Students positively evaluate Summer and Winter School courses taught on the Araranguá Campus

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The course “Study and Traineeship Opportunities in Germany” was offered at the  School of Sciences, Technologies and Health on the UFSC Araranguá Campus during Winter (14July to 22 August 2017) and Summer (19 to 27 February 2018) School. The offer of this course in English is part of UFSC’s internationalization strategy and was supported by the Office of International Relations (SINTER) and UFSC’s Extension School through the public calls 03/2017 and 08/2017/PROEX.

The course aimed to prepare students and workers to find study and work opportunities in Germany, besides discussing cultural differences in order to ensure a successful exchange experience.

Some of the topics approached were:

  • Information about the application steps to study in Germany;
  • Information about the German job market, focusing on the IT and energy fields and how to find trainee positions;
  • Tips on how to learn German;
  • Learning of cultural differences in order to ensure a successful integration in the study and work environments;
  • Sharing tips on different ways of travelling cheap, so as to have a better understanding of the local culture during the trip;
  • The different perspectives of travelling experiences (tourist X traveller).

The course was coordinated and lectured by Prof. Kátia Madruga. The lecturing team was also integrated by Prof. Claus Pich, the volunteer staff Lutz Michaelis, and the external visitors Daniel and Kimberley Conrado. The Winter Course also had the participation of Marcio Soares and Rainer Souza.

Both courses equally counted with the support of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) which sent guidance materials for students and researchers.

In total, 25 students attended the courses. According to some of the participants’ evaluations, the opportunity of joining a course taught in English by Brazilian and German lecturers was interesting and fun, also bringing rich exchange of experiences. The students complimented the university’s initiative and the diversity of the course’s proposal which included lectures, videos, group works and games, as well as text production (curriculum vitae, cover letters and motivation letters). In this sense, the practice of offering courses in English at UFSC must be incorporated to the university’s culture so as to foment the creation of an in-house international environment, which will also attract more foreign students.