The National Sun Yat-sen University offers a wide array of dual degree programs in which students can participate for an additional degree. One of such students was Agata Gajek from Poland, who came to Taiwan from Nottingham Trent University, England. The Students Association met with Agata and asked a few questions about her experience.

 

 

 

I started my bachelor degree in NTU doing Mandarin Chinese and Global Studies and then I wanted to do an International Business Masters and which was the best option to combine those two undergraduate programs together. Anyhow, I decided to do dual degree in the same university (Nottingham Trent University) as my Bachelor and I have chosen Taiwan for dual degree as a good opportunity to improve my Chinese. Currently, I am the part of Global Human Recourses Management Program in NSYSU.

 

 

As I mentioned before, I have chosen this Master mostly because there was an option to go to Taiwan. To be honest, I did not really look at the specific courses that NSYSU were offering. I just wanted to be back in Asia and continue improving my Chinese. I strongly believe when you learn the language, you need to be in that environment. So far, I do not have any courses related to HR even though I am doing GHRM Program, but I am learning International Business which I find quite helpful especially for my CV. Some of the courses I find really enjoyable, such as Asia Pacific, E-commerce and etc. This is my second part of dual degree. I finished first one already in England and might thinking to find internship here, in Taiwan, for summer. 

 

 

It is quite a long story. First, I went to Medical School but, at some point, I realized that I did not like it and did not see my future in this sphere. At that time, my father suggested me to learn Chinese because this language was getting more and more popular all over the world. So, I went for it and started to do it in Poland but was completely not satisfied since there was no chance to go to China. Eventually, I had started to work with my father and later applied for NTU. During my Bachelor degree I had gone to Beijing for half a year and then after graduation decided to apply for Dual Degree Master Program. 

 

 

I had to choose two countries as a requirement for the form but my priority was always Taiwan. Luckily, on the first week of studying one student from NSYSU arrived to Nottingham and gave us a lot of useful information about the university, so I did not have to check everything through the Internet. 

 

 

Honestly, for me everything here has a holiday vibe since I lived in England almost five years and comparing weather in those two countries, Taiwan’s one got the highest score (*laughing*). I personally enjoy time here.

 

 

Talking about educational part, Nottingham is quite intense. We have lectures six hours a day of the same subject twice or three times per week. Basically, you need to work much more in one month on a particular research, but I, personally, like it. Here, in Taiwan, I feel that I need to focus on different objectives to get the grades for one course. Also, I do not know my team in courses that well for group projects and stuff and it will take time too. Apart from that, the relationship between students and teachers are quite different as well. In NTU communication with professors is based on flexibility and I know that I can ask anything. Meanwhile, here all teachers are obviously very nice, however, sometimes I would be scared to ask some questions. Probably, it can be explained by the fact that I am still relatively new here. 

 

 

Yes, I would. If you start it in UK, Taiwan is the best place to choose out of all the other places that we had. Living in Europe and do not use a chance to experience such a different culture is not right. You need to use any opportunities to make your outlook wider. Even if you do not know Chinese, it is definitely worth it.