Why VMU: It’s Like Studying in the United Nations
An intern from Hong Kong currently working at VMU interviewed a number of international full-time students and asked them to explain the reasons for choosing studies at Vytautas Magnus University. This series of articles, “Why VMU?”, presents their thoughts.
Mohammad Noman is a second-year student of World Politics and Economics at VMU. He explains that he applied for this programme because of positive feedback he heard about the VMU Dept. of Political Science. “VMU is in a country which is a member of the European Union, it is famous for its political field and provides the best education for students. It is especially good for students coming from the Middle East. My friend highly recommended it to me”, Mohammad, who hails from Afghanistan, says.
Mohammad is grateful for the international atmosphere of the university. According to him, this experience is “like studying in the United Nations”: VMU welcomes lots of students from different countries. He enjoyed meeting new people who come from different cultural backgrounds and speak different languages.
Due to all the international friends that he has, Mohammad can now speak simple words, such as “hello” and “thank you”, in multiple languages. He is appreciative of the vast amount of exchange programs available at VMU and says he is definitely planning to apply for one of them in the future.
Aside from the international atmosphere, Mohammad also likes the university’s teachers and lecturers. “The professors here do not just read out the notes in the classes and leave. They care about the learning experiences of the students. Students need to do lots of preparation, such as reading and writing before classes”, the student says. Mohammad believes this could help the students to be more hardworking and deepen their understanding of the studies.
While he is majoring in political science, Mohammad is also very eager to learn knowledge of other fields as well. He is highly thankful to VMU for its focus on liberal arts, which means an orientation towards a diverse, wide range of knowledge for each student. “We can learn general knowledge about different issues. This helps the students to become broad-minded and critical individuals”, Mohammad explains.
The sophomore student dreams to not only provide a comfortable life for his family, but also to create a happy and peaceful life for people in general. He would like to be the man of the people and work to change the society. The Afghan native is grateful that the education provided by VMU gave him the chance to acquire different pieces of knowledge and to also change his mindset, which will help him to become a better person and achieve his dream in the future. He highly appreciates the impact of education of VMU.