Exploring the world with VŠE: a throwback to 2022

Internationalization counts as one of VŠE’s long-standing strengths and belongs to our major priorities. The year 2022 is considered to be very successful in this respect – the number of outgoing and incoming students has increased to its pre-pandemic values, VSE sent abroad even more students last year than during the years 2018 and 2019.

Overall, 1050 students chose to spend a semester abroad at one of our prestigious partner universities, and 142 more decided to do an internship abroad. By and large, 1192 international mobilities were carried out, which is 319 more than in 2021!

Who spends semester abroad the most often?

All VŠE students are welcome to study or intern abroad. In 2022, 530 undergraduates, 639 masters and 23 PhD students made use of this opportunity.

Concerning both internships and exchanges, the most active travellers are students of the Faculty of International Relations, followed by students of the Faculty of Business Administration and the Faculty of Finance and Accounting.

What are the top destinations our students choose?

In total, VŠE students set off to 55 countries in 6 continents with Germany being the number one country of choice followed by, among others, France, Austria, Belgium and the USA. Thanks to a rich network of partner institutions, VŠE allows students to choose from a wide range of overseas destinations as well – Canada, Hong Kong, Thailand, Brazil or Singapore, for instance. Countries such as Australia or Taiwan finally reopened their borders for our exchange students after a 2-year-long suspension of activities due to Covid-19 control measures.

With regard to the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU, an unusually large number of students went to Belgium, which made Brussels the number one destination. Neighbouring Germany placed second and the third most popular country of our interns was Spain. Some interns longed for a more exotic experience far away from the mainland Europe. They explored United Arab Emirates, Chile, Vietnam or Colombia.

Bc. Martina Šmejkalová (FIR), Kraft Heinz, Netherlands

I had the opportunity to go abroad within the FIR, for the third time already and this time for an internship in Amsterdam! I have to say that I was very impressed with Netherlands as a country and I can already imagine living here in the future, as I really enjoy cycling every day. I found an internship at Kraft Heinz in the Finance department as a Global Zero-Based Budgeting Intern. ZBB is a special method of budgeting, in which a zero-based budget is created. In my role, I help create budgets for Kraft Heinz while making sure that items are reported correctly at the end of the month. It’s a great opportunity for me to work in such a big company that creates tasty products, like Heinz ketchup or De Ruijter chocolate sprinkles that the Dutch put on their bread every morning!

The culture at Kraft Heinz is great, everyone shares the same company values and you can see that everyone truly enjoys their work. The vast majority of employees are from different countries, so there is a mix of cultures and it’s great to have several nationalities on the team. We also had the opportunity to visit the Kraft Heinz factories with other interns and be right there to see how their products are made, which was very interesting. After the internship, there is also the opportunity to take up a full-time position, which is the biggest benefit after any internship abroad in my opinion!

Bc. Marek Doseděl (FIR), Danone, France

As part of a great double degree programme from VSE, I went to France for a year! After a semester of study in Lyon, I am currently on an internship in Paris at Danone. As for the internship as such, I work as a business controller. The scope of my work is diverse. However, the main part is monitoring of irregularities in plans, reporting or valorisation of costs. Because Danone’s world headquarters are in Paris, I am working to consolidate data from different zones. I’m part of an international team so my internship helps me evolve both professionally and personally, because I have to communicate with people from different parts of the world, especially from the Middle East, Japan and China. It’s an incredible experience! Not to mention the amazing canteen with professional chefs, an international team of colleagues and life in beautiful Paris!

Mgr. Ivana Lukeš Rybanská (KM FBA), Estonian Business School, Estonia

It is a relatively easy adventure to pack only yourself and set off on Erasmus. But how do you go on an internship abroad when you have a small child and so the whole family goes?

As a Ph.D. student, I have just returned from a month-long stay in Estonia with my family. After two years of pandemics and slow return to normal, it felt like traveling in time.

The key was preparation, which involved a lot of negotiating with a lot of institutions – and also when you go abroad with your family, you can’t go to Northern Europe in January or Western Europe at any time (both mainly because of finances). In the end, our choice was Estonia and spring.

My internship in the doctoral office at the Estonian Business School flew by quickly, probably because it’s easy to get used to the good things. For example, to eating ice cream and popsicles in any weather. Or as locals explain it – why should we wait for the sun and the warmth? Simply put, it doesn’t make sense to put off the things that make you happy until you finish this project, that paper or even your dissertation.

I wish to all Ph.D. students – and Ph.D. students/parents and beginning researchers in particular – at least this short focused time abroad!

Mgr. Ing. Martina Pelikánová (KPEP FIR), University College Cork, Ireland

As part of my doctoral studies, in September 2022 I completed a short-term research stay in University College Cork in Ireland.

Naturally, to organise even a short-term stay abroad during your doctoral studies is no longer as easy as it used to be during the student years. It definitely takes more planning in advance, especially if you have to take time off work for these purposes. However, even as a “vacation” it is definitely worth it.

I started searching for a potential consultant for my research assignment more than half a year in advance. If you are looking for a person with whom you will be able to consult some specific research questions in some area that not many people focus on, it is advisable to start searching in advance. The further organisation of the stay, including all necessary formalities at both universities, was then quite swift.

The month in Cork was quite intense, because you try to do as much as possible in a short period of time – to do as much as possible for the research and further study requirements, but also meet as many local people as possible, see as much as possible in the hosting city and country. Although intense, it was definitely a very positive experience for me.

I wish all future researchers that they succeed in traveling abroad for their research stays as part of their doctoral studies!

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Top universities in terms of number of outgoing VŠE students

In 2022, those who chose to study in Liechtenstein or Iceland were supported by the EEA and Norway Grants within the 2014-2021 programme period. Their experiences and photographs are available on web pages Iceland Through Students’ Eyes and Liechtenstein Through Students’ Eyes.

Bc. Karolína Bouzková (FBA)

 “As well as exploring what sometimes seems like another planet, I have also made friends all over the world and gained irreplaceable experiences. Iceland will be due to its roughness and pureness always my love, but wherever you decide to go on Erasmus, I am sure you won’t regret it. Iceland is love. “

 

Bc. Jiří Gardoň (FIR)

„As for the study, the most beneficial thing was to work in an international environment. To all who are thinking about going on exchange I can simply recommend Liechtenstein. Because the local university offers a variety of options, the atmosphere is family-like, and you will get to know a lot of people from all over the world. “

International Mobilities are not concerning only students

Both academic and non-academic staff of the university are also encouraged to visit our partner institutions within educational mobilities or training courses. Via Erasmus+ programme VŠE sent 106 employees abroad in 2022. They attended training courses or shared their knowledge with foreign students as visiting professors.

Back in Prague, the programme of visiting professors has also been very successful. VŠE students got the opportunity to study in English and to choose from 30 additional courses in the Spring semester (including 10 on-line) and 17 in the Fall semester (2 of which were on-line).

Get inspired!

Experiences, photographs and videos of outgoing students and staff are being continuously shared on our Instagram account vse_studyabroad and Facebook account VSE Study Abroad. We carry on with student takeovers series in order to allow the outgoing students to share their adventures with many tips and tricks for prospective exchange students. All takeovers are saved in International Office Instagram Profile so that it inspires more students to (ex)change their life. That is why both IG and FB VSE Study Abroad profiles are worth following!