Studentenverhaal
Student Bernadette - MSc International Development Studies
I did my bachelor in International Relations and International Organizations. In my master I wanted to specialize in international development issues from an inter-disciplinary context with a more local or individual perspective.
There are a lot of international students in the programme, this diversity gave me a lot of new insights!
Socio-political approach
“In Wageningen I have learnt about processes and theories that apply to the more local or individual perspective. Instead of looking at overall relations of countries, their policies and influences on world politics, I now look at what goes on in the local context. I chose the Law and Governance direction within the specialization Communication, Technology and Policy. The courses I followed were very diverse. The course ‘Law and public power’ was very interesting as it gave me a different picture of the various levels of socio-political organization in a society. I have learnt that state and non-state rules come from many sources, and interact and create complexities at different levels.
Interesting topics
The topics discussed during lectures were new to me and I had not expected to discover a whole new field of such interesting topics. The teachers are very easy to approach. If you have specific interests or ideas for example, they will try to help you to develop your interests further. In each course there is a lot of space for discussion, teachers are easy to approach and really appreciate your input in the classroom. I think I have learned a lot from my fellow-students, and the diversity has given me a lot of new insights since they bring their different experiences into the class-room.
I finished all my courses in the first year, and then began the second year with an internship. I have done my internship at the Permanent Representation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Geneva where I could apply the knowledge I gained so far, it was a great learning experience.”