-Are you satisfied with
your exchange, and would you recommend others to do the same?
I’m super satisfied with this
exchange experience to Wageningen University in the Netherlands. And I strongly
recommend others to do the same. This is an intensive 5 months that I gained a
lot, both in knowledge, study skills, how to encounter a different culture, and
expand personal network. Not to say the nice landscape there around that one
can easily travel with a bike to view the town and neighbouring cities.
My favorite is the Ouwehands zoo,
30min cycling from Wageningen town centre, this is a big bonus for zoo lover as
me.
-Was it difficult to
get the courses you wanted at the host university?
To take courses at WUR is not as
freely as at NMBU, but they did allow me to have courses which are less
relevant to my subject. And I liked these courses a lot since they are more
challenging.
I received advice twice, saying that
certain courses may not fit me because they think I don’t have sufficient
background as they require. First change happened when I submitted my learning
agreement, and that course really doesn’t fit me because it is more
veterinarian linked. So I changed it to a statistics course which is generally
required for all science.
After I registered course on
MyPortal, I received aalso email from the course responsible, saying that I
didn’t have the basic course in this course set, and thereby are not
recommended to take the advanced one, because I may lack necessary background.
This time I argued for this course because I like it a lot and think it fits me
according to the course description. On the description, they listed all
required background and I met almost all. Even though not taking the course
series in previous period, I had similar courses at NMBU, and the only thing I
didn’t had experienced is the use of a modeling software. I explained my
situation to the course responsible, so he recommended me to participate in a
few practises of using this software before starting this course. And he kindly
gave me the practise schedule, content and contact person for this practice.
After 3 practises, I encountered no difficulty doing group work in this course.
-Did you get all of the
courses approved when back at NMBU?
All courses were approved at NMBU.
-Are you satisfied with
the academic quality at the host university?
Wageningen has absolute high academic
quality, as their rank indicates. And to meet their high rank, the study there
is not easy I have to say. Here I don’t mean that anything is difficult to
understand, on the contrary, the professors have very good skill to make you
understand. But it requires a lot of work to fulfill the courses. Almost all
the courses I had there, consist of several blocks, and each block includes
lecture, practice/laboratory, group work and essay writing/presentation. So
there’s submission every week and I had that five months full of deadlines, one
after another. This is really intensive school work compared to what I
experienced at NMBU.It is barely every day at school 8-19 to finish all
required work.
But the outcome is satisfying.
Through that intensive writing and detailed feedback from the professors, I
feel now much more confident writing my degree thesis. And each submission
counts to the final grade, so I can see improvement I made through time. And
rather than crazy reading before the exam, I build up my nice grade from
everyday’s work.
-How beneficial was the
Erasmus grant?
I was expecting less cost to live at
wageningen than Norway, but that was not the story. They cost almost the same.
But this may also due to that my student house doesn’t include kitchen, so I
spent more money on fast food and prepared food than others that can cook. And
to establish life in a new place, there is always some extra cost too. The
Erasmus grant covered no more than my house rent. But of course it is quite
helpful as well. I don’t think only the Norwegian student loan can cover my
cost in Netherland. As I know, the student lane for Wageningen student is
890EUR, as considered to cover a standard student life.
-Did you obtain what
you wanted by going on exchange?
My expectation was a lot of updated
knowledge, but this period at Wageningen changed my view. I obtained way more
than I expect, which are scientific writing skills, presentation skills, way to
consider a research question, and be brave and confident to explore new things
by oneself. And luckily, all these I gained through the courses I like, but a
purely academic writing course as we had at NMBU.
So to exchange at Wageningen is a
tour I will never regret.
Netherland,
Wageningen University, animal science, master, animal science
Comments
Post a Comment