They were all smiles when Harald Mikkelsen, Rector at VIA University College, could congratulate a number of promising international students and hand over the scholarships from the Danish Ministry of Education on Wednesday.
”Congratulations! You are the lucky ones and the clever ones. I wish you the best conditions in order to complete your programmes and hope that you will be excellent ambassadors to VIA University College while you are here and in your home countries,” Harald Mikkelsen said at the presentation and then went on to toast in champagne with all the students present.
A total of seven students from Campus Horsens have been awarded this time around, and the scholarships equal the amount Danish students receive in state education grants (SU) and, furthermore, it covers the amount students normally pay in order to be permitted to study in Denmark.
Can’t believe it
”It’s quite crazy that I got it,” says Camila Luise De Andrade Stadler from Brazil who wouldn’t have come to Horsens to start on the programme of her dreams in Architectural Technology and Construction Management had she not received the scholarship.
”In Brazil, it’s very expensive to study so this is a great opportunity for me,” Camila says. She waited seven months to get the pleasant answer.
Meimei Wei from China has lived in Denmark for three years and is attending the fifth semester on the Value Chain Management Programme.
”It’s a wonderful gift because the tuition fees are very high,” the 25-year-old Chinese says with one more year to go on the programme.
Wilmer Entena from the Philippines agrees on this part.
”Yes, well, my parents are certainly happy about not having to pay any more pocket money now,” says the young student attending the Engineering Programme in Information and Communication Technology laughing out loud.
A nice and quiet town
The three gifted students already love their lives in Horsens. It’s a nice place to be and very quiet in comparison with the noise they are used to from the life in cities with millions of inhabitants.
”You can get anything you need. Both if you want to go shopping or go to discos. And then you have bicycle tracks and pavements. In the Philippines, there’s only one road for all the traffic,” Wilmer Entena says.
"Denmark is very different from China, because here the shops close for Christmas and New Year and the streets are all empty," Meimei Wei says.
"In China I’m used to the shops being open all the time," she laughs.
Everyone agrees, however, that it’s very expensive in Denmark.
But the scholarships make a little up for that as they will apply to the entire programme for all seven students in Horsens.
