My name is Victoria, I'm 29 years old and I'm from Russia. This is my first Master study. I can say it took a while for me to realise what exactly I want to study or what to do in life. I finished my bachelor in Russia at the Economy faculty. My specialisation is management in marketing. Yep, that's quite far from the educational field. However, in the last year of my bachelor, I started to work as a learning and development specialist at a big company in Russia. It was a tough experience, but I've learned a lot. After 2 years I applied to a position that was called an instructional designer. The journey started there. I didn't know about instructional design and e-learning before, but I figured that it's what I want to do in my life.
After some time I became the head of the instructional design department. Nevertheless, I had the feeling that I wasn't fully satisfied because I didn't have an education in this field. I was searching for the educational courses and programs... but everything wasn't good enough. The CEO of a company where I was working at that time is a former student of the UT, particularly, she is an EST graduate. She was my inspiration.
I decided to get a Master’s degree in education. The UT wasn't the only university on my list, but it was the first one. The thing is, that this program includes not only theory but practical implementation of these theories. Also, here you can choose your own focus – HRD (human resource development) or EDE (formal education). I’m studying HRD.
It wasn't an easy decision: my English wasn't good enough and the application process was so different from what I experienced before. But it was just the beginning.
When I came here I was surprised with Dutch willingness to help, first of all. The biggest surprise about the study was that most of the projects are group projects. The second one is that most of the time is for self-study but not for the lectures. Group projects for me were a bit challenging at the beginning: I prefer to do my tasks in a quiet place where I can focus. In the 3rd quartile I was already one of the persons who proposed to work together.
Studying here is not only about the study but also about being able to try something new, to learn about new countries (yes, not only about the Netherlands), to travel, to learn Dutch... There are a huge amount of opportunities, and the most important is to be open for them.
I've tried a new sport here, I'm an active member of a study association, I've met new friends, I'm learning Dutch and I've been travelling around the country. I think that studying here is the best decision I've ever made.