English |  Español |  Français |  Italiano |  Português |  Русский |  Shqip

Erasmus+ Journal (Issue 4) 2015/16

Jakob Stampfer, University of Örebro, Sweden, Mobility for Study, PHST

Contact of the University:

University of Örebro
SE-701 82 Örebro
+46 19 303000
Sweden

Student Services Centre
If you have any questions about studies, admission or degrees
Phone: +46 (0)19-30 37 00
E-mail: studentcentrum@oru.se
Opening hours: Monday-Friday 09.00-15.00

Admissions Office (Master's Programmes)
If you have any questions about admission to Master's Programmes as a freemover, e-mail: freemover@oru.se

Press Contact
Linda Harradine
, Press Officer
Phone: +46 (0)19 30 14 70 Mobile: +46 (0)70-643 14 70
E-mail: linda.harradine@oru.se

Records Office
The Records Office at Örebro University handles incoming post and registers university documents as well as answers questions about university records.

If you have any questions or need to get hold of any documents please contact the Records Office Administrators.
E-mail: registrator@oru.se
Telephone: +46 (0)19-30 30 00 (switchboard).

Erasmus-Office + coordinator:

Hanna Forsgärde/Ida Lindberg 

International Coordinator
Responsible Coordinator for: Austria, Croatia, the Baltic states, Bulgaria, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Turkey and the Nordic countries.

Incoming Exchange students
If you are admitted as an Exchange student please contact the International Office for questions.
E-mail: exchange@oru.se

You can also find informations at the homepage of the University: https://www.oru.se/english/study/exchange-students/

Short history of the University

A modern broad-based university

Örebro University is a modern, broad-based university with internationally prominent research.

Örebro University in figures

  • 17,000 students
  • 500 doctoral students
  • 80 degree programmes
  • 700 single courses
  • 3 faculties
  • 8 schools
  • 1,300 staff
  • 510 teachers and researchers
  • 130 professors
  • 420 administrative, technical and library staff

Our history in brief

Örebro University has its roots in the higher education which was established in Örebro during the 1960s. In 1977, Örebro University College was established through a merger of the Uppsala University branch in Örebro, the Preschool Teaching Seminary, the College of Physical Education and Sport Science, and the College of Social Sciences. Örebro University was founded in 1999.

(https://www.oru.se/english/about-us/)

ESN-Erasmus Student Network

First I have to say, the start in my exchange semester was just amazing. Johanna and I flew out from Vienna to Stockholm on the 15th of January. We spent the weekend in Stockholm and went to Örebro by bus, which took us about 2 hours.
The welcome day for exchange students was on the 17th of January. It was a really warm hearted welcome and everything was organized very well.
Before we started our “Erasmus adventure“ in Sweden, all exchange students were separated into small fadder groups (also in Facebook groups, which was-really good for communication).
There were 6 fadder groups and in every group where 4 fadders of Local or International students from the last semester. ESN Örebro is a really good constructed and organized Organisation. The 100 International Students were divided in fadder groups, whith 4 fadders for each group and one group leader. There were two “Generals” as well, who organised the activities and who led the fadders. We also had a webmaster, two travel coordinators, the vice president and the president of ESN Örebro. We started with 3 welcome/introduction weeks including lots of different parties, info meetings, action games, battles between the fadder groups and a lot of more activities. These activities were really helpful to get in contact with the other international students and Swedish people.
ESN was like a big family in these 5 months for me.

Courses

I had 4 courses. The Swedish University system is really different compared to the Austrian system.
You have one course for five weeks, with a final exam or a paper at the end. After this five weeks you start with the next course. It is a really nice system as you can focus on one course, finish it and start the next course fully concentrated.

My classes at the University were:

  • Teaching and Learning, a Comparative Perspective- 7.5 ects
  • Special Needs education – 7.5 ects
  • Diversity in the classroom- an Intercultural perspective- 7.5 ects
  • Sports Science, Outdoor Education and Recreation-7.5 ects

In each course we had 5 days of school practise, 6 hours a day (except the Sports Science course, there we had one day from 8-16.00 with kids). The language of the classes was English.  

Application process

If you want to study at the University of Örebro, you have to do fill out an online application form with your data and your courses. There is a deadline for applying which you can find on the homepage of the University. If you need help with the application form, you can also get in contact with the International office. In the end you have to fill out your learning agreement, print it, sign it and give it to your home university to sign it and send it to the University of Örebro. What is really great about the University in Örebro is the fact that a room for living will be organise from the University. You have to fill out an online form if you need a room for the time there. You get your keys on the welcome day from “the Generals of ESN”.

