Tuesday 16 February 2010

Nordic/Anglosaxon VS Southern/Classic University system

I came to Denmark for my MA because i felt the need of something new.
I was bored of studying on books, gaining a lot of info and culture that, however , turned to be useless for me as future labor force.
I got a good and wide education in high school, then three years of a "higher high school" (BA), and i though i was enough cultivated to keep digging into culture by myself.
In other words, I wanted something more practical.
Once here though, i realized how poor the preparation i was getting was. I mean, over two hours lecture, i could just say once " oh, this is new and not obvious, today i've learned something!" While in Italy a lecture is so meaty and full of info!
Here, I have class for, at the most, 10 hours a week, usually with one or two days off out of five, and three exams a semester. To get 30ects in Bologna I had to swear on bricks of pages and notes for months, with no-sleeping nights. And then, of course, I had full days nine to five at the university. I got my BA in three years, but in a state of anxiety i don't want to feel never again.
So, coming from that kind of nightmare the first thing one can think coming here is that it is pretty easy. So..yeah, after a few months i wasn't that satisfied with the Danish method, academically speaking. However, i could still affirm the choice to go abroad to be positive.
But it has been since a week ago that i partially changed my mind.
Since I am here I have a lot of free time I use to do stuff that I couldn't have done while enrolled in an italian university: like, for instance, keeping this blog updated, write articles, being active at the studenterhuset by volunteering and organizing events. This is not clubbing or randoming about. This is building something outside the academic profile, something that can undoubtedly help in your future occupation.
For example, I've always thought that the only thing I wanted to do was to work in a publishing house. Now, instead, i've started thinking that also organizing cultural events would be quite amusing, or even work in the marketing department of an international company. Why this? Because i have the time to read other things that those for classes, that, actually I chose not to read. So i think i've found my interpretation of the danish method, or my way of suit to this system. I attend classes, but i don't spend that much time in preparing reading if the topic is not interesting to me. I just use them as, well most of them, as a way to get inspired for the next topic i will write about in the semester project. Above all, i've found out that class discussions are largely overestimated. So, i started reading manuals of marketing of musical events and management of cultural events, besides classes. And it is so rewarding! So i am reconsidering everything. The point is that it's up to you, more than in a classic model. The starting level is quite low, everybody can reach it without getting older on books, but, at the same time who wants more and who's able to organize time and abilities has the time to take care of the rest of his own education and hopefully to start collaboration, or even a part-time job. A real job I mean, nothing to do with washing dishes etc...
Now I understand how Danish contracts for students at 10 hours a week, fit into this system, and how they are built handy enough to go along with students' schedule. However, even if I am happy to be doing my master here, I still think that for a BA a solid academic "classic" education is necessary to gain the basic knowledge that every graduate should have.

E.

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