Student testimonial
During one of my courses I wrote an advise for the province of Utrecht
Student Landscape Architecture and Planning
Prior Education: Social Geography and Planology, University of Groningen
As everybody may choose their own study program, peers all have different backgrounds.
A New Challenge
Is there really nothing better than Groningen? Moving to Wageningen I did out of curiosity. Curiosity for a different university, different lecturers and a different vision. In Groningen I studied Social Geography and Planology. After 3 years I still did not know what kind of Master’s I wanted to do so I decided to do a board year first. Through this I had enough time to think, to compare universities and to make my definitive choice. My choice for the Master’s Landscape Architecture and Planning in Wageningen was mainly based on the fact that the program lasted for 2 years. I wanted to take courses and, unlike at most other universities, not have to start a thesis after a couple of months.
Experiences
The WUR took some getting used to, but every university would have. The amount of contact hours is high compared to my Bachelor’s program. This year I have attended more lectures than during my entire Bachelor’s. The courses were interesting and, for me, an addition to the information that I already had. I had a couple of mandatory courses, but was able to chose a lot of courses for myself as well. The manner in which the courses are taught is similar to that in Groningen: lectures, a lecturer or guest lecturer and accompanying literature. As everybody may choose their own study program, peers all have different backgrounds. This way, peers can learn a lot from each other.
A course that appealed to me the most was Studio. Here students work together as well as alone for a client, in our case the Province of Utrecht. In collaboration with the lecturers an assignment was made and we had to do research and write an advise for the client. The group work was intense, but this made it extra fun. The time pressure was high and this called for an efficient way of working. One thought about their own qualities are and how they could be used during the group work.
Future
In September I will start writing my thesis. I found thinking up a topic very hard, but the lecturers are prepared to help find a suitable one. The focus of my thesis for now lies on the relationship between urban green and high rental prices. I hope to be done in March, so that I can start an internship. Preferably I would like to do an internship at a consultancy firm, but I haven’t really looked into it yet. Firstly I need to finish my thesis successfully.