'I feel supported by my professors. They make international students feel welcome'
Why I chose to study at UAntwerp
I was looking at universities in Antwerp, Ghent and Leuven and UAntwerp was the one that sounded the most interesting. The application process was straightforward and in my opinion UAntwerp is of incredible good value.
What I like most
People are really nice and friendly, always ready to help and the Dutch language was not an issue for me since my courses are in English. I also did an intensive Dutch language course when I first came in Belgium and that helped a lot, now I can read a bit of Dutch, which is also helpful.
Something that I found interesting was that I had to be a bit more formal in my emails to my professors which is something I am not used to, since usually I call them by their first name, or you’d start the email with Hi, but I think this is partly because they are more respected like a doctor or lawyer, not just any teacher, so this also means that they are a lot better in what they do and learn more about what they are teaching.
Another interesting thing is that it is perfectly acceptable to have a beer during lunchtime, straight after class, since the city campus is near everything and you can do lots of things there. This is very different in comparison with my previous university campus which was away from everything and you could not do anything on campus.
What I found difficult
I think the most frustrating thing, but I think this can happen every time you’re studying in a university, is the blackboard system where professors put all the resources. It seems that it doesn’t have a lot of instructions. Sometimes you go in the English section and afterwards you go into the Dutch section, so it seems to be a bit disorganized.
Would you recommend studying at UAntwerp?
Yes, definitely. First of all, this master’s degree is much more affordable than Australian masters.
Professors are also very well prepared, more professional and they know what they are talking about. I also think that it’s good for me to have an European degree, it looks better, and it will have a good international recognition.
About the culture
I really like the cycling culture, since at home we don’t have this. I bought a road bike and I cycle every Wednesday night with a group of people, and it’s all fun. Riding your bike around the small city is something I am not used to because every city in Australia is much bigger than Antwerp, I never ride my bike in Melbourne. So it’s great to take your bicycle for everything, even for shopping!
The education
It’s not as practical as in Australia. Here it’s more academic. For example, one of the things is that in Australia, we never read papers longer than one page. We got pages and pages of appendixes and then one short summary. But it is good to experience the other side and since I am really interested in the subject I am studying, I appreciate it.
I also feel supported by my professors. They make international students feel welcome.