Personal Study Report – University of Aberdeen
Host University: University of Aberdeen
Programme: International Relations & International Organisation (IRIO)
Courses taken & earned credits: even though the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (from now on referred to as ‘RUG’) has a history contract with the University of Aberdeen (from now on referred to as
‘UoA’), I, despite my bachelor being IRIO, decided to opt for an exchange of one semester to the UoA. I did so mainly because of the ‘International Security’ course they had on offer, which I found out about by browsing through their online course catalogue. Another reason I opted for Aberdeen is that I wanted to go on exchange to an English speaking country, preferably the United Kingdom.
Sadly, however, as part of me going there on a history contract, half of my earned ECTS had to be in the history department, which International Security isn’t. Considering that International Security is worth 15 ECTS, this meant that I still had to achieve the remaining 15 ECTS from history courses. I did find a relatively interesting looking history course in their online course catalogue, but, once in Aberdeen, it turned out that this course got scrapped. Hence, I had to choose a different course and fill in my ‘Erasmus During Mobility’ form to notify the RUG of the made changes and to get their approval. I settled on a course called ‘World War 1 – International Perspectives’, which is also worth 15 ECTS and thus filled up my remaining ECTS (in the history department).
Quality of education and level of information: overall, the quality of education was good, but there are a few things that the UoA could learn from the RUG and vice versa. Most of this section will be addressing the course ‘International Security’ as I actually enjoyed that course, and thus any criticism that I do have stems purely from the way of teaching rather than me not being as much into the subject, as was the case with my history course on World War 1. In terms of lectures, the UoA is quite similar to the RUG in that both their lectures are informative, and mostly one-way conversations. In terms of seminars, the RUG clearly outdoes the UoA, at least from my experience. For my
International Security course, we simply had class-led presentations every seminar but the first two.
Whilst this could potentially improve someone’s presentational skills, it comes at the cost of being able to less thoroughly discuss and/or question the material; something that I’ve always valued about most of my RUG seminars. That being said, where the UoA clearly outshines the RUG is in
timetables. As opposed to the RUG, I never had, nor knew anyone who did have, evening classes.
Whilst this wouldn’t be as much of an issue as an exchange student in Aberdeen (considering you’re walking distance from campus), this is something that the RUG regularly, excuse the language, screws me over with as a travelling student.
The level of information provided by the UoA too was good. At any time, there were always multiple people you could turn to for help. During freshers’ week, there was an orientation event where they informed us about some general topics such as healthcare (including signing up for a general
practitioner; I was surprised how quickly I got my hands on two new EpiPens, free of charge – yes, the EpiPen I took with me was expired), and also provided us with some academic advice and places to go to for questions (such as a dedicated Erasmus team for all your exchange questions). Furthermore, we had a meeting with our personal ‘Go-Abroad Tutor’ to finalize signing up for courses and, in my case, change courses in case a course is no longer available or for other reasons. Filling in my ‘Erasmus – During Mobility’ form was easily done with said tutor via email.
Reception and accommodation at the host institution: What I greatly appreciated was how they handled freshers’ week, especially their own shuttle bus service to the airport during move-in weekend was a great addition. It took you, along with your luggage of course, straight from the airport to your new home: Hillhead Halls of Residence (think of it as a small village with different student houses).
Overall, Hillhead was a great place to stay. It was cosy, there was a small supermarket (though for bigger expenses I’d advise you to walk down to the Lidl at the end of the street, which should take you about 5-10 minutes max), and there was a main building with pool tables, a TV room, and more.
When it came to residence/general issues, such as noise disturbance (though I never had to contact them for this reason), there was always a team of SRAs (I forgot what this abbreviation stands for) present to help you out. For residence specific issues such as a leaking tap, there was a possibility to report this online. Then, hopefully sooner than later, some men would come by your room to fix it. It took me some time to get my leaking tap (which was like that upon entry into my new room, yikes) fixed though (about a week I’d say), so there’s no telling how long it’ll take them to get to you (I was told it depends on the urgency of the problem and how busy they are).
