Interview series #2: Would I recommend my Bachelor's degree programme to my best friend?

My name is Michael Zottler and I am a full-time student in the 6th semester of the bachelor's programme in Building and Energy Technology. I currently live in Graz and am 24 years old. After my bachelor's degree, I will also do my master's degree at the Burgenland University of Applied Sciences in the Building Technology and Facility Management programme.

After my A-levels, I first wanted to gain some work experience and then worked in a plumbing company. My work at the company ultimately sparked my interest in the field of building and energy technology and I wanted to deepen my knowledge of technical processes. After a little research, I ended up doing a bachelor's degree at the Burgenland University of Applied Sciences.

In previous semesters I lived in Pinkafeld, as the public transport connections between my home in the district of Mürzzuschlag and Pinkafeld are rather poor. However, as I currently live in Graz, I usually drive to the district of Mürzzuschlag first and from there to the campus by car. There are plenty of free parking spaces. 

We are a very small group: there are currently four of us in the sixth semester of the full-time programme. This makes it familiar and you know everyone. Of course it's great to study in such a small group, but it would also be nice if more people opted for this degree programme so that you can exchange ideas better.

The relationship with the lecturers is very good: they are very accommodating as they know how comprehensive the exams are. They are very gallant when it comes to the deadlines for some protocols.

The bear certainly doesn't tap-dance in Pinkafeld. You could almost think it's hibernating there. As a student on a technical degree programme, I benefited from this because I wasn't distracted much and had plenty of time to study.

I'm currently doing my internship and I'm really enjoying it. After my internship, I will be taken on by this company. The three-month internship is my onboarding process, so to speak.

I really enjoyed Thermo-Dynamics because it laid the foundations for the entire degree programme. However, what I learnt can not only be applied to my studies, but is also useful in other technical areas.

I didn't like the group assessments in group work as much. Sometimes you invest more time and energy than your colleagues and therefore also have to do their work.

I would definitely recommend my degree programme to my best friend. Of course, it's a technical degree and therefore involves a lot of effort and maths, but it's definitely manageable and interesting!