Erasmus Exchange: Socrates Students Share Experiences

[Reason]

For those students who live in Europe, has anyone of you participated in the Erasmus exchangeproject? If so, what country have you been too (and where do you come from of course)? How long have you been there? Was it an experience you would recommend? And what did you think of the level of education compared with your college/university?

 

[BB]

Many of my friends have done Erasmus. Myself, I went to Southampton for a Phd.
I studied Mechanical Engineering in Ghent. I know people who went to the University of Manchester, Barcelona and Paris. Not one would not repeat this experience. Most went for about 10 months or so, to complete the master degree.
The level of education, assuming you have no problems with the language should be no problem what so ever. Certainly not when you currently study in Ghent or Leuven. As a matter of fact, the faculty kind of expects you to be among the first of your year when you study abroad. In some cases the grades you achieved are re-examined at your current university and a sort of scaling is implemented (factor < 1). You should be well aware that the level of education in Belgium is really quite high, so there should not be any problems. As you may know, both the UG as the KUL have been voted among the top 10 universities worldwide as far as science and engineering is concerned.
Personally I would certainly recommend studying abroad. Though our current level of education is very high, our universities are only well known in academic circles and not in the industry. Having studied at university that has a more international reputation will help you in your career.

I hope this helps.

 

[Kalimaa23]

This in a general fact in Belgium.
The VUB (Brussels) and UA (Antwerp) are of similar quality. Though they are smaller, they are both very good in some areas, like theoretical and elementary particle physics in Brussels or Solid state physics in Antwerp.

Sorry to hijack to thread, but I felt this had to be said. Studying abroad is always a good thing, if you can pull it of family-wise. I can certainly recommend comming to Belgium!