SFU STUDENT EXCHANGE REPORT- SEM I 2012 A Personal Reflection

2012

Jiaoji Waqainabete S11064718

Acknowledgement I wish to extend my humble appreciation to the following individuals who have made my student

exchange possible and one of the most memorable experiences in my life:

The Lord Almighty who has been so kind in providing and protecting me

Ella (USP International), my hero through the whole experience; you are really special!

Michael ( USP International Manager) for being really understanding

Poonam and Ruci, the fine Women of USP International who are usually always there to help

Ms Kelera Turaga (MIA) for being a great mentor and guide

My sponsors Ministry of iTaukei Affairs (MIA), thank you for allowing me to take this

opportunity, and I hope I will make you proud someday

The Gucake family, who was kind enough to host me in Vancouver and be more of a family

to me than anything else

My family, for their undying support in prayers, words and kind!

To all those individuals that I failed to mention above, please accept these words as a personal

token of appreciation.

Aim I intend to both inform potential exchange students and inspire other fellow individuals through this

report; on how a little bit of exposure can change your perspective, and being in a totally different

hemisphere I would say is a bonus. Finally, at the end of this report I hope not to leave mixed

feelings, but to convince each individual to have strength of character and an open mind in every

situation; so that hopefully, it works out for the good of one.

Contents Acknowledgement .................................................................................................................................. 2

Aim .......................................................................................................................................................... 3

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 5

Personal Bio- Data: .............................................................................................................................. 6

Brief Introduction of Simon Fraser University: ................................................................................... 6

Pre- Departure- “The Climb” ................................................................................................................... 7

Departure- “Cloud Nine” ......................................................................................................................... 8

Continued from the Preface ............................................................................................................... 8

Arrival ...................................................................................................................................................... 9

Classes –“The core of things”................................................................................................................ 10

Education, Learning, Teaching at SFU- a Personal Perspective ............................................................ 11

Facilities ................................................................................................................................................ 12

Social/ Academic Activities ................................................................................................................... 13

Personal Experiences ............................................................................................................................ 14

Time to Move Out ................................................................................................................................. 16

Departure- Goodbye’s .......................................................................................................................... 17

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 18

Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 19

Introduction Just as the passengers were ushered off the plane, I rushed through the terminal with others to get

myself through immigration, realising there was quite a queue. After the routine questions and the

most serious yet confident face I could make answering

them, I had such relief knowing I was in and one formality

was done. Straight away, according to the details of my

ticket I went to check for my next flight via Alaska Airways (5

terminals away by walking). Little did I know, what was up

ahead. My name had not been on the flight list and the flight

that I had been booked on had not been servicing my

ticketed time anymore for a month and the people who

organised my ticket (Air Pacific) should find some alternative.

My first response was to act cool, find Air Pacific and this will

be soon done; well long story short, after an hour and a half

of running around like a headless chook in Tom Bradley

(International terminal) and looking for any Fijian with a

bula shirt; I finally find out that they really did muck up my

ticket, and since it’s too late to send me off that night, I’d

have to stay overnight in a hotel in LA (paid by Air Pacific of

course!) and fly off at 9am the next morning. By the way, it

was Tuesday 3rd January in Los Angeles International Airport

and the overnight meant I would be arriving in Vancouver at 12pm on the 4th, which was mid day of

my scheduled orientation day (that ends at 3pm).

My name is Jiaoji Waqainabete and this is my report of my experience while on student exchange at

Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The preface above was just a short

excerpt of a few unfortunate events on my path which I hope attracted your attention. However, I

hope not to dwell too much on this, but make this report more of a well rounded perspective that I

gained from the exchange experience.

Figure 1 Arrival at Tom Bradley Int'l Terminal

Personal Bio- Data: Name: Jiaoji Waqainabete

Majors: Accounting and Finance

Year: 3

Sponsor: Ministry of iTaukei Affairs

Career Ambition: Financial Planner

Nationality: Fiji Citizen

Origin: Keteira, Moala, Lau

Brief Introduction of Simon Fraser University: Established in 1965, with a current student

population of more than 35,000 and 950

faculty members, Simon Fraser University

(commonly referred to as SFU) was named

after a well- known fur trader and explorer,

Simon Fraser (Sfu.ca, 2011). Towards the end

of the 2011-12 academic year, SFU President

and Vice Chancellor Prof. Andrew Peters

unveiled a new vision for the institution, where

it is to pursue to become Canada’s “Engaged

University”. And in every sense, the school is

on the verge of becoming just that.

