. To be honest, during the exchange term, I learned about diverse learning methods, free and inclusive business atmosphere, various development paths and lovely and interesting students. I really appreciate this experience a lot.
International Exchange
Academic Exchange with Cross-cultural Experience
Full-scale cultural and linguistic immersion is one of the defining elements of the program and can be achieved through cross-cultural exchange. Linguistic abilities and cross-cultural knowledge are among the features most appreciated by recruiting companies, alongside a grasp of management theory and practice.
Students are guaranteed to go on exchange to a CEMS member school abroad in either Term 1 or Term 2. “Abroad” is defined as outside the students' home schools where their bachelor’s degree was delivered or their home countries. Students can choose from CEMS’ network of elite member schools in Europe, the Americas and Asia.
Students are advised to select a list of preferred exchange schools upon accepting the admission offer, and their exchange opportunity will be assigned according to their priority in the preference list. There is normally one exchange slot in each member school in each term, but the slot may vary from zero to two places in each term or year. The Program Office and the respective member schools reserve the final right to finalize the exchange result.
Remarks:
- The HKUST MIMT Program Office gives the liberty for students to pick their preferred exchange school only at the time of accepting the admission offer. It is the students’ responsibility to make sure that their listed choices are based on their evaluation of the schools and their priority of preference. Any changes of choices will not be entertained once submitted and when the exchange school is assigned.
- Exchange allocation will be processed and announced after the second phase of application. Applicants from the third phase of application will not have priority on exchange school selection, and exchange allocation will depend on the availability of exchange seats left after the first two phases. Besides, only applications with complete set of application materials will be considered.
- The HKUST MIMT Program Office assigns the exchange opportunity by taking consideration from various aspects in order to widen students’ international exposure towards different cultures and communities, in which they might probably not have experienced before. The various aspects for careful consideration include the students’ holistic background, interview performance, preferred school term for exchange, students’ priority of exchange school in the preference list, overall student demand for particular exchange schools, available exchange slot in each school, etc..
- Since CEMS advocates a balance of students going to each member school in each school term, there is only a limited number of seats in each school and in each term. Please note that some of the exchange schools are in extremely high demand, but there is no way to accommodate the request of all students to one school. If all the choices in the student’s preference list are already filled up by other students with better qualification/performance, the HKUST MIMT Program Office has no choice but to assign student to another CEMS school with available seats. Students fail to complete the International Exchange will lead to forbiddance of graduation from HKUST and CEMS.
Student Exchange Experience
During my exchange period at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in Ireland, I was lucky to be chosen to do a business project at Oracle EMEA Center. In accordance with Oracle’s transformation from direct sales to subscription sales, analyzed current market situation of subscription model inside and outside the IT industry. We finally proposed an integrated platform to achieve best practices in Business Relationship Management and got the grade A from Oracle.
Besides, I have also participated many impressive events, such as Smurfit Ball, St. Patrick Day, Alumni Party, Hiking at Wicklow Mountain and Graduation Trip. Ireland is an amazing country with beautiful landscape and lovely people. During the exchange, I have got several new skills, made new friends worldwide and experienced fresh new things in life. I really appreciate the time spent in this lovely country.
As one of the most well-known business schools in Europe, St.Gallen University’s exchange experience will bring not just the business concepts but a network of student and hands-on courses to apply the concepts. In St.Gallen, you have the chance of working with companies like Daimler and Facebook to drive business changes and learn project management skills that will be extremely helpful in future business projects.
In St.Gallen you are in the class with a group of very intelligent and diverse students. The courses will really push you to ask questions in the real-world setting. The St.Gallen CEMS club also hosts events every week ranging from international brunch, corporate partner round table, to farewell weekends, which is the most memorable event from my experience. I will strongly encourage future students to attend the CEMS events to create a stronger bond with your CEMSies abroad. I would recommend St.Gallen to students looking to spend the semester in one of the most beautiful countries and to really learn things you can take with you in your career.
Living Russia is a life changing experience. It is almost impossible to understand such an intricate and long-lived culture without being fully immerse into it. The GSOM CEMS club is active on a day-to-day basis, organizing corporate events, talk with local business leaders and social events. The CEMS white knights is one of the most important events in the whole CEMS community and offers the opportunity to explore St. Petersburg guided by locals with the sun shining 24hrs a day, educative and impressive at the same time.
I would suggest everyone to visit Russia at least once, better if on a long term to deeply explore one of the most intriguing culture filled with some of the most welcoming and warm people in the world.
My daily study life on the left bank of Danube is worthwhile and memorable. When I first arrived, there was a week-long sightseeing tour/pub crawl/meet-and-greet all in one, providing me a chance to meet my fellow students and discover the city for the first time. Our block seminar was situated in Visegrád, one of the most beautiful towns in Hungary. I enjoyed an intense brainstorm on digital business transformation with diverse students. Different backgrounds brought us more creative and brilliant ideas.
There were also some amazing opportunities to enrich your specialized knowledge. I had been chosen by Bain & Company to participate in the workshop “The Beauty of Due Diligence” in Munich, which helped me gain valuable insights into Private Equity. In the CEMS PRO BONO CONSULTING PROJECT, our team helped a local organization Neurodiversitas Foundation to create business model. Supported by professional consultants in Deloitte and professors from the university, we acted as real consultants and improved ourselves professionally.
If you want to experience high-quality teaching in a romantic and mysterious European city, CUB must be on your list!
Exchange School: Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, Netherlands
RSM has everything you want to learn about business and management. Many professors in CEMS here have working experience in outstanding companies such as IBM, ING and BCG. The classmates here are keen on academics but are also crazy about interesting social events. CEMS Club RSM ranks top in Europe in offering their CEMSies unforgettable exchange experience and networking opportunities. Of course, apart from study and having fun with friends, the Netherlands is a fantastic country with lovely tulips, nice people and amazing views where you will enjoy a lot during your exchange term.
I can still vividly recall the marvelousness I felt when I found out that the grand, church-like mansion in front of me was the campus of Nova School of Business and Economics, residing at the central of Lisbon. Nova provides us an incomparable block seminar experience, with hotel alongside the beach, three-hour lectures followed by two-hour beach time and alumni gathering parties at night. Academically, the Brand Management course was one of the most rewarding, which was taught by a professor who was the former marketing director of L'Oreal France. The elegant lady gave us weekly coaching sessions and opportunities to present at the headquarter of Nestlé Portugal. Hearing the compliments to our CMES students from the manager herself made me feel so proud.
Lisbon is an amazing city with wonderful sunshine and welcoming residents. Admittedly Nova may not be as popular as other CMES member schools, but I sincerely felt so lucky to have this fantastic experience.
