A semester in South Korea

The university campus there was about the size of Eisenstadt.

After graduating from high school, she decided to study for a Bachelor's degree in IT Infrastructure Management at the University of Applied Sciences Burgenland. Why did she choose South Korea of all places for her semester abroad? "I didn't want to go to Europe or America. In Asia, South Korea appealed to me the most," she explains. She has never regretted her decision to organise a semester abroad on her own initiative. Even if the planning involved a lot of research. After all, University of Applied Sciences Burgenland has a very large international network of partner universities, but none in South Korea. "So I started looking for universities that offer visiting programmes." Sarah paid for her semester herself. 

She paid the tuition fees of 2,400 euros for the semester from her savings. Her parents paid for her student accommodation, which was quite cheap at 800 euros for four months. A scholarship from the province of Burgenland covered the flight costs.

The University of Applied Sciences Burgenland did not put any obstacles in Sarah's way. "My degree programme director said it could only be good for me if I did it," says Sarah. All the courses she took in Seoul will count towards her degree programme at home.

Many things were different in South Korea. From the food to the workload and the assessment. Sarah found the fact that all the exams in her computer science degree programme were written in pencil and on paper particularly bizarre. "I wouldn't have expected that." The proportion of women on IT degree programmes in Asia is apparently just as low as in Austria.

Sarah came into contact with locals through so-called student clubs, which were offered on all kinds of topics at the campus in Seoul. She is also still in contact with some international students.

She sees her semester abroad as the best decision she has ever made. She can also be very satisfied with her grades from Seoul.

She is now in her final year of study. She has found it particularly exciting to get to know Windows and Linux in depth. But what she values even more than the content aspect are the friendships she has made during her studies. "From day one, I made friends with the other two women in my year. I think we're now known as 'the three girls' throughout the entire uni," she says. She is convinced that she has found friends for life here.