A Blog about Education Abroad

Tag: Summer School

  • Francis at the AC21 Student World Forum

    Preparation:

    I first heard about the Academic Consortium 21 (AC21) through the monthly newsletter which I received form the International Office. The theme of the conference looked really appealing as I am studying International relations and the theme dealt with Local and Regional Democracy in Europe. Perfect right!
    After seeing this I immediately went onto the website to do some more research and the more I read, the more I became excited about this and just wanted to jump in and start my application.
    The application process was actually very easy and straight-forward. Initially it does seem daunting and I was especially worried about the VIDEO! I had never made a video before and the editing in itself seemed like a rather daunting task. It was actually so simple! I used the Windows Live movie maker programme and it was so self-explanatory. I even added a few affects here and there and added some music. (more…)

  • An impression: Frances in Switzerland

    An impression: Frances in Switzerland

    The summer school course was based in Rheinau, a beautiful small and mysterious village in northern Switzerland, in a loop of the Rheine River and on the boarder of Germany. The course entitled Organic Production Systems was hosted by the World Food System Centre and ETH Zurich. The small village of Rheinau, and the organic farm that makes up most of surrounding area and fields in-between the village was the perfect setting for the course. Organic farm learning and field work was done in the long summer evenings after lectures that were held during the day both in Rheinau and at relevant food system stakeholders in the region. Lecture presentations were given by specialists in their fields, discussing all elements of the value chain, ranging from sustainable agricultural production systems, seed breeding, to marketing, distribution, retail and global food system outcomes and policy issues. It was very beneficial gaining an understanding of the food system from a European or developed world perspective, which sheds light on power inequalities and the ways and means in which developing counties, particularly in Southern Africa, respond.

    (more…)

  • Inshiya at the University of Bayreuth

    Inshiya at the University of Bayreuth

    Pre-departure:

    I heard about the concept of a summer school during International Week, from one of the many info booths propped up around campus. I simply walked up to one and spoke to a student who had been on a similar exchange programme, and the idea was born, an idea which strongly appealed to me. I eagerly began researching as to available opportunities and settled on a couple of programmes which I believed were most suitable. After completing my application there was nothing left to do beside wait and hope. Personally the video component was quite a daunting experience, particularly due to the fact there are no restrictions as to the number of retakes you are allowed, and before you know it you’ve spent hours in front of your webcam and haven’t yet managed to get through 8 minutes without making a mistake. But as this was something I truly wished for, I pushed through this obstacle.

    (more…)