"If one had but a single glance to give the world, one should gaze on Istanbul", Alphonse de Lamartine
Birgitta Nordholm, the Master Programme Coordinator at Umeå Institute of Design travelled to Istanbul, Turkey to attend the Erasmus contact seminar "Increasing Erasmus Mobility” between the 18th and 21st of November. Approximately 140 people from around 17 different nations attended the contact seminar and from Sweden there were five different universities represented besides UID; Royal Institute of Technology, Dalarna University, Chalmers University of Technology, Halmstad University and University West.
A lot of excellent students have attended UID during the years and of course we would like to see more of them in the future. Because of the new arrangement with tuition fees a lot of student cannot afford to come here so it is important to keep in contact with universities for instance in Turkey. Within Erasmus however, the students can study up to one year in a foreign country without any fees.
Birgitta visited three universities in Istanbul for instance Istanbul Technical University where several previous UID students have studied. At the trip to one of the other universities, Yildiz Technical University there were a couple of students participating. One of the students, Kenneth Swedlund study the Master’s Programme of Engineering at the Umeå University and is in Turkey studying Communication Design. He told Birgitta that he wanted to study somewhere where the culture would be completely different from Sweden and he is very pleased with his education. Kenneth has also studied a couple of single courses here at UID, which is yet another proof of how small the world is!
Birgitta will inform both students and staff about the opportunities of exchange between universities. Through three different networks you can obtain help with the practical aspects and through two of them you can also apply for scholarships. The networks are Erasmus, Cirrus and Cumulus.
All in all the contact seminar was very well organized and enjoyable and Birgitta is confident that it will result in some future collaborations or exchanges.
