Arian Atapour

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Arian
“The atmosphere gets you really excited about becoming a student.”
Arian Atapour
Information technology student

Arian researched his study options online. Knowing exactly what he wanted to do, he first looked for top universities in the Netherlands and then checked out the events the universities were organizing online so that he could get a feel for each place.

Online research

“I knew I wanted to study IT and I also knew I wanted to study abroad but once I realized I couldn’t study where I’d first wanted to, I got kind of dizzy wondering what to do. I looked online to find out which countries had the best paid IT people, and the Netherlands came up.

So I researched universities in the Netherlands, looking at brochures and stuff to find out exactly what was on the syllabus. The IT degree at NHL Stenden covered most of the IT subjects I was interested in, from web development to robotics. In fact, the programme is really diverse and so it was clear that NHL Stenden would be my choice.

The second thing that stood out for me about NHL Stenden was the help I got from other students, the ambassadors. They helped me get here by telling me what documents I needed and what I needed to organise. Actually the ambassadors played a very important role and really swung my decision. Like the handwritten card I got from older students just before I came here, and the contact through the chat with our students function where I got answers to my questions when I needed them.”

The Open Day

“The online open day was the only event I signed up for when making my choice. I wasn’t able to travel to the Netherlands from Romania and I had a really busy school timetable, so the fact that everything was online really helped. Some videos I could watch before the actual open day and then after the day, I could rewatch presentations, the campus tour and the live sessions whenever I wanted. The atmosphere during the online open day gets you really excited about becoming a student at NHL Stenden. And because you can watch it again later, and again and again at a time that suits you, you just get more and more excited.

I enjoyed the vibe on the open day. I liked the feeling of knowing I was going to be a student and could see myself maybe being like the students hosting the open day, standing in front of the camera talking to other students about what it’s like to be there. I guess I loved the entire feeling of it. That this would some day be my university.

What I remember the most was talking about the practical side of things like how much tuition fees were, what the costs of living are and so on. This was good to find out about as it gave me a range for instance of what rent could be. I got tips about finding accommodation and we created a whatsapp group which meant I ended up meeting some students before we even got here. That helped a lot.”

Afbeelding
Campagnebeel Online Open Day 22-23

Online Open Day

Meet our student hosts and their guests in the 4-hour live stream, join the study programme live Q&A sessions, 1-on-1 talks and much more!