VIRTUAL CAREER BOOSTER GERMANY 2020
On November 5 and 6, UAS7 had the opportunity to participate in the Annual Goethe Institut "Career Booster Germany" - per 2020 restrictions in virtual form.
This year, UAS7 was represented in three separate sessions. The first being a presentation on Study Opportunities at University of Applied Sciences, together with Fresenius University of Applied Sciences. Additionally, Nathanial Long - SIP alumnus of Hochschule Bremen City University of Applied Sciences - participated in an Alumni Panel Discussion about Studying in Germany. Lastly, UAS7 prepared a Spotlight on Graduate Studies in Germany together with the Liaison Offices within the German House New York.
LESS THEORY, MORE PRACTICE! STUDYING AT A UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES
Together with the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences New York Director, Priya Nayar, Friederike Moenning from UAS7 gave a presentation on practical study approaches through Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) for an audience of 90+ high school students and teachers, as well as recent graduates and undergraduates from all over the U.S. The presentation highlighted various opportunities within the German higher education system, and gave examples from the UAS within the UAS7 alliance and Fresenius network. A special focus was set on English-taught programs for undergraduate and graduate students, which cover a range of disciplines from International Business Management (B.A.) to Biomedical Engineering (M.Sc.).
STUDYING IN GERMANY ALUMNI PANEL – WHY GERMAN IS AN EASY A, AND SO MUCH MORE
In a great conversation between four experts on experience abroad, UAS7 alumnus Nathanial Long talked with Michelle Bolourchi, Robert Bloom, and Frances Esquivel on what it means to study and live in Germany as a foreigner. Nathanial Long works for the Foreign Service Department at the US Department of State, Michelle Bolourchi currently serves as an Outreach and Recruitment Specialist at IIE for the Fulbright Scholar Program. Robert Bloom is the Language Program Officer of the Goethe-Institut New York, and Frances Esquivel is a Geosciences student at the University of Cologne.
We went to the opera, we went ice-skating, we went on top of a mountain, and I was with people who hadn't seen snow before - because they didn't have that where they came from! (Nathanial Long)
For Nathanial, after viewing German as an easy A in the States, his experience abroad in Germany sparked his interest in an international career. During his two semesters at the Hochschule Bremen City University of Applied Sciences, he was able to discover what he liked and didn’t like – especially the semester he spent working as an intern made him appreciate how Germans do business, and gave him a taste to decide if he wanted to develop his international skills further. He points out his love for the intercultural environment with many other international students, as it opened up different thought processes regarding problem-solving.
“You should absolutely do it! Germany is very student-friendly. Studying abroad in general will benefit you – I highly recommend it! You will get to meet the whole world when you study in Germany!” (Michelle Bolourchi)
Robert seconds Michelle’s opinion, and adds a tip to avoid big cities such as Berlin and Munich and rather go for smaller cities, where it’s not as common that everyone on the street speaks English. He positively remembers being thrown into situations where people only spoke German, because through this challenge he was able to further improve his own German language fluency.
But not everything can always work out perfectly, right? When the four were asked about their personal biggest culture shocks, Frances says: “I thought I broke the window in my student apartment” - because German windows have three different settings. You can have them closed, opened, or “auf Kipp”- which basically means that the window is only partly open. Michelle adds - “There are a lot of cultural differences that come through – week by week, or month by month.”
PURSUING GRADUATE STUDIES
CAMPUS OWL, DAAD, HASSO PLATTNER INSTITUTE, HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY, HOCHSCHULE FRESENIUS, UAS7, UNIVERSITY ALLIANCE RUHR, UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE, UNIVERSITY OF FREIBURG, TU DARMSTADT, TU MUNICH
Universities in Germany offer a wide variety of English-taught Master's programs covering all disciplines and many innovative subject areas. A German Master’s degree is respected by employers around the world. It can be your path to a successful career and/or to a PhD.
The session covered helpful information on the requirements, funding opportunities and the application process as well as on resources to assist with preparations for studying in Germany.
We would like to thank the Goethe Institut USA for hosting the Virtual Career Booster Germany 2020, and giving UAS7 the opportunity to contribute to the event. Many thanks to all partners and speakers for their participation and involvement.