The EUTOPIA Certificate of Internationalisation (EUCI) gives students a space in which they can discuss and reflect upon international experiences with fellow students from across the alliance.
Students also have the option to compile a reflective portfolio – which can include creative and multimedia elements – along with a ‘cover letter’ summarising how they have fulfilled the EUCI learning outcomes to obtain the certificate.
Here, we showcase a selection of recently submitted portfolios, with the kind permission of the students.
How can you get involved?
To learn more about the EUCI and find out how to enrol, please visit the programme homepage.
Alexander Sorodoc (VUB)
What I feel after a decade of international experience, in Slovenia and Belgium, is not a loss of my own Romanian culture within me, but rather an enhanced understanding of the importance and uniqueness of my own culture on a global scale.
Ariadna Guerrero
"The EUCI seminars have helped me understand how my international experiences have influenced my intercultural skills and my life in general. These experiences enable us to communicate with each other, and cooperate to achieve common goals such as the SDGs."
"As an individual, I’m attached to every single location I’ve had the chance to dwell in, and I'll always have parts of them in me, while I left parts of myself in them. Regardless of what will come next, I’m sure I have much to learn, and a whole lot left to explore."
"My international experiences changed my life. They gave me the chance to open my mind and my soul, and be connected, and discover myself. Indeed, travelling breaks stereotypes and makes you feel free."
"The EUCI program encouraged me to go out of my comfort zone and gain new experience and knowledge, which I am sure to use later in life. That’s why I’m grateful for the opportunity and am happy to be able to write this portfolio as a final step in this program. International experiences have taught me to be open-minded and to listen to others’ opinions, because we can make this world a better place only if we work together."
Filipa has enjoyed an extraordinary international journey, from her upbringing in Bulgaria to currently supporting an international community of progressive change-makers advocating for social, environmental and economic justice. Along the way, she describes the impact of growing up between Bulgaria and the US, participating in a European Parliament program for integration when Bulgaria was on its way to enter the EU, her experience as a tour guide in Paris and Barcelona, and ultimately the decision to return to university. While working on her degree in Political Science and Government at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, she got involved in the pilot of the EUTOPIA Open Innovation Challenge. Her portfolio describes how her international experiences prepared her for this, but also how the EUTOPIA program impacted her studies and perspectives on international challenges and cooperation.
‘Besides having to adapt to studying and communicating in three languages simultaneously - English, Spanish and Catalan - which on its own was a struggle, I had to find a way to overcome the cultural as well as generational differences with my classmates. Sometimes, I had to think about how younger Filipa would have reacted to certain situations to be more empathic to my classmates. This journey has taught me a lot about interpersonal relations and myself. I am thrilled to have overcome the barriers and to have made some excellent friends along the way who, despite our differences, consider me as one of their own.’
Gah-Kai’s international perspective has developed through his Erasmus+ year abroad and subsequent teaching assistantship in France, as well as through his MA in Transnational Studies at UCL and his current doctoral studies in Political Theory at Warwick. In his portfolio, he offers an in-depth reflection on how multilingualism, intercultural awareness, and engagement with urgent global challenges have shaped his academic profile and career ambitions. Gah-Kai thereby shows how different forms of internationalization can play a crucial role in the early development of a researcher’s mindset.
'Coming from an immigrant family of Chinese extraction, I have long been fascinated by both Eastern and Western cultures, as well as the links between them. This fed my desire to study Mandarin [during] my MA degree in Transnational Studies at UCL. As part of this course, I wrote a project essay comparing Christmas and Chinese New Year. By putting these two festivals into conversation with each other, I acquired the linguistic skills needed to compare and contrast items in a foreign language. Furthermore, I gained an appreciation of the similarities and differences in the ways people in different parts of the world mark culturally significant dates in the calendar, thus enhancing my intercultural awareness. I was also able to use my own personal experience of both these festivals in order to bring out the connections and contrasts, thereby demonstrating the value of first-hand knowledge in explaining and interpreting cultural differences.'
"During my stay in different countries, I’ve always felt a lingering sensation every time I spoke in my native language, as if I’m performing something special, something that’s only shared by some and not understood by all. Indeed, out of all the elements of Slovenia and Slovenian culture, Slovenian language is where I feel most at home."
When the French students visited us, I rediscovered my own home by showing them around the city. Six months later, me and my classmates went to their small French village, Lézat. There is where I experienced a real cultural shock. Thanks to this experience I noticed how much I loved getting out of my comfort zone - from then on, I started travelling much more and looking for more international experiences.
"In Brussels you hear different languages from so many people, if it is in restaurants or at university or just in the street. This motivates me to not stop learning languages and continue being curious about cultures. In the future I plan on being continuously in contact with people from all over the world to explore new cultures and most importantly to learn from them. That is why I also chose to do an internship in Brussels, even though I am not fluent in French."
"I upended my life in Belgium to move to South Korea alone for five months. I was in a completely new environment with a distinctive culture. This step out of my comfort zone was, without a doubt, the single most emancipatory act I’ve done (so far)."
Laura García Hernández (UPF)
Laura García Hernández (UPF) "After my Erasmus experience, I learned to work on topics that I already dealt with at my university but from a completely different perspective. Integrating the vision of a Belgian faculty with my knowledge