International academic mobility opens up unique opportunities for students to gain advanced European experience, deepen their professional knowledge, and achieve personal growth. Anton Filonenko, a student of group 201-BP, specialty “Civil Engineering”, at the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”, took advantage of this opportunity by spending the spring semester of the 2024/2025 academic year at one of Germany's leading technical institutions – Technische Hochschule Lübeck, under the Erasmus+ credit academic mobility program.
Studying in Germany began with a two-week introductory period that helped international students adapt quickly. During this time, Anton, along with young people from all over the world, took intensive German language courses, and the organisers arranged a tour of the ancient city and a group trip to a billiard club, which immediately created a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.
The living conditions provided an exceptionally positive impression. “In Germany, dormitories are usually run by private companies, and each student is allocated a separate room. I lived in a modern 9-story building where each floor had four apartments. Each apartment had three separate, identical rooms for each student, a shared kitchen, and a shared bathroom with a shower. My neighbours were students from India and the historical region of Kurdistan,” – says Anton. This became an excellent opportunity for intercultural exchange: the student periodically introduced his new friends to Ukrainian cuisine, treating them to borsch, varenyky, and pies, which they were wildly enthusiastic about.
Lübeck itself, whose city centre is a UNESCO World Heritage site, impressed with its comfort and beauty. The ancient city, surrounded by the Trave River, and its proximity to the Baltic Sea (just a 15-minute train ride to the town of Travemünde) created an incredible atmosphere for living and recreation. One of Anton's favourite activities became evening bicycle rides from the student campus to the city centre, across picturesque bridges and through parks. “Having your own bicycle in Lübeck is very practical. The city has an excellent infrastructure with bike lanes and even free self-service maintenance stations”, – he notes.
The academic part of the mobility was no less exciting. At the university, Anton studied disciplines such as hydrology and geographic information systems (GIS) with a particular interest. He mastered modern software for processing maps based on satellite data and data from meteorological stations. “In class, for example, we could model a map showing areas on hills with favourable conditions for the growth of certain plants”, – the student explains. Practical classes were an integral part of the learning process: together with his classmates, Anton took special equipment from the laboratory and researched the river near the university, measuring water temperature, its speed, chemical composition, and even studying the cross-section of the water body.
The semester in Germany, spent under the Erasmus+ program, became for Anton Filonenko not only a step in his professional development but also a powerful impetus for personal growth: “The semester in Germany under the Erasmus+ academic mobility program allowed me to meet very different, sincere, and friendly people from other countries, which improved my self-confidence in social settings. I am grateful to Poltava Polytechnic for the opportunity to gain experience studying in a European country!” – says the student.
Studying under the mobility program became a comprehensive experience for our student, harmoniously combining academic growth with cultural enrichment and personal development. The opportunity to work with advanced technologies, live in a multicultural environment, and explore a unique European country not only deepened his professional knowledge but also strengthened his self-confidence. This experience is a vivid example of how Erasmus+ programs prepare not just specialists, but world-open, competitive individuals.
As a reminder, faculty members of Poltava Polytechnic are eligible to participate in academic mobility and internship programs. Students can study abroad through Erasmus+ credit academic mobility grant programs for a semester or a full academic year at leading universities in Austria, Greenland, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the Czech Republic.
For more detailed information on current internship, teaching, and academic mobility programs abroad, please get in touch with the International Relations Office (office 213-C, interoffice@nupp.edu.ua) or the coordinator of international activities at the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” – Anna Pavelieva, Ph.D. in Philology, Associate Professor of the Department of Germanic Philology and Translation (email: kunsite.zi@gmail.com, phone: +38-(095)-91-08-192).
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National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