SFU has had several accomplishments; in terms

of sports, in 2009 SFU became the first Canadian and Non – American University to be accepted into

the National Collegiate Association (NCAA) (Sfu.ca, 2007) In academics, SFU has been rated as

Canada’s best comprehensive University in Maclean’s magazine for 9 nine years (1993, 1996, 1997,

1998, 2000, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011) with 2011 being the most recent. (Maclean’s, 2011) In

2010, the International Business Review ranked SFU Business as one of the world’s most prolific

institutions in the study of international business; where the journal ranked SFU as 38th out of 1,200

institutions worldwide.(Sfu.ca, 2010) The school has 3 locations which are Surrey, Downtown

Vancouver and Burnaby, which is the main campus. There are 8 faculties, a vast array of facilities and

student residents to 1,766 SFU and FIC students.

Figure 2 taking a rest while Snow Grinding up Grouse Mountain

Figure 3 A partial view of SFU's well known Academic Quadrangle

Pre- Departure- “The Climb” It was a sleepless Tuesday night, one assignment was due, an exam to be done (and studied for) a

day after and a last minute student exchange application to be completed. As I ponder upon that

moment, the feeling is quite the same as this report; except that now, everything doesn’t need

much research or predetermined thoughts, they are all memories. My anticipation, being a forward

thinker that night was to apply first to go to Victoria in Australia and if it doesn’t work out, Canada

might be an option. I had considered two main factors in this, firstly being, relevance and origin of

the courses; as a USP FBE student studying in a university in Australia is like receiving everything

from “the horse’s mouth” so to speak, as most of the courses are derived from Australian and New

Zealand research which is presumed to be applicable to the Pacific Island setting. Apart from that,

finance was the key, as a Pacific Islander there should be at least someone that you would have been

acquainted to who lives in Australia; so if is money ever tight, there would be coffers available.

However, I was selected to go to Simon Fraser University in Canada. My first response was, “the

name is a mouthful of all things and that’s like a million miles away”; as my head rushed in trying to

fathom both excitement and fear in explaining this to my guardians, Ella (the student mobility

coordinator) couldn’t have mentioned student allowance at a better time, CAD $5,000 to be exact

was what SFU was willing to assist me with.

The reason why I call this part of the report “The Climb” is because I didn’t decide to board the flight

to Vancouver the next day after that selection; there was a lot of convenient and not- so convenient

meetings, running around, requests to sponsors, applications to SFU, Visa applications, emails and

the icing on the cake was the courses. Those 3-4 months seemed endless and very tiresome. My

biggest problem as a student was more of a mismatch as some might call it in terms of courses,

because SFU as a Northern Hemispheric university has a 4 year duration degree and I was still

completing my second year, with no history with the school and the only relevant courses to me

were either 300 or 400 level to them. Apart from this, they did not open their Accounting program

to other students from other institutions on exchange. My reason for going at that point was very

bleak, which is why I kept on requesting them to give me proof or indication that I could at least take

my finance courses; where the possibility of such was possible to their knowledge. But in order to

play it safe as advised by USP, I had to register myself into at least 8 courses; which were always

narrowed after assessment and then I had to search for more alternatives. By this time of

correspondence, I had received my offer letter, the Visa application was ready to be sent and it was

at least a week or two to final exams.

Fast forward to a week before Christmas 2011, my friends Akshay and Sanjay, who were bound for

Guelph University, and I had received our Canadian visa, ticket and were scheduled to go for our US

visa interviews. After all these formalities, I was ready to go and as advised by SFU would just try and

reach there a day before classes to finalise my courses.

Departure- “Cloud Nine” As the title quite correctly says, this was the moment when I felt

that everything was just surreal to me. The days counting down to

my departure were quickly slipping by and by New Year’s, there was

so much to do in such a small bracket of time that it was hard to

imagine that in a day or two I would be in Canada. The day finally

approached for me to go; 3rd January 2012, no breakfast for me! Just

a quick check at USP for a final debrief, a call to my sponsors and off

it was to Nadi Airport. Goodbyes were so fast, even though I

wouldn’t meet my family again for a year or two. But as I know it, I

was in the plane and we were bound for Los Angeles International

Airport.

