“The campus is the perfect environment for international students. It helps you create, innovate and push the boundaries”
My name is Florentina Badea and currently I am following the Business Information Technology Master’s at the University of Twente. I’m doing the Data Science & Business specialisation. After graduating from the Faculty of Economic Cybernetics, Statistics and Informatics at the University of Bucharest, Romania, this programme seemed like a logical next step. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and felt an international programme would be the best way to gain more knowledge and experience. That’s how my passion for business and entrepreneurship brought me to this amazing ‘High Tech Human Touch’ university.
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The perfect environment for internationals
On arrival here in Enschede, I was amazed by the campus: I had seen a lot of pictures of it, but it turned out much better than I had expected. The UT campus is the perfect environment for international students. By offering so many resources, facilities and opportunities, it helps you create, innovate and push the boundaries.
challenged from day 1
During my first day here, one of my teachers told us that we had five days to find a company willing to collaborate with us on an assignment. I started laughing – thinking he was joking. But he wasn’t. I barely knew my way from home to university! It was at that moment that I remembered I had come here to be challenged. The next thing I remember, I was so excited that I went home and immediately started contacting every company I could think of. By the very next day I had received positive answers from all of them and my team was the first to introduce its partner for the assignment. It’s hard to express how happy I was…
Real-life business problems
All of the assignments here at the UT centre on real-life problems. We develop solutions within companies and with their help, using their internal data. My team developed digital strategies, improved business models and offered solutions for problems at several companies. It’s already exciting to be learning more about this field, but I am even more grateful for the opportunity to actually put all that knowledge into practice in real life as well. It’s demanding and challenging, but I can tell you that it’s definitely worth it.
A flexible educational system
The educational system here at the UT is very flexible. Every quartile you get to choose which classes you want to follow. The theory is anchored in the latest academic papers published online on an internal platform and you have to get to grips with it during self-study sessions. In the lectures and practicals you spend more time discussing the papers and working on real cases and examples.
international friends and a broader perspective
Eager to get the most of student life, I joined a lot of events and activities organised by student associations, making many international friends. Hanging out with them provided a great opportunity to learn more about other cultures. I gained a far broader perspective on life and really started to see the world in a different way. The campus offers an environment full of possibilities where it’s up to you to choose your future. Once you decide what you want, you will find everything you need to make your dream come true.