 Finances

The life in Sweden is more expensive than in Austria. It always depends on the person and how you deal with money, but you definitely need more money.
We had to pay the housing before we arrived there, it was like 350€ for one months. So we paid around 1600€ before we went there. For me it was really good because you paid your room already so you don’t have to think about it during your stay abroad. We had a contract with the housing office from the 17th of January to the 17th of June.

My finances:

-          333€ from the Erasmus Program (money for the room)

-          250€ from my dad

-          220€ children money from the government

-          100€ from my mum

I saved a lot of money which I earned from being a ski instructor, playing soccer and work in the summer holidays.

All in all, you definitely need about 650-800€ for food, bus card, going out and other stuff.
Sweden is more expensive than Austria in every way.

I travelled a lot so I need sometimes spent more money in one month.

Review in academic terms

My choice to study abroad at the University of Örebro was one of the best choices I made in my life so far. The difference between the University system in Austria and Sweden is really big. From the PHST, I was used to have a lot of small courses at the same time. In Örebro it was different, we had one course for 5 weeks and it was possible to put all your focus on one course. The main language was English. The courses were split in 2 different grading sections.
First one were two assignments about different themes of the course with about 400-600 words connected with course literature and a presentation about a situation out of your school placement during the course.
The second one was a final paper with 1500-2000 words or a take home exam. It was also connected with course literature.
The grading system was also really different. In Sweden they have grades from A-F.
It was really hard to get an A or a B. A and B were like a 1 in our grading system. C and D were like a 2 or a grade between 2 and 3. E was like a 3 to 4 and F was fail.
For me it was not easy to get an A or a B because English is not my mother language and we had a lot of students with English as their first language. But I tried my best.
It was really nice to see another school system and grading system. My English is definitely better now than it was before and I really enjoyed the time there. Our teachers were really friendly and experts in their subject.

My life in Sweden and Örebro

Sweden is a wonderful country. For me it is one of the most beautiful countries I have seen so far. Örebro is a really nice small city in the centre of Sweden, two hours to the west of Stockholm by car. Sweden and also Örebro is really multicultural, open-minded and offers places and people for every type of human. It was the best decision of my life to study there. It opened my horizon in the way I hoped and I learned a lot about different cultures from all over the world. It is amazing to have contacts now in South Korea, Singapour, Australia, Hong Kong, India, all in Europe, Canada and the United States. One of my best friends in Sweden lives in Canada and I will visit her in February. An exchange semester shows you how multicultural the world is and I’m really happy to get a lot of new friends all over the world.

I travelled a lot to see also the neighbour countries and some parts of Sweden because Sweden is a really big country.
I was in the North of Sweden in Hede with my outdoor course for a cross country skiing week, I visited Stockholm and Gothenburg in Sweden, I was in Estonia- Tallinn, Finland- Helsinki and I visit one of the most beautiful cities in Europe- St. Petersburg, Russia.

Some trips where organised by ourselves and the Russian trip was organised by ESN.

To sum up, I think my Erasmus semester was the best time of my life and I will definitely miss all the great and awesome experiences and people. For everyone who wants to go to an exchange semester but is not sure about it, please take the chance and go as long as it is possible to another country for studying. You will not regret it.

Review of school practice

We had school placements in three of the four courses, were we had 5 days from 8.00-14.00 o’clock. I was in three different schools.

My first school was the International English school/ International Engelska skolan of Örebro. My teacher was Annika Müller and she taught the German and Swedish lessons. So we created with her the german lessons, and we had one presentation about Austria. The students there were between fourteen and twenty years old. It was really exiting to see how people in another country learn your mother language.
It was a really nice experience.

My second school was in the suburbs of Örebro and was a primary education school. It was called Hovstaskolan. My teacher was Linda Axelsson and it was all in Swedish.
It was the first grade of the school. My teacher worked with week plans for the kids and it was really interesting to see how it works.

My third school was the Risbergskolan. It was a High school and our teacher was Jessica Hallonqvist. For me it was the best five days of school placement. Risbergskolan is a special school with 80% non-hearing or hard hearing people. It was amazing how these people learned German and English. A translator was in the class and translates our words into sign language. We discussed about the Swedish system for non-hearing people and also about their culture. I think about learning the sign language after my studies at the PHST. It was so interesting.

For my Sports Science course, we had to organise an outdoor day for kids which was a great experience for me as a becoming teacher.

All in all, the best 5 months of my life so far.

There has been error in communication with Booktype server. Not sure right now where is the problem.

You should refresh this page.