My name is Adel. I come from Syria, and I joined the FP in the Fall of 2021 to prepare for a bachelor's programme in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at Maastricht University (UM).
I have been living in the Netherlands now for about four years. In these four years, I had been applying to numerous universities around the Netherlands. Due to a variety of reasons, as a refugee with a mobility disability, I faced many challenges during my application process. It left me feeling quite frustrated.
"And this is where magic happened".
"I felt like I was being listened to and not treated as a number on a document but as a real person".
That is until finally I got around to applying to my chosen bachelor's programme at UM. My application was rejected but I was immediately recommended to apply instead to the FP. And this is where magic happened! In doing so I came into contact with a staff member of UM’s International Service Desk. And for the first time, in what was a very stressful four years in the application process, I felt like I was being listened to and not treated as a number on a document but as a real person. I am very grateful to him as he was willing to listen to my unique story. He was very considerate with my disability and helped me with not only my application process but also setting up my scholarship, accommodation, municipality registration, and transportation to Maastricht.
The amount of trust I felt when I came to live in Maastricht is indescribable. At the UM Guesthouse, I live in my little studio. Every so often I get calls from staff members and my academic advisor to chat and check up on me. I am also very thankful for this.
I find that our teachers genuinely enjoy teaching
Now, I am enrolled in the ‘Mathematics Advanced’, ‘Academic skills’, and ‘Intermediate English Language’ classes. I find that our teachers genuinely enjoy teaching. I didn’t want to be taught something I could read from the book, I wanted to do more than just scratch the surface. I want to find out its applications, exchange ideas about the topic with my peers and benefit from my teacher’s experience. This is what happens during our tutorials at the FP.
I was quite skeptical about it (PBL). But I have found that I quite enjoy it.
I had read about the Problem Based Learning (PBL) system that is famously used at UM and in the beginning, I was quite skeptical about it. But I have found that I quite enjoy it. Since we read the literature, solve tasks and problems before every tutorial; everyone is usually able to have quite fascinating discussions with each other and with the tutor. Sometimes our tutors can even go beyond the scope of our current discussion. They want to explain it in-depth to satisfy our curiosity which I believe is the essence of teaching. This is what we do during our FP classes, and I find that I simply don't want classes to end.
Since the beginning of the semester, we have been offered flexible classes due to the complexities resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Essentially, we could choose if we would attend classes online or in person.
I have so far been attending them online. Online classes can be a bit tricky but starting from next period I will attend in person, which I am sure will be an even more enjoyable experience.
"I appreciate how our classes are adaptable to our individual needs".
Our classes are also specific to every group, take for example my English class. There are several groups, and we are all preparing for the same exam at the end of the FP, so we do have the same curriculum but depending on the skill set, interests, our performance on assessments and requests/questions of students in each tutorial (we are usually less than 10 students in each class), we can have different focus points, discussions or exercises. My tutor even sends me additional tasks and resources based on a question I asked. I appreciate how our classes are adaptable to our individual needs. With my experience concerning the approach to learning and teaching in the FP, I am even more excited to start my bachelor's programme at UM!
"With my experience concerning the approach to learning and teaching in the FP, I am even more excited to start my bachelor's programme at UM!"
Credits:
Created with an image by Ekaterina Goncharova - "Young teacher with computer having video conference chat with student"