Lately, I have been consumed by the overwhelming amount of information about universities abroad; I figured it is not an easy task to get oriented in all of the different conditions we have to fulfil to get accepted to at least one of them. Since all countries have various school systems which differ a lot from ours we can be afraid of applying to their universities. In these articles I want to try to make this at least a little bit easier for everyone who has ever considered this future option; I would also like to get a close-up of many tempting destinations in this article. However, I guess my few experiences won’t be enough for this kind of aim, therefore I will use a little help from my friends and do one interview with each of them, talking about their country’s college systems and their own university adventures.
This month I asked Beatriz Morgago (21), Portugal, about the University of Minho which she attended in years 2019 to 2022 and achieved a bachelor’s degree in management.
What kind of university is the University of Minho? What courses do they offer?
“There are three main universities in Portugal – Universidade de Lisbon, Universidade de Porto and my Universidade de Minho. This top-notch university situated in Braga which has 11 colleges in total is a public school, which means it is definitely more affordable but, on the other hand, also more popular and wanted. There is a college of Economics and Management where I studied, we also have a college of architecture, art and human sciences, other ones are college of science, law, psychology, medicine, social science, education, and engineering and each of these then offers many different courses.“
How did you get to this school? Was it your dream to get in?
“Personally, I wanted to go to one of the best universities in my country. I was deciding between Porto and Minho because of my hometown location – I wanted to be close to my family and friends. However, I didn’t get into the University of Porto by one-tenth of a point. Therefore, it was decided. And I don’t regret anything.“
What do you mean by one-tenth of a point? What requirements are there to get into a Portuguese university?
“We have a different grading system in Portugal, we get grades from 1 to 20, 20 being the best. To get accepted, there are two requirements, you must have a grade from the high school final exam (containing 4 exams) and then an average grade from the high school years. Since these universities became very popular, the average grades have to be very high, for example, I had 17,5 but Porto needed 17,6. In Czechia I guess it would be 1, right?!“
Yeah, I think so, too. Now I would like to ask: how did you feel there? What is the atmosphere at Minho and what are some of the greatest benefits?
„I loved it. As I said before, I don’t regret anything. The atmosphere there is just incredible, everybody is very friendly and tries to help each other. The best thing about the time there was definitely the friendships I developed and also the good relationships with professors who were our support. I didn’t even get homesick, since it wasn’t that far from my hometown and everyone was incredibly welcoming. A big benefit for me was that half of the course was in English so I learned how to work in another language and practised my English skills. Our lessons were also very practical, we worked in a team on some actual projects which connected us with management and reality and it was a great thing to do.“
What about the cons? Are there any disadvantages?
“I don’t see many, maybe just that I would prefer the whole course in English, that would be even better and more accessible for foreigners.“
Yeah, well that was going to be my next question. Do you think the university is good for foreign students?
“As I said, some courses are partly in English which is suitable for ERASMUS students and therefore we have a lot of them, they stay for a semester or a shorter amount of time so they don’t have to bother with studying in Portuguese. There are even some courses entirely taught in English but I am not sure which ones. But foreign students are very welcome here, they have a lot of parties and events made especially for them to feel at home.“
Sounds great. Thank you so much and good luck during your Master´s studies!
Source: https://www.uminho.pt/EN
Viktorie Berger