Milla Rakitta

Ervaringaverhaal_Milla_Rakitta_IB
“I want to be a smarter version of yesterday's me.”
Milla Rakitta
International Business student

“I knew from the first day I started high school that I wanted to study abroad. A fancy university and an English-taught course made my life seem like some kind of film. I spent two months researching universities in the UK, Germany and Austria but each of them had drawbacks, like expensive tuition fees or a lack of appealing English-taught courses. Then, out of the blue, I met an old friend and she told me about NHL Stenden. She’d just finished her first semester here and you could see the spark in her eyes as she talked about her studies and her experiences. As soon as I got home, I told my mom I’d found THE UNIVERSITY, and visiting the website and looking into all the different options simply confirmed that NHL Stenden was the absolute winner for me. The wide range of English-taught courses, the affordability and especially the practice-based learning won me over.”

Study choice 

“NHL Stenden’s programmes include a lot of freedom and creativity as well as insights into particular industries. As I dream of setting up my own business one day, my preference leaned towards International Business, a degree that would help me understand how a business is run. It would mean I could still pursue my passion for art, ballet and music by working for a company within these industries or setting up for myself. Although my reasoning was logical, I did have my doubts at the beginning of the course. Some of the subjects that would be covered later on in the degree held zero interest for me. However, one of the first things they taught us at NHL Stenden was to always be open to new things and try to embrace them – it became my motto in the first semester.” 

“Compliments to the lecturers! They’ve made me love the fields I feared the most.” 

Lecturers and coaches 

“International Business definitely has a more serious atmosphere than many other studies, but we still have fun. Studying demands time and effort but the lecturers are incredibly capable of lightening the mood with a business-related joke, creating a song to help us memorise an accounting formula or telling us about their business failures. Compliments to the lecturers for this! They’ve made me love supply chain and finance whereas these were the fields I feared most!” 

“It’s also a huge plus that so much attention is given to personal and professional development. It’s integrated into the programme and taught by a professional coach, and it really helped me find out about my character, my strengths and weaknesses, my career opportunities and much more. And with one-on-one interviews every two months, I really feel heard, respected and relieved I have someone to turn to for professional and useful advice.”

Trade mission project 

“One of the things that makes the learning process at NHL Stenden easy is how the theory you learn gets applied and tested through the projects we work on. Everything is connected and just simply makes sense in the end. Each project I’ve completed so far meant collaborating with a real company like, Leroma, Jumbo supermarket, Red Bull, Naturtex and Pöttyös Túró Rudi (a Hungarian brand). The projects have included producing a new, more effective marketing strategy or export plan, developing a new product idea or recommending better suppliers. The International Business programme also organises an international project week with partner universities, so you get a chance to travel, learn about a new culture, network with students and learn about a specific topic you’re interested in. For these trade mission projects, you first form groups of four, then find a Dutch company interested in expanding into the country you’re going to. I went to Italy, specifically Rome, so the goal of our project was to conduct secondary research on the market, find potential clients in Rome and meet up with them when we were in the city. While in Rome, we actually held a sales pitch for the company we were representing and joined a trade fair. It meant we really needed to understand the product and the company as well as its target groups and the cultural differences between different markets. I really enjoyed the persuasive talks I had with people interested in our product and I learnt a lot about business, marketing and sales. And I made a lot of new friends and had a great time exploring Rome.” 

“I like to get involved in as many things as possible. Luckily NHL Stenden offers plenty of opportunities” 

Work & learn 

“I’m a naturally curious and creative person and believe in life-long learning so as to become a smarter version of yesterday’s me. And I’ve very active and like getting involved in as many things as possible. Luckily NHL Stenden offers plenty of opportunities to do different tasks at different levels in the organisation. Before I’d even started my degree, I knew I wanted to be an international ambassador. I’d already fallen in love with the place, from the design of the buildings to the teaching methods, and I think by offering quality part-time jobs, NHL Stenden empowers and values its students. I was an ambassador for one and a half years, representing the university of applied sciences at fairs, giving campus tours to future students and so on. I’m now a student assistant in the Marketing & Communications department and I’m in charge of the @nhlstendeninternational Instagram account. It’s an unbelievable opportunity and it’s given me a great taste of what it’s like to work professionally in digital marketing. The position has not only given me new skills and knowledge about social media, but it’s also made me realize that I could see myself pursuing a career in social media marketing.” 

Find out more about International Business on the course website 

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