Primarily I am looking for small class size, in person interactions between undergrad and professors.
This is something that the western European model of having no upper yearly intake limit makes really hard. Even at a masters level it’s quite hard to get a decent degree of interaction between students and professors.
From what professors have told me, Cyprus’ universities have a similar teaching culture to the US - or at least more similar to the US than continental Europe. And it’s rare to have more than 80 students in a course, it’s usually down to 40. Maybe it’s an option for you. English is also widely used in higher education.
I personally definitely think that I got better mentoring and opportunities to develop my research skills as a student in Cyprus than in the Netherlands and Germany.
What’s more my point is that NC is the exception (i.e. only for seriously crowded disciplines), rather than the norm or even the only option. Coming from a place where everything is NC, the difference is striking to me.
At least in Germany the popular disciplines have an NC.
And those disciplines that don’t have one (e.g. Informatics) have an mandatory Examen after 2 semesters where they sort out the unsuitable candidates. If you fail this examen you are banned nationwide from studying Informatics again.
But yes, even with NC there is no meaningful interaction between the professors and the students. (In Medicine they also have to work full time in the hospital. I don’t even know how this would be manageable with less students)
And those disciplines that don’t have one (e.g. Informatics) have an mandatory Examen after 2 semesters where they sort out the unsuitable candidates.
I find this, and the more informal “second semester from hell” with ultra-hard classes with massive failure rates so inhumane, compared to having competitive admission criteria.
In that model, you let a student take up all the start-up costs and uproot themselves from the other side of the country/continent/world only to throw them to the lions, do zero to help them evolve and thrive, and then kick them out.
Meanwhile, with competitive admissions, you don’t lure people who can’t survive the programme in, you don’t waste their time and money, and you don’t break their spirit. And you have more resources left to spent on the admitted students, so that the first-years get actual mentoring.
I know that I’m very repetitive in this thread, but I have been so disappointed by the universities in both Germany and the Netherlands during my masters for exactly this reason: zero mentorship, no willingness to give master students a chance to be involved in original research. I sorely wished our professors had actual time for us. It was not a great environment for students with ambition.
I don’t know in which discipline you performed your master thesis.
But here in the university hospital we have some biology master students in the lab, who perform actual research. They also get mentored (Antibodies and measurement time are expensive 😜)
So I guess it depends on the discipline and the university.
This is something that the western European model of having no upper yearly intake limit makes really hard. Even at a masters level it’s quite hard to get a decent degree of interaction between students and professors.
Uh that sucks. I really want to teach, and don’t want to do it in the U.S.
I think in the U.S. libre art model, each class will have intake limit, but I am not sure if there is intake limit for class years.
From what professors have told me, Cyprus’ universities have a similar teaching culture to the US - or at least more similar to the US than continental Europe. And it’s rare to have more than 80 students in a course, it’s usually down to 40. Maybe it’s an option for you. English is also widely used in higher education.
I personally definitely think that I got better mentoring and opportunities to develop my research skills as a student in Cyprus than in the Netherlands and Germany.
Thanks for that information! I will look into it!
That’s wrong. Many popular disciplines have an upper intake limit. The rest is right.
What’s more my point is that NC is the exception (i.e. only for seriously crowded disciplines), rather than the norm or even the only option. Coming from a place where everything is NC, the difference is striking to me.
At least in Germany the popular disciplines have an NC. And those disciplines that don’t have one (e.g. Informatics) have an mandatory Examen after 2 semesters where they sort out the unsuitable candidates. If you fail this examen you are banned nationwide from studying Informatics again.
But yes, even with NC there is no meaningful interaction between the professors and the students. (In Medicine they also have to work full time in the hospital. I don’t even know how this would be manageable with less students)
I find this, and the more informal “second semester from hell” with ultra-hard classes with massive failure rates so inhumane, compared to having competitive admission criteria.
In that model, you let a student take up all the start-up costs and uproot themselves from the other side of the country/continent/world only to throw them to the lions, do zero to help them evolve and thrive, and then kick them out.
Meanwhile, with competitive admissions, you don’t lure people who can’t survive the programme in, you don’t waste their time and money, and you don’t break their spirit. And you have more resources left to spent on the admitted students, so that the first-years get actual mentoring.
I know that I’m very repetitive in this thread, but I have been so disappointed by the universities in both Germany and the Netherlands during my masters for exactly this reason: zero mentorship, no willingness to give master students a chance to be involved in original research. I sorely wished our professors had actual time for us. It was not a great environment for students with ambition.
I don’t know in which discipline you performed your master thesis. But here in the university hospital we have some biology master students in the lab, who perform actual research. They also get mentored (Antibodies and measurement time are expensive 😜)
So I guess it depends on the discipline and the university.