Interview series #7: Would I recommend my Bachelor's degree programme to my best friend?

My name is Christian Harold, I'm 32 years old and I'm studying full-time in the 4th semester of the Bachelor's degree programme in Applied Electronics and Photonics, specialising in High Frequency Technology.

Student Lena Tauchner in an interview with student Christian Harold

I decided to specialise in electrical engineering at HTL and wanted to continue my education in this field. In the course of my search, I first came across the Energy and Environmental Management degree programme and then found out about the Applied Electronics and Photonics degree programme by chance. And after more detailed research, I knew: this is my degree programme!

I live in the Mattersburg district and travel by car.  As I come from Mattersburg, the Eisenstadt location would of course be closer, but I'm willing to accept the 40-minute journey.

As there are only five of us and therefore a manageable group, we harmonise very well among our colleagues. Everyone gets on with everyone else and we often go out to eat together at the weekends. 

At the beginning, the relationship between lecturers and students was somewhat distant, but over time it became more relaxed. We have a very good, almost familial relationship with all the professors.  When I meet my professors in the corridor, they often speak to me and we chat. Everyone simply knows everyone here. 

When I saw Pinkafeld for the first time, I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the fox and the hare were saying goodnight here, but quite the opposite. The laboratory halls on campus are simply remarkable. 

I still have my internship ahead of me, as it's only in the sixth semester. But most of us are part-time students and as we are all professionals, we already have a bit of experience. And yet we're always learning something new. 

Of course, as in any technical degree programme, we had a lot of theory at the beginning. But being able to apply what I learnt in theory in the lab was what made it special for me. 

In the third semester, we went through a lot of formulae, for example the Schrödinger equation. That was very exhausting because it was simply a very intensive time with a lot of learning material. 

I would definitely recommend my degree programme to others. Of course, it's still a very young degree programme, which has its advantages and disadvantages, but overall I'm very happy with my choice of study.