Want NHH students to go to South Africa

Last week, Gunnar Christensen, Iver Bragelien and John Andersen returned to NHH after a week in South Africa. There they shared experiences and met new potential partners for student exchange.

08.11.2007 - Magne Krogstad Asphjell

The aim of the long trip was initially to attend an annual assembly with PIM, Partnership in International Management, where representatives from 54 learning institutions from all over the world participated.

"We're talking about a highly prestigious network," explained John Andersen, the leader for the international office. PIM consists of leading business schools from all over the world, where NHH is the Norwegian representative.

New and old acquaintances
In addition to taking part in the conference, which is obligatory for PIM's members, NHH's representatives used the occasion to discuss future cooperation with both the University of Cape Town, and two relatively new acquaintances.

"It was normal to meet many learning institutions during the stay. In addition to our desire to expand our existing cooperation with the University of Cape Town, we have also been meeting with the University of Stellenbosch and Wits Business School, which is affiliated with the University of The Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. We hope to begin the exchange of students with these institutions by the Autumn, 2008," said Andersen.

Opportunities
The agreements with the South African learning institutions mainly consist of the exchange of Master students. According to the leader of the international office, NHH also wishes to strengthen the contact between the learning institutions in regards to, for example, a summer course, professor cooperation and executive modules. These are ideas which today, for the most part, include European learning institutions.

In other words, it looks like NHH can offer its students many international opportunities in the future.

"This is a part of a global education strategy. In general, NHH wants both a larger number of students on exchange abroad and students coming on exchange to NHH, as well as exchanges over longer periods," explained Andersen.

Easy to sell
All in all, it doesn't seem like the business school's representatives have had a difficult job on this trip.

"To begin with, studying in Norway means great scholarship opportunities, and this makes an exchange to NHH into a great opportunity for South African students. Therefore, the Universities in South Africa are very positive in regard to cooperating with us."

Andersen also explained that the new Master profile which is in the works has been well received.

"We get a lot of attention around the new Master profile in Energy, Resource and Environmental Economics. The focus on a new English language Master profile with an exciting course selection will improve NHH's position as an attractive cooperation partner," said Andersen.

Grandiose
If we were to believe the reports from the trip, South Africa is a great country for Norwegian students to travel to.

"The country can offer exceptional nature-related experiences. The opportunities down there are vast. Of course, the country is marked by its' history, but our overall impression was excellent," explained Andersen.

Focus on the future
As a consequence of the demand from students at NHH, the business school is also trying to expand its' learning cooperation with learning institutions in the USA, even though this is somewhat harder to achieve.

"The Universities there seem less open for internationalization, so this makes the process slower."

However, we are improving our cooperation with learning institutions in Latin America because exchange to this part of the world is in high demand by NHH students. A better knowledge of the South American culture and the Spanish language is attractive to many," concluded Andersen.


Translated by Nancy Cavanaugh