'I am really enjoying the programme, it is helping me to better understand how the world works and the society we live in. The programme helps you understand all the different social dynamics that exist in the world we live in, how these dynamics interact and how they shape our society. The programme aims to develop critical thinking and analytical skills that correlate all these various social aspects, helping to create an accurate picture of the world. This I think is fundamental and goes beyond all the various skills and knowledge one can develop and learn. As global citizens I think the first thing we need to know is what kind of world we live in, without understanding this, everything is useless as our actions are more likely to be negative. Personally, the curriculum has been stimulating for me. As an international student I was used to a different type of teaching, so approaching another type of teaching system was a positive challenge. The teaching I found during the economics geography Master's programme was very inclusive and with a high demand for participation, both with individual work and group projects, aimed at developing communication and leadership skills. Qualities that I believe are essential in today's world.
I think the teachers have done a very good job in trying to make the teaching stimulating and engaging. It was strange for us students not to be able to see each other live due to Covid-19, but all the various group projects were carried out with quality, and with team spirit, which I appreciated even more since I was the only international student in my course and never felt excluded. As for the relationship with the professors, I was pleasantly impressed. In my previous experiences I was used to there always being a certain distance between teachers and students, but here in Radboud I felt very close to the professors, seeing them more as a help or a guide, I felt that the class and the professor were one big team.
Beside the Covid pandemic which is related to my master's experience but not the educational experience itself, I encountered initial difficulties due to the change of teaching method. I was not used to having assignments with weekly deadlines, or making presentations, and this initially posed a challenge for me. But in this I must say that I had great support and help from both teachers and other students who helped me to overcome these initial difficulties.
The thing that I find most stimulating in my Master's degree is to research how our society actually works and what drives it. This global vision and understanding of how the world works I find to be the most exciting thing in my entire course of study.
Unfortunately I could not find an internship, this was due to the complexity of finding an organisation related to my thesis project. My thesis is about the emerging of the space sector related to the capitalist system. Starting from some of the criticisms made towards the stagnation of the capitalist system related to the production system, in which various authors point the finger declaring that we live in the illusion of continuous innovation. The famous creative/destructive forces conceptualised by Schumpeter, according to these authors, are in truth suffocated by excessive bureaucratisation and managerialism. These phenomena lead to a stalemate of the system. My thesis intends to investigate whether a new frontier (a new "America") which is space, could be an answer to this stagnation.
I think it is important that people enrol in this Master's programme, or study the things that are taught in this Master's programme, because we live in a society that becomes more complex and articulated every day. It's impossible to know everything, but I think it's important to have a certain capacity for analysis and to know what mechanisms are behind the world. For the ability to identify and analyse all the different parts, and understand why things are the way they are and not some other way, I think it's important to do this master's degree. As far as my future plans are concerned, I am still not sure to be honest. Thanks to this Master’s I have discovered many things that I thought did not exist or that I did not give due importance to. This Master’s has made me realise that there are many paths I am interested in and because of so many new realities I have discovered, I have difficulty in choosing.'