The student experience

 

Studying a postgraduate qualification in another European country can be an exciting and rewarding experience.  Here, two students share their experiences of studying abroad.

Silja-Berit Dreyer from Germany is studying an MSc in Logistics (Supply Chain Management) at Molde University College Norway. Alican Pelit from Turkey is studying at The Danish School of Education, Aarhus University in Denmark.

Why did you decide to study in another European country?

Silja-Berit: I wanted to enter an English Masters programme with an international focus, which the programme of logistics at Molde University College fulfils. As the variety of Masters programmes being taught entirely in English has increased within Europe, I wanted to study abroad in order to expand my horizons.

Alican: I decided to study a postgraduate qualification because eventually I would like to have an academic career. I initially decided to study in the USA, but then found out about the Erasmus programme and decided to come to The Danish School of Education.

How have you found the experience?

Alican: The experience of studying in Denmark is a great opportunity to improve my knowledge of education and cultural awareness. It’s different to studying in Turkey because the lectures are in English and because I have a lot of classmates from many different countries.

Silja-Berit: I found and still find studying in Norway just incredible. The kind people, the nature in front of my door, the university and study level - everything is just exactly as I wanted. It is also a really great way to build a network of people - I have got to know a lot of people taking part in the Erasmus programme, other languages, habits and cultures. And I now have friends all over Europe and the world.

Did you find it easy to settle in?

Silja-Berit: I think it is quite normal to struggle in the beginning, knowing nobody, struggling with the language and so on. However, I am a very open-minded person and after some weeks I found a lot of nice people - including Norwegians - that I am still in good contact with. It helps if you are able to speak Norwegian or are at least show that you are willing to learn. That opens many doors.

Alican: It was not too difficult to settle in but there were some problems for me. Learning in another language can be difficult, most of the time I had the enough knowledge about the subjects which were discussed in the class but it was not always easy to talk about those subjects in English.

Has it been interesting to experience life in another culture?

Alican: It’s really interesting to experience life in another country and learn in a multicultural class. We have lecturers from different countries and conversations about the education, sport and life in our countries – so we have a lot to learn from each other.

Silja-Berit: I came here knowing Norway from vacations, thinking: well, the culture is not that different from Germany. Living here for some weeks taught me something totally different: there are quite a lot differences. It is very interesting to see and experience to be convinced of the opposite from what you actually thought!

How do you feel you will benefit from your studies?

Silja-Berit: I feel I will benefit quite a lot. I believe that being able to work in teams with different cultures; speaking, writing, reading in another language for two years and learning Norwegian will all give me a great advantage in applying for jobs within Norway as well as back in Germany.

Alican: The academic knowledge and skills which I have developed have encouraged me to go on to further study and apply for a PhD programme.