Two years ago a group of 10 international students commenced the Master’s programme in Computer Science at Aarhus University. It was the first time the programme admitted a larger group of international students. This summer they all graduated, and now two of them share their experiences.
2019.10.09 |
Even though it has only been a few months since he graduated, Stefan Prisca is already busy at his first full time job as an IoT System Developer at the Danish company, Grundfos.
He started his career at Grundfos as a student assistant on the second semester of his Master’s programme, where Destination Aarhus helped him find a student job and after graduation, he was offered a full time position.
Before the Romanian native came to Denmark, he already knew he wanted to study a full degree here.
“A friend told me about Denmark, so I already knew it was a pretty awesome place,” says Stefan Prisca, who had also applied for Aalborg University, but chose to come to Aarhus.
“I found Aarhus more active and lively and the university introduction was really nice. But I also really liked the topics and course structure that made it possible to choose our own courses.”
Another one of the students who chose Aarhus University was Miguel Fialho from Portugal. He was accepted to both Aarhus University and University of Copenhagen.
“I looked at both Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, before narrowing it down to Denmark, where the programmes were better suited for me,” he shares.
Miguel Fialho has really liked studying at Aarhus University – he especially enjoyed the relationship with the professors, where students are always welcome to stop by the professors’ office and then he liked the oral exams.
“I felt like the oral exams allowed the teacher to actually find out what I knew and allowed me to better express my knowledge,” he says and explains that he was a bit anxious the first time, but that it went away immediately when the exam began.
Stefan Prisca also enjoyed the relaxed relationship between students and professors and the high level in the courses.
“The professors were amazing. I liked the flat hierarchy, which meant I could just stop the professor in the hallway and ask a question. I also liked the very high level of teaching where all the professors were keeping up with the newest research all the time,” he says and adds that he also really valued that he was able to get a relevant student job while studying.
Miguel Fialho also worked during his studies. Since the second semester, he worked as a TA at the department and currently he is working with his professor to publish his Master thesis. Furthermore, he just landed his first full time job at InCommodities in Aarhus, where he will work as a software developer.
Both graduates would like to stay in Denmark and really like the way of life here.
“The job environment in Portugal is tough. It is hard to become independent; which means that many 30-year-olds still live at home. The job would also not be what I like – I would not be intellectually challenged like here and I would have to work longer hours,” tells Miguel Fialho.
Stefan Prisca agrees:
“The work-life balance and the 37-hour-week here is great. It means that when I get home in the afternoon I’m not tired and I still have time to do lots of other things.”