EDU has offices in various parts of Europe, with offices in Kalkara, Malta, as well as in Berlin, Germany, and Bratislava, Slovakia. EDU’s Berlin Offices were visited last week by three members of the Student Council, who represents the student body of over a hundred students at EDU.
The agenda for November 10 commenced with an official Student Council meeting in hybrid form. On-site attendees were: the visiting students, along with EDU staff members Dr. Jürgen Laartz (Founding Rector and Head of Institution), Alexandra Cosma (Chief Operating Officer), Tobias Dietrich (Chief Student Affairs Officer), Iveta Hlinkova (Chief Academic Officer), and Dr. Hana Hybasek-Dzurikova (Curriculum Team Lead). The remaining members of the Student Council joined virtually, as well as Dean Prof. Dr. Med. Wolfgang Buhre.
This first meeting was followed by an initiative from the Student Council called ‘Ask Me Anything’. The members visiting Berlin – Christopher Loitz (February 2020 cohort), Julia Leunig (September 2019 cohort) and Ferdinand Preimesberger (April 2020 cohort) – asked questions to EDU staff members all around the offices. The goal of this was to get to know the staff behind their programme in Medicine better, as well as to get updates on the future of various topics within EDU, such as platform improvements, academic resources, clinical rotations and partner hospitals.
What is more, all questions asked during the Ask Me Anything (AMA) Session came directly from the student body itself. The Student Council organized a form for students to submit proposals of topics and questions they would like to know about. This served as a guide for the meetup.
All of these interviews with EDU staff were recorded by the Student Council and will be published on their digital campus platform for all interested students to see.
Moreover, we at EDU Berlin wanted to not only answer questions from the students as best as possible, but we also wanted to get to know them better. The three visiting Student Council members are all in their last stages of the Bachelor in Medicine, and thus we had our own “Ask Me Anything” for them to find out more about their experience studying at EDU and their motivations to be part of the Student Council.
What do you like most about studying at EDU?
Julia: What I like most about EDU is the flexibility that comes with it. I just like studying from wherever I am at the moment, and that’s really what drew me to EDU in the first place.
Ferdinand: Mostly the clinical rotations. So, initially it was a bit difficult to figure out what to do, but once you get used to the clinical setting you actually can see your own progress very well. So, you visit the first clinical rotation, you’re overwhelmed, you have no idea what you’re supposed to do, and you feel very helpless, but this changes very quickly. After finishing my third clinical rotation with the doctors, you actually could see great amounts of progress. That was really helping me motivate whilst doing the theoretical parts and progressing, so that is one part I really enjoy about it.
Chris: I like the flexibility that I can maintain in the city that I choose to live. The other option would have been for me to move to another country, and in my current living situation I did not want to do that, and I could stay in Hannover. So that’s why I decided to become a student at EDU.
How has your experience with the blended model been so far?
Julia: I really think that it is the future of studying, probably, because it really just connects the theoretical side with the practical side. The fusion of both is what really makes the knowledge stick, in my opinion.
Ferdinand: It has been quite nice actually. Like I said, it’s a good interchange between practical parts with theory, and it also has a nice mix of self-study, so own responsibility, and help by your tutors, as well as the input of the experts. I like the mix of it.
Chris: For me that’s a really good way to study medicine. Surely it always has its benefits and negatives sides, but having the two-month online phase and then one-month clinical rotation is a good mixture between learning and applying the skills in a clinical setting.
Why did you decide to be part of the Student Council? What do you hope to achieve?
Julia: to improve EDU for future students. Also for us of course, but I feel like some processes take time and, maybe we will not profit, but the next generation of EDU students will profit, and that is what motivates me.
Ferdinand: Nothing particular in the sense, but rather to help EDU progress, and therefore help me, myself progress, since I want the institution to be as good as possible for me to be as good as a trained doctor as possible. So whatever this brings, I don’t have a particular aim, just improvement in general.
Chris: That idea came up around 1.5 years ago, almost shortly after I started at EDU, and I felt like I wanted to try to give my views from the students’ side, to the management and the team of EDU. Because sometimes it is already a bit one sided (the view), and I think I have some good ideas that can implement changes, and so that’s how I started to join the student council, and I think we have already achieved some good things.
EDU was thrilled to have our students visiting. It was a great opportunity to meet with them and discuss various topics regarding future developments of the institution and the programme itself, making sure we stay true to our vision of being a student-centred institution.
Keep an eye out on our social media channels for more images and videos from their visit!
