Learning materials: comparing Vietnam and the Netherlands

Posted at: 12 Apr 2019 | Communication

I’m Tran from Vietnam, International Business exchange student at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS). Are you Vietnamese and are you considering an exchange at the AUAS? If so, you must be curious about how different the studying environment at AUAS is compared to your home university. This blog gives you an overview of the differences between learning materials at AUAS and my home university, RMIT Vietnam.

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As mentioned above, I’m an international business student, therefore, this blog is written from the perspective of a business student from RMIT Vietnam. Consequently, it may be not be true for students in other majors or different universities.

What is the key learning material for business students at RMIT Vietnam?

  • Lecture Slides

Almost every key element for the whole course are included in slides. When we work on our assignment, we need to base this on the slides to collect the main theory and elements that should be included.

  • Self-researching

Then, we are required to look for further information from the websites, academic articles, academic journals, or databases to examine the theories above and come up with examples to clarify problems.

How about learning materials at AUAS?

  • Books

At AUAS, slides just have the summary of the theory and it is required to buy and read the book by yourself to understand the content of each lesson. Reading examples and explanation in the book is highly recommended by AUAS professors to pass the tests at AUAS. It is really stressful for the first time but when you get used to it, it will be a really good habit because Vietnamese people are quite famous for their laziness in reading books.

  • Provided Articles

In case the article is necessary for your course, it will be provided by your professor.

Tips

We are required to buy the book by ourselves. Each book here averagely costs from 40 euro to 60 euro which seems to be really expensive for Vietnamese students.

  • PDF Versions

You can find the PDF version for some of the books. I recommend you to try to look for it via the Internet to save money for your expensive student life in Europe.

  • Trading books

You can also buy second-hand books in the Facebook group “Amsterdam School of International Business - AMSIB”. Then, you can also sell your books here when you don’t need them anymore.

Exchange is an amazing and valuable experience that you shouldn't miss. Come out from your comfort zone to see a world that you have never seen before!

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