Continued from the Preface Upon advice from Air Pacific, I took a quick shuttle ride to the Radisson where I had a layover.

Exhaustion from the 10 hour flight was slowly kicking in so I decided to use all my meal vouchers at

once, take a nice breezy walk through LA from the Airport Side and then back to the room.

The next morning was quite fast for me, it was a dash to LAX, check in at the Alaska Airlines terminal

and by 9am I was bound for YVR (Vancouver International Airport). Finally, at 12pm I touched down

in Vancouver and after a few bureaucracies, I was relieved to be in Canada.

Figure 4 Waiting for the Boarding Call with my family in Nadi

Figure 7 My not- so petite meal of medium rare steak and mash

Figure 6 Overlooking LAX and over to the city at night

Figure 5 outside the hotel

Figure 10 Shuttle Bus to LAX Figure 9 Before taking off for YVR

Figure 8 Rushing through YVR terminal after touchdown

Arrival – “Acclimatisation” After receiving my study permit and collecting my luggage I hurriedly went through the arrivals

terminal not knowing what was to come. To my relief, my name was cautiously called out and after a

quick scan I was able to find the quite familiar face of someone who through the trip would become

more like a mother to me; it was Mrs Diana Gucake, the dear wife of Pastor Netani Gucake who as a

family reside in Canada. This was all followed by the famous ‘bula’ and brief introductions with the

pastor and his wife while I was whisked away to the Burnaby campus.

The travel from YVR to Burnaby was about an hour or so and as we arrived at the campus, we

walked straight into the first formal building that was there. Well, little did I know I was actually

walking into the school of Business Office and at the counter they mentioned someone that I may

have needed to see. Pantingly I proceeded through and met this lovely lady Mellissa- Sue who as I

listened tried to get some papers off me as she schemed through her Mac; suddenly, she asks “Did

you know that you’re supposed to be here?” and as she explains the whole system I realise she is

one of the individuals I had been emailing to try to sort my courses out and maybe the only capable

of doing so in my case. So I comply and give her my preferred or core courses (Finance) and then she

explains to me that they had been full for a month and because it was too late to do changes, she

just had to give me a whole lot of alternative courses that I could take to start with as the others I

had registered for were not finalised till then. As my courses were finalised, I was wished a great

semester and was directed to the school residence office where I got my key, and we went straight

to the room to get me settled. If I remember correctly, it was Townhouse 13D; and bare to only a

mattress and empty cupboards. I was fortunate to have the pastor witness this too who decided to

have me home with him to get all the things I needed before he brought me back.

Figure 12 My room in one of those neater days Figure 11 An afternoon view of my Townhouse

Classes –“The core of things” The very next day after my arrival, was scheduled for the commencement of my classes, as such, I

decided to get myself familiar with the campus as I had missed the orientation myself. This process

wasn’t too long to get accustomed to, by the end of the second week I had confirmed that I was to

take only 4 units; these were Macroeconomics (EC 101- equivalent), Business Statistics (EC 203-

equivalent), Introduction to International Business and Managing Innovation.

My class schedule was not too hectic and most of them were centred in the Burnaby campus except

for the last class for the week (Innovation) which is taught in the SFU Surrey Campus. The following

is a brief description of such my average class routine for the week:

Time Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

9:30-10:30

Managing Innovation (Lecture/Seminar)

10:30-11:30

Economics (Lecture)

Business Stats (Lecture)

Economics (Lecture)

Business Stats (Lecture)

Managing Innovation (Lecture/Seminar

11:30-12:30

Business Stats (Lecture)

Business Stats (Lecture)

Managing Innovation (Lecture/Seminar

2:30-3:30pm

Int’l Business (Lecture/Seminar)

3:30-4:30pm

Economics (Tutorial)

Int’l Business (Lecture/Seminar)

4:30-5:30pm

Int’l Business (Lecture/Seminar

Figure 14 Passing by a classroom in Surrey Campus

Figure 13 Looking down from the 5th level of the SFU Surrey Campus

Education, Learning, Teaching at SFU- a Personal Perspective

The education experience at SFU I would say was generally different to USP for the most part. And it

was this contrast that I had learnt to mostly appreciate; but would at times leave me missing the

good old USP ways.

For one thing, the courses seemed more organised as most of the assignments details, tutorial

questions, lecture slides and exam dates were given in advance. This allowed me to plan my

semester well in advance and understand how to create a proper study stratagem.

