Personal Erasmus Report Laura Pagano
Program: NOHA Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters Receiving University:
Universitat Bochum: Germany
Universitätsstraße 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany +49 234 32201
The NOHA + Erasmus Mundus Master of International Humanitarian Action is a two- year programme made up of seven European partner universities and many more global partners both academic and professional. Every student selects and is selected by a “mother” university, which will be the location of his/hers first and last semester, in my case the RUG University of Groningen. During the first semester all seven universities offer the same academic courses focused on providing a general overview of the Humanitarian aid field. During the second semester, every student specializes in a specific area, by selecting of the seven different universities tracks. I choose to follow the specialization in International Humanitarian Law, Leadership and Management offered by the Ruhr-University of Bochum.
The program in Bochum had two specialized courses that focused on law: Legal Practice and Legal Institutions. The two courses were complementary to each other. On one hand the Legal Institution course was providing the students with a extensive knowledge on International Humanitarian Law. I think that this course was extremely well balanced being able to convey a good understanding of International Humanitarian Law, also to students that had no previous legal background. The Professor Heidrich was exceptionally good in making this subject available and entertaining to all of the students. On the other hand, in the course “Legal
Practice”, using the theoretical knowledge acquired in the above mentioned course, the students were given the exciting task of applying it to real current cases of their choice. Such task was part of a project of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and after completion the cases were submitted to a review by the ICRC and could have been used on their website (https://ihl- in-action.icrc.org/).
The program also included an Advanced Management Course, Leadership Training, Research Methods, and Project Design. The leadership training consisted in a three days simulation of a humanitarian crisis. During this time, the students were divided and assigned
Personal Erasmus Report Laura Pagano
roles. They had to apply all of the knowledge and skills learned during the Master to be able to manage the crisis in all of its aspects. I found it extremely helpful, due to the fact that for the first time, it was possible to test one’s personal ability to cope with stress, collaborate and work together with different people. The course was a success, also due to the ability of the Mentor, an expert of the field, that was able to create a realistic simulation, to observe, analyze and then explain to the class all the dynamics, mistakes and successes that took place during the three days.
In general, contact with the host university was not easy. The communication between staff, despite of the physical closeness (administration and classes took place on the same floor) and the students was poor. A major incident, involving my host university, took place during my semester abroad and transparency in communicating with the students was not well managed.
However, in a final moment, the administration staff was showed more involvement and interest and communication improved.
One positive aspect was the network that the students were able to create.
Communication among the fellow students of the first and second semesters was very good: we talked and shared opinions and experiences. Furthermore, we organized many social activities among ourselves, which made the experience rich also from a personal point of view, due to the fact that most of the students came from very different contexts.
Since I planned to stay in Germany only for 6months, I decided not to follow a German language course. Even though most of the locals did not speak English, I did not experience any significant problem in communicating with them. The location of my lectures was excellent, it was in the middle of the city center, right next to the central station. And due to the excellent public transport system, I was able to commute from my house to the university every day with extreme ease. My program’s courses were located in the city center. Furthermore, due to my student status I had access to public transport in the city ad in the whole region for free, which was extremely convenient to move around, enjoy the city and its surroundings. During my stay I visited the nearby cities of Dusseldorf, Cologne, Dortmund, and Munster.
The cost of life for a student in Bochum is relatively cheap ( in comparison with other European countries). I was living in a small apartment, which I found without many problems for the cost of 450 euros per month. In general I would spend around 800/900 euros per month.
