The FINANCIAL — This article is not about famous companies or famous CEOs and neither is this about famous and popular brands. The interviewees are foreign students who have come to Georgia for a one week training course held by Caucasus University and Georgia based NGO Ertoba.
The FINANCIAL interviewed students from Germany, France, Poland, Ukraine, Macedonia, Romania and Armenia. They were individually asked about their lifestyle, dreams and homeland.
The most major concern for the students turned out to be the education system and a problem with finding work.
“Students in Macedonia deserve much better conditions especially at a period when tuition fees are quite high and are actually unaffordable for some families.
A lot of smart, young and clever people cannot study due to high fees though they have a great desire and wish to go to college. Families are actually getting poorer and poorer, and many youngsters do not have the opportunity to get secondary education whatsoever,” says Sanja Paunvska, a student from Macedonia.
Gabriella Barthelemy, a student from France, says that there are not huge prospects for students in regards to jobs.
“Having finished university and acquired a diploma is simply not enough anymore to guarantee getting hired by companies,” Gabriella Barthelemy.
“Students have to take part in different volunteer programmes and improve their knowledge and experience in the field to have better chances in terms of their career. That’s actually what I am doing at the moment in the hope of getting a better job back in France,” she adds.
“Students in Armenia are facing similar problems,” says the student from Armenia Ruzan Harutyunyan.
She believes that the Government and NGOs should engage in helping students find jobs, they should provide more opportunities for youngsters to choose their future and understand their profession.
“One of the similarities I saw when communicating with Georgian students was that we as students get more theoretical studies rather than practical ones which is quite different in European countries. For one’s future career a formal education is just not enough.
Another important difference is that in European countries students go to university to receive extra knowledge and to study hard.
However in our countries students go to university just to be involved in university life. Only a very small percentage understand why universities are important and go there to educate themselves and understand as much of their career subject as possible,” says Ruzan Harutyunyan, Armenia.
Aleksandra Franczak, a student from Poland, told The FINANCIAL that she would like to change the education system in Poland.
“When studying at university we do not receive any practical work. If you want to take part in some practical work you have to find that opportunity yourself. The university does not have enough money to provide the chance of practical experience,” she adds.
Aleksandra says that as Lublin is a small city there is even less opportunity to find a job after graduating from university. However, there are some student’s organizations and volunteer programmes that help one gain knowledge and experience.
“After engaging in certain social activities it gets easier to find a job,” she adds.
“Student life in Ukraine is similar to in any other country, students have a lot of work to do, a lot of materials to study but at the same time they try to find any possible work or experience opportunities to broaden their chances of getting hired,” says Vitaly Lipich, a student from Ukraine.
Sanja Paunvska, Macedonia, told The FINANCIAL that things have been changing in Macedonia since a Danish Agency opened in Skopje.
“Students in Macedonia have more opportunities than ever before to travel around Europe and around the world having the chance to attend different types of trainings and youth exchanges,” she adds.
“Munster, where I come from, is a small town and there are many international students studying there. So you get to know about the many different cultures of the foreign students which makes life quite interesting,” says Anna Schlottbohm, a student from Germany.
“I would like my country to be like a European country, upholding values of democracy, values of freedom of speech and values of personal respect so that the county gives its students the opportunity to develop educated young people with good job prospects.
I want to work for an international organization, to be focused both on regional development and democracy building in Ukraine,” says Vitaly Lipich, Ukraine.
“In my opinion, Germany’s youth should be more active in politics. Many youngster are actually interested in political situations, moreover the political parties are getting closer and closer to each other, so there are no clear differences between them anymore.
The students need to really get to the root of the problem and our main task is to somehow differentiate the parties,” says Anna Schlottbohm, Germany.
Foreign students shared their impressions of Georgia with The FINANCIAL.
“Each country has something unique about it and Georgia is no exception. I especially like the hospitability of Georgians, the variety of different food and drink.
I hope that someday I will visit Georgia again to see the marvellous mountains,” says Lino Kanaud, student from Germany.
“Georgia is actually more western than we thought which really nice.
The participants of this training did not have much experience of eastern countries and often we imagine something that is really very different from the reality,” says Anna Schlottbohm, Germany.
“Just say Madloba (Thank you) a lot and that makes everyone happy,” says Daniel Costas, student from Romania.
“I think Romania and Georgia are very much alike, how people look, behave etc, however one big difference is that the traffic here is crazy.
Most importantly though, the people are very kind in Georgia and I should also mention the delicious food and wine,” he adds.
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