Foreign Exchange Program during MBA (Part 4)

Q - Can you tell me something about foreign exchange programs offered in MBA course curriculum?

A – While there are so much discussions about which college is the best, Which Major should one choose, What is the average package blah blah blah, there are hardly any discussions about foreign exchange programs offered by different colleges, how good are they, what are the tradeoffs etc. Let me put out some views around this topic

·        Foreign exchange programs are one of the best opportunities for you to travel European countries at the cheapest rates possible for 3-4 months. Reason being, accommodation costs are covered mostly by the foreign universities (with a very small portion charged to the student).

·        You can not only get the benefits of studying in a foreign university and experiencing their pedagogy but also interacting with students from other MBA institutions including India which increases your networking skills.

·        It’s a different experience to go for holidaying in Europe for 10-15 days, cover as many places as possible and tick checkboxes Vs living in Europe for 90-120 days and understanding how different or similar is Europe from India in terms of food, language , people, places , hotels , trains, flights and the list goes on and on and on.

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      Majority of students opt for educational loans for completing their degree and there are provisions to add cost of exchange program in the loan amount (you can also add additional expenses like new laptop in your loan amount on top of usual tuition fees offered)  

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      Colleges offer exchange programs during different trimesters in second year. Here are the pros and cons going in for exchange programs in each of the period:

• Fourth Semester: Worst time to go if learning is your main objective of joining MBA since a lot of core subjects are taught in 4^th semesters and the subjects taught in foreign universities aren’t of great relevance in Indian context specially finance ( however they focus a lot on interaction based classes so you might gain on other relevant soft skills). If you really want to go during this trimester do the following things: clear CFA level 1,2 before second year arrives (Mainly for finance people since the subjects you study in your 4^th semester has a lot of commonality with course content of CFA level 1,2) , try and build some credibility in you CV by participating in a lot of case studies competitions offered by big corporate companies during first year. All said avoid going at this time.
• Fifth Semester: Best time go on foreign exchange if you have converted PPO (Pre-Placement Offer) in a company of your choice during your summer placements. As soon as your MBA term starts companies start coming for hiring students for summer placements & if they are satisfied with your performance you might get a preplacement offer after finishing your summer trainings. However, In case you haven’t converted any PPO it’s a catch -22 situation for you since placements usually start in this season and you don’t want to miss applying in companies of your choice. Better go in the final semester.
• Sixth Semester: Perfect time to go as your placements are done and nothing much to look forward to in college (academic perspective). The only thing you can miss is your convocation ceremony because you might still be in Europe and its pretty cold in Europe at that time so a lot of fun activities possible during Fifth Semesters are not possible then            

These are some of the basic pointers which I know about foreign exchange. Don’t miss this opportunity if you like to travel.