After my bachelor’s degree, I had the plan to do my master’s degree abroad and looking back, the decision to go to Sheffield Hallam was the right one! One of the best experiences I’ve had!! Sheffield is a bustling, student, and international city in Yorkshire. The people are very friendly and you feel right at home. Above all, the openness and helpfulness that you experience in the city and university, you settle in quickly and you can make good connections with other students. The contact with MicroEDU made a lot of organizational things easier and I am grateful that you were at my side as a consultant.
Planning
When I decided to do my master’s degree in England and started looking for suitable universities, I definitely had moments when I thought I would give it up and continue studying in Germany. The many documents, the different system. There you leave some nerves. So finding MicroEDU was a huge stroke of luck! The establishment of contact was problem-free. It was particularly helpful that they were able to guide you through the jungle of documents and send you the application documents you needed so that you didn’t have to worry about forgetting anything. For the letter of motivation you should take your time, this is important when you are admitted to the course, and you should also allow enough time to prepare for the IELTS test. When you have all the documents together (certificate, references, letter of motivation, IELTS result), the application can be submitted and then it is time to wait! The university also offers a Transform Together Scholarship. If you have good grades and internships, there is a chance of getting the scholarship, so you should definitely try.
Arrivals
SHU offers a pick-up service from the airport, where you can make your first contacts with other international students. I met a friend right there with whom I did a lot until the end of my master’s degree. I recommend traveling to Sheffield 2 weeks before the start of your studies, as there is an International Induction Week. All international students are welcomed there and you really meet a lot of people. I actually met most of my close friends in the first week. In addition, you get information about the city, university and you always have a contact person if you have problems (e. g. mobile phone contract, apartment, tuition fees). If you are looking for an apartment in Sheffield, I recommend a private flat share, as this is often cheaper.
Education
My course consisted of 15 people, with 10 nationalities. English, Poles, Chinese, Malays and Thais included in my course. On the one hand, this mixture makes it interesting, on the other hand, the level of knowledge diverged widely. This is one point of criticism that I would make. Not only in my MSc Food Consumer Marketing and Product Development the level of learning and the motivation were very different, this was also the case in other courses. If you belong to the good and motivated students, then you will be well supported and I have learned a lot, but it should be clear to you that about 50% of the course does not study with such zeal and that it may progress more slowly goes.
I was quite satisfied with the content of the course. Since I have a food technology background, the scientific and technical content was not new to me and I found that it was also relatively ‘easy’, but still a good repetition. In the business and marketing subjects, on the other hand, there was a lot that was new and I really had to learn a lot for these subjects. I think that at SHU you get a good insight into ‘the big picture’ in relation to the food industry. In the course you only have to write 2 exams, the rest are homework, presentations or posters. The laboratories and kitchens are up to date. The SHU really has the latest and greatest equipment what I had never seen before at a university in Germany! The professors are very helpful and are always available, both for subject-related questions and other things.
What I also really liked are the additional offers that the SHU has to offer. There is an employability center where you can practice an interview by making an appointment and have your CV checked. In addition, the Sheffield Business School offers two workshops (Postgraduate Skills Workshop & Leadership Workshop). These two workshops teach you the soft skills that German universities don’t pay much attention to. I can only recommend those studying at SHU to apply for these workshops, they have helped me a lot in my personal development.
Leisure
Sheffield is not a beautiful city but a really lively one! The university offers many day trips at the weekend and there is always something going on in the city in the evenings. 30 minutes outside the city is the Peak District, a national park where you can recharge your batteries. The university also offers various social sports and the fitness studio is also affordable. I did a lot at the weekend, but all the chores put you in a pretty heavy workload.
