BTU on tour: Studieninteressierte in Chile

Seit über zehn Jahren arbeitet das International Relations Office der BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg mit deutschen Schulen im Ausland zusam­men – teils direkt und teils mit der Unterstützung engagierter internati­onaler Studierender und Alumni. Wie gut das funktioniert und wie da­bei oftmals Alumni- und Recruitingarbeit im internationalen Bereich ineinandergreifen, illustriert der Besuch von Maria-Andreea Ciurci an ei­ner Schule in Valparaíso in Chile.

Die Rumänin hat einen Master in World Heritage Studies an der BTU absolviert. Da ihr Mann in Valparaíso arbeitet, ist sie regelmäßig in Chi­le und hat dort auch selbst einige Zeit gearbeitet. Auf einer ihrer Reisen besuchte sie – ausgestattet mit einer Powerpoint-Präsentation, Promo-Videos sowie Broschüren und Flyern ihre Alma Mater – die Deutsche Schule in der farbenprächtigen Stadt am Pazifik.

»On the 26th of September, I attended the »3. Studieninformationstag der Deutschen Schule Valparaíso«. First, I held a 15-minute presentati­on and after that I was given a desk where students could ask me further question and I could share the promotional materials. I think about 100 students attended the event, all in their final year. Furthermore, some Chilean and other German universities also talked about their institu­tions and programmes.

I held the presentation in Spanish and to my surprise, the students were quiet and paid attention and when I talked about the scholarship, they were even more interested, even the event organizer explained to them again that there is a scholarship dedicated especially to them. After that, almost all approached me asking about what they can study and the ones asking most questions were the ones interested in engineering studies. They told me that they liked how the university life looked in the short vi­deo and they were curious about living and studying there. As they asked me about the living costs, I could tell them, that it was much cheaper than many other places they knew. The pupils also liked the fact that BTU is a small university. I was even told that teachers encourage students to go to small universities because in Chile they are interested only in the big, famous ones and then they get lost and fail in their studies.

I asked around why more students did not continue their studies in Germany and I learned that a main reason is that the students from this school do not want to live that far away from their families. There were even cases in the school where family members also had to move to Germany for them. Another reason for students from other schools to not apply to study in Germany was because of the high visa costs.

Finally, I would like to say that it was a good day in the Chilean school. I had a lot of fun representing the university and talking to the pupils. The BTU-materials helped me to feel very confident when I was there.«

Maria-Andreea Ciurci ist mit einem guten Gefühl wieder abgereist. Sie hat ihr Studium an der BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg genossen und fühlt sich der Universität auch heute noch verbunden. Wie wichtig die Netz­werke der Alumni für das Studierenden-Recruiting sind, verdeutlicht Christin Handrek vom International Relations: »Es gibt keine bessere Werbung, als zufriedene Studierende und Alumni, welche die BTU mit Begeisterung weiterempfehlen und auch nach dem Studium ihr Alum­ni-Netzwerk pflegen. Genau aus diesem Grund ist es enorm wichtig, dass wir in der gesamten Universität alles daransetzen, unseren Studie­renden eine tolle Studienzeit an der BTU zu ermöglichen.«