Today we are joined by Norika, a 2nd-year Nepalese student on the Global BBA Program. Norika talks about her adaptation to the case method and her current part-time job near the NUCB dormitory.
Why did you choose Japan and NUCB for your studies?
My family moved to Japan in 2016, as my father owns his own restaurant in Kagoshima. I went to Indian International School Japan (IISJ) in Tokyo for my high school studies, where I took the commerce stream CBSE curriculum.
At first, I was looking for universities in other countries, but I decided with the support of my family here, that Japan would be a good option for me as it is safe, clean and comfortable to live in.
There were not a lot of options to study business in English here in Japan, and specifically, I knew I wanted to study accounting. Then I found NUCB’s Global BBA Program and it seemed a perfect fit for me.
What do you think of the Case Method and how do you prepare for class?
To be honest, I had never really done the Case Method before. Although in my Economics class in high school we were required to participate, I was a little apprehensive in a new environment with people I barely knew. After 1 year, I am very comfortable with the case method now, and I believe that it is the most effective way to learn compared to memorizing facts.
For example, in the Financial Accounting class taught by Professor Frendy, the concepts to what I had studied in high school, but the key difference being that I could learn how to apply the methods and concepts in real-life situations.
After class, I will go home to prepare the case for the next day, reading the assignment questions and writing my thoughts down. If I am really interested in the subject I will do a lot of external research, like recently we have been reading about fashion companies.
What do you like about living in the girls dormitory?
I like that we have our own kitchen. My new hobby is cooking so I like to go to the supermarket and buy ingredients and make lunch for the weekdays. The dorms are really convenient as they are furnished and have everything we need - including air conditioning and our own washing machine.
Can you tell us about your part-time job?
I am working in the Family Mart convenience store next to the dormitory. Since I have previous experience working the cash register I can work here despite my limited Japanese language skills. The people are really friendly and I can work around 40 hours a month which helps finance some of my living costs. Also, since the job is quite easy going it does not impact my studies.