Meet the international students
Since VIA University College offers a range of English taught programmes, it is only natural that a large part of the students comes from other countries than Denmark.
At Campus Horsens, approximately half of the students are international, studying a semester or a full programme here. Read about their experiences below and be inspired!
Statements from international students:
Aleksandar Evtimoff, Bulgaria - Global Business Engineering
I chose the Global Business Engineering programme because of the symbiotic relationship between technology and business. As a GBE graduate, no matter whether you choose a career in engineering or sales, you will have the right tools to make well-qualified decisions within technology, finance and marketing. I believe that this programme allows you to actually step beyond the traditional one-direction educations and have more than just one point of view when solving the modern work cases that you will encounter in the future.
Studying at VIA is very attractive because of its international-student environment. I also appreciate the dynamic and modern teaching style, and especially the policy of giving the students real-life cases to solve to back up the theoretical part of the programme.
I would like to emphasise the importance of the cross-disciplinary projects that we are given each semester. They require a lot of hard work and enable us to see the relationship between technology and business. We are not only evaluated on our final product, the report, but also on our presentation skills and the working process, which I find very rewarding.
Magdalena Muniak, Poland - Bachelor of Architectural Technology and Construction Management
I have realized that I learn things better when I can test theory in real life and I guess that is an advantage when you are studying to become a Constructing Architect. I am from Poland and all my life I have leaned things by listening, memorizing and taking notes. But here in Horsens, I learn not just to memorize but also to understand the theory. The way of teaching is so different here than from what I am used to. We work together in groups on different kinds of projects. For example, I am working on a project right now where we construct a house for a small family with sewerage, ventilation, water installations and so on.
I work hard on learning the Danish building-regulation and understanding how they do things here in Denmark. We are six girls in my class but that is okay because actually there is no difference in how we treat each other boys or girls.
Richard Hurka, Slovakia - Marketing Management
I like the school here in Horsens and the knowledge I am receiving. I look a lot different at marketing today and have realized that marketing is not just the commercials but is also how to build a brand and adding value to the customer.
The teachers use a different approach than from what I am used to back home in Slovakia. Here I am always encouraged to participate and I feel that I have to participate to get the most out of my courses.
In Slovakia I read a book about the subject and learned to memorize it. But here I am challenged to participate actively in discussions and to make my own opinion about the subjects. I like it a lot. This semester I got the opportunity to study in Australia together with a few other students from Horsens. I am looking forward to it and to experience the Australian culture. I like traveling but am also looking forward to going back home to Slovakia to my family after I graduate.
Eva Thrastardottir, Iceland - Civil Engineering
A work placement period is a great opportunity for working as an engineer before you choose a specialisation at the sixth or seventh semester and you get a little 'break' after two years in school and the chance to be even more interested in what you are learning because you have had a chance to see how it is used in the real world.
Matteo, Italy - Mechanical Engineering
I study Vehicle Engineering in my home University, located in Modena. I chose to come here at VIA University as a Mechanical engineering student to improve my knowledge and to train my English language skills, but studying here in Horsens also became a very interesting life experience!
The University is brand new, so it is very nice and modern, all the teachers I met were very helpful and they showed me interesting ways to reach knowledge because the lessons were based on theory, of course, but also directed to the practical and real world. During the lessons you can also do a lot of training with specific software which you very likely will meet in your future job career. Most of the teachers have had a lot of work experience in companies before starting to teach at VIA University, and I think this is one of the main goals of this teaching method.
It's quite simple to meet people and work together because all the classes are composed by international students coming from all over the world and they always share the same problems to solve with language, exercises, arrangement and so on…
In my opinion studying abroad is now an opportunity that you mustn't miss in your study career and of course VIA University is a really wonderful and useful place to spend your time!! Open your mind!
Rimaa, Palestine - ICT Engineering
ICT Engineering is a creativity field, I'm saying that because you can always find new information while programming and developing. I'm curious to know what's coming in the later semesters.
At the beginning I faced some difficulties while programming especially when I used to find some errors in my programme(code) but by time I realised that I learned from those mistakes and now I find programming is GREAT FUN!!
Varun Ramkumar, India - Exchange student
One of the great things about the school is that you can get access to the laboratories and the computers 24 hours a day. Furthermore, there are plenty of computers and you can access wireless internet practically everywhere. This makes it very easy to play games during breaks or call your family back home.
Irma Valantinaite, Lithuania - Int. Sales and Marketing Management
In the beginning when I was considering going here to Horsens to study I was very afraid, because it was a huge challenge for me to leave Lithuania. But now I can’t get enough of new challenges. The way we learn things here in Horsens is so different than from what I am used to. Here we are free and the teachers are our friends, they actually listen to the things we say and ask for our opinion. Before no one ever asked me what I liked or didn’t like but here I answer that question all the time.
Before I came here I didn’t speak English very well and I wasn´t used to standing in front of other people making a presentation or expressing my opinion out loud. Now I speak English all the time and I would love to work in an international company and outwardly being the companies face. At Campus Horsens we work with real life cases and real companies. So I feel very much that I am ready to conquer the world. Just bring it on!
Svavar Hafþór Viðarsson, Iceland - Masters Degree in Project Management
As organizations today are getting more and more project oriented, I wanted to further develop my BSc Value Chain Management with the MSc in Project Management. The program provides me an advantage to work in the global business environment of the future.