2012
ERASMUS STUDENT
Home town: Cologne, Germany
Graduate Patricia Valuch studied Business and Management in her native Germany before completing her final year at Southampton Solent University.
“My course offered the opportunity to study abroad in my third year, either at Southampton Solent University in England, or in the Netherlands. I chose to come to Southampton as I'd spent six months in Surrey on an au-pair programme to improve my knowledge and understanding of the English language. As I explored the British culture, I fell in love with the country.
“The Business and Management course provided the opportunity to investigate many areas of business and to discover the subjects that interested me the most. This was a very good choice as I can now specialise in many different areas.”
Patricia really enjoyed writing her dissertation, she says: “I believe that this project helped me decide on the direction that I should take with my future career.”
As a non-native English speaker, one of the major benefits of the course for Patricia has been the opportunity to improve her language skills. This was always something that she was hoping to achieve and she succeeded during her stay in Southampton.
“I also believe that I have developed enormously as a person and grown more independent”, she adds. “I rented my own flat, cared for myself and organised everything that needed to be done when one lives alone, especially in a foreign country.
“I’ve met people from all over the world which made studying much more interesting and fun! With a little organisation university life can be relaxed.”
Patricia enjoyed her experience both at Solent and in Southampton to such an extent that she’s decided to remain another year to enrol on a masters programme in marketing.
“The unemployment situation in Germany is difficult at the moment and I hope that this additional qualification will help me to find an interesting job in Germany next year, perhaps in the tourism industry. Solent University is a great place to study and make new friends... Come and find out for yourself, you won’t regret it!”