Contacts with teachers and students support from home institution: I had no contact with any of my former teachers from the RUG during my stay abroad. Whom I was in contact with were the RUG’s exchange coordinators and IRIO study advisors as I needed them to approve/sign my ‘Erasmus – During Mobility’ form.
Estimation of expenses during exchange: I’m pretty sure KLM is one of the few, if not the only, major airline company flying directly to Aberdeen from continental Europe, so expect to pay a little more than you’d normally expect if you wish to fly directly to Aberdeen. An alternative would be to fly to Edinburgh and to subsequently take the train to Aberdeen, but keep in mind that you’ll have your luggage with you; this will be a little more cumbersome, but it should be cheaper.
How much you’ll pay for accommodation depends on the house you stay in in Hillhead. Personally, I stayed in the catered hall (at the time ‘Adam Smith’ house). This meant the weekly price of
accommodation was a bit higher than for some of the other houses, but I didn’t have to buy crockery or buy as many groceries. As part of this catered hall, we received a meal plan card which was topped up to £54 at the end of the week. You were able to use this for either breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It was generally enough for two of the three, but not always all three (I skipped breakfast every morning as I’m more of a night owl, this meant I had more to spent on lunch/dinner). If this is confusing to you, don’t worry as it should all be explained in more detail in Aberdeen. It did, however, take a while for them to get this system with the meal plan card up and running, turning the month of September into a bit of mess (we had to pay for our own lunch, but were offered breakfast and dinner) – we were later compensated for this. Overall, I’d say the breakfast was alright (the maybe 5-6 times I’ve been there), the lunches were great, and the dinners were okay. There’s also a Sunday brunch (no breakfast on Sundays) available.
For the accommodation (includes food) I ended up paying £2.289. For the flight, I ended up paying roughly €434 for a return ticket. Add in some other expenses, such as books, a number of wicked trips to the Isle of Skye, Alnwick Castle (Harry Potter), the Harry Potter bridge, snacks, etc. and you should expect to be paying anywhere between €3.000-3.500 in total.
Encountered problems & personal recommendations: no real problems were encountered.
However, it turned out that for most courses you can find past exams (online). As I believe this wasn’t mentioned during my International Security course, I didn’t know this. Thus I was a little in the dark as to what the questions would look like. Some other full time Aberdeen students doing my course knew about this and replied: ‘Oh wait, but you’re an Erasmus, aren’t you?’ upon me asking them what
these past exams are all about once I found out roughly 10 minutes before said exam. If nothing’s said about such past exams during your lectures/tutorials, make sure to ask your tutor about this.
Also, during my stay in Aberdeen we had the option of owning a bike through an, I guess student-run,
‘company’ called BeCycle (on campus) by leaving a £40 deposit. Upon returning your bike in good condition, they would then give you back your deposit. I did this, and it turned out I never needed my bike (I thus ‘sold’ it on to someone else). They’re mostly mountain bike-esque types, meaning you’ll lean forward a bit while riding it, so holding an umbrella while doing so is a bit of a no-go. This makes the bike an inferior option when the weather’s bad. Besides, chances are they’ll give you a bike which is in poor condition and you’ll have to fix her up yourself – they’ll give you tools and can lend you a hand, but this is what some people spend hours doing during freshers’ week, something I wouldn’t recommend. Plus, you can walk practically anywhere (downtown is a bit far, but doable) and the bus is relatively cheap.
Lastly, the weather really isn’t as bad as some people (on continental Europe) would have you believe.
Sure it rains sometimes, but overall the weather was a lot nicer (I’m talking bright blue skies) than in the Netherlands.
PS: if you are not enrolled for one of your courses (because of e.g. a limited number of places available), make sure to send the corresponding tutor an email. She/he might be able to get you enrolled regardless.