Secondly, classes hardly clashed as the student information system can reject a course at the initial

registration period if it picks that a course I try to register in will clash with the existing classes. Thus,

I was ensured a good break between classes, even though I had one each day.

Thirdly, as one would expect, as the classes became advanced; they were much smaller in size and

the lecturer’s teaching methods were also different. Instead of having much objective and intense

lecturers like the ones I had taking my lower 100 and 200 level courses; my higher level classes

became more of seminar like ones, where there were only 30-50 students in a fully equipped room

and the Professor would have expected students to have read before the class, then as the class is

taught, provide an activity or give an in- class quiz and allow for questions during the lecture and

direct the opinions made so that they didn’t only make sense but relate to a real world perspective.

These classes spanned for 3 hours and as such, I had to accustom myself to really read my course

text well in advance so that I could contribute to the class and do well in the quiz as most of these

classes carried great participation weighting.

However, like any education system there were issues I had faced in the courses that really caught

me off guard. Firstly, it took me a while to realise that SFU was like any university and lecturers

needed to be very objective, but my lower level classes seemed to always be very intense especially

as the class’s sizes were big and the contents were pre- requisites to most business courses there.

Secondly, one of the courses I took, BUEC 232 (Business Statistics), seemed to have a very different

teaching system from the rest of my classes. There were only two, 2 hour lectures offered in the

week and the rest of the class assessments and notes were offered online through the Pearson

Teaching System which was done by the course text publisher. Students were expected to frequently

access their given accounts on this website for assessed activities, assignments and extra notes.

Unfortunately, it was hard for me to really grasp the course as well as I expected especially since

there were no tutorials offered which I thought was a more suitable teaching method for me;

instead, at different times in the week a lab or two would be open in and around the school where

students were expected to do their online activities if they need help from an available course

teaching assistant. But from a personal note, the teaching assistants were just there to help and just

answer any queries that we had that arose, but nothing more than that.

Facilities As a university in a well developed country, it was expected that the facilities at SFU should be at a

top notch standard. One thing I appreciated the most is that it was very easy to find a PC or Mac that

was free and ready to work. As such, unless I used my phone or an iPad which I didn’t have; the

fastest thing to sending last minute materials were so easy to access. Secondly, it was always easy to

do printing as they had many dedicated printing PC’s and machines that could perform these jobs

quickly and independent from other print jobs.

-

Lastly, apart from the striking differences I faced in the advancements of the facilities, a point I wish

to mention is that SFU has been known to have a few eye catching architectural designs to its list of

school building facilities. If the classes were not capable of catching one’s attention, the buildings

sure did catch mine.

Figure 16 Printing PC Figure 15 Student Study PC

Figure 18 The SFU Surrey Mezzanine Figure 17 Walking to the SFU Surrey Campus which is above the Surrey Central Mall

Social/ Academic Activities The Beedie School of Business is a very active business school, and to my perspective allows a great

deal of exposure to their students. There were a lot of career fairs and firm invitations that the

school involved the students in based on their program and choice. The first of which that comes to

mind is the “Career Fair” which one of the biggest organised events where nearly a hundred or so

firms would set up information and selection booths, and students would use this to market

themselves and offer their CV’s, Business cards and other personal information to allow themselves

to be selected.

Secondly, students were also invited to the “Day in a CA Firm” event which allowed Accounting

degree candidates to get to know the CA firm of their choice, the services they provide and their

facilities (through an office tour).I was fortunate to have toured the Vancouver office of Delloite, one

of the world renowned “Big 4” CA firms.

Thirdly, a few other networking events were organised by

the program faculty for Bachelor of Business Candidates

two of which I had attended myself; these were the

‘Finance Night’ and the ‘BBA Gala’. Both these events had

the same idea of trying to allow students to make

personal connections in any firm of their choice; where

like any of the other SFU events, formal attire was

compulsory. The process for taking part in these is such

that I just had to a purchase my ticket, book my name

online and in doing so, select a firm of my choice that I

would dine with for the main meal course and another

for dessert. Despite, the formal set up, I was able to liaise

with professionals on a personal level and get to

understand what they expect from graduates while they

can pick out the calibre of students they would be most

interested in.

Figure 19 At the BBA Gala with my Mentor Melissa- Sue

Personal Experiences The Canada trip really opened my eyes to many scenes and to the world of opportunity that is

waiting out there. However, like any trip abroad, it would not be worthwhile without getting a taste

of what there was out there. The following is a small collection of places I visited and things I did:

The above captions are a bit of an illustration of the great times I spent made possible through

friends and the pastor and his family that was kind enough to host me most of all the weekends in

the semester. They all made sure that I was never home- sick and would ensure my schedule was

busy with all these fun- filled activities that left me surprised at the end at how fast time flew by.

Figure 20 Bridge crossing at Lyn Canyon, VC, BC

Figure 23 Sliding Down Grouse Mountain

Figure 22 Walking Down Burnaby Mountain onto Hastings

Figure 21 Walking Up Grouse Mountain

Figure 24 A view of Downtown Vancouver from high up in a Gondola

.

Figure 26 With my wonderful Samoan exchange friend from NZ, Easter.

However, the most memorable or maybe life changing experience for me was being able to

volunteer at the First United Church along East Hastings in Downtown Vancouver where we helped

the church do food servings to the homeless and less fortunate in those parts. The area (East

Hastings) is quite infamous for being sketchy and without influence from my friend Easter; I wouldn’t

have considered the option of volunteering. For a brief description of the area, the streets are

engrossed with a strong scent of Marijuana, alcohol and other drugs and a lot of homeless people

seem bound to these things and to the area for survival. I, as an individual, consider myself fortunate

to not just serve them but also learn to respect these individuals alike. However, the greatest lesson

I took with me was that despite the amount of development and the opportunities it creates in

certain countries; there is still a great amount of people who will unfortunately be unable to make

ends meet like the rest or get over harsh addictions, hence, it is up to each individual to do what

they can to help.

Figure 25 Outside the First United Church, one of feeding places for homeless and unfortunate individuals in on the East Side of Downtown Vancouver

Time to Move Out At the end of the four months, I couldn’t believe how fast time had gotten on me and it felt like

there was still heaps more to see in Vancouver. But the last few weeks was left with me nestling into

my books and getting the exams done, because as soon as I knew it, it was time to move out of the

school residence. I had realised all the friends that I made, the times I had and the things that I

would rather not mention in this report. But moving out of SFU was one of the hardest things to do,

in the most literal terms as the amount of packing and move- out ‘spring’ cleaning which required

more effort than I thought.

Figure 28 A room- mate and friend cleaning the stove, before moving out

Figure 27 Packing in my room the night before move- out

Figure 29 Last few poses with my a good friend before I leave

Departure- Goodbye’s

After moving out of school I was fortunate stay with my host family house for a week and also have

my extra clothes shipped out and paid for by them. By the day of my departure I was dropped off at

YVR by the same two people who picked me and made me feel so much at home while in Canada, to

them I owe so much.

Figure 31 A few well wishers from the church at my farewell

Figure 30 the perfect Fijian spread made for my departure

Figure 32 The kind husband and wife, Pastor Netani and Diana Gucake

Conclusion As a task given for applying to the student exchange scheme, I was required to write an objective

essay on my views on Internationalisation and its Effects on Pacific Island countries, with a

perspective to USP. I, being a hopeful candidate for the exchange, decided to emphasize on the

advantages that this posed on students and course providers alike where in such instances it allows

for student exchange and secondment schemes. In this regard, I couldn’t agree more on how this

sort of exposure (which internationalisation is defined in part) can have such a life changing effect on

students and academics alike, as such, I must once again extend my hearty appreciation to USP

International for making this all possible.

Bibliography Maclean’s, 2011. Maclean’s 2011 University Rankings. [online] Available at:

http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2011/10/26/macleans-2011-university-rankings-2/

[Retrieved on: 30 July 2012]

Sfu.ca, 2007. SFU first Canadian school in NCAA. [online] Available at:

http://www.sfu.ca/pamr/media_releases/media_releases_archives/media_07100901.html

[Retrieved on: 30 July 2012]

Sfu.ca, 2010. SFU Business a global research leader. [online] Available at:

http://www.sfu.ca/pamr/media_releases/media_releases_archives/media_07100901.html

[Retrieved on: 30 July 2012] [Retrieved on: 30 July 2012]

Sfu.ca,2011. SFU Fingertip Statistics. [online]. Available at:

http://www.sfu.ca/content.dam/sfu/irp/documents/fingertip.pdf [Retrieved on: 30 July 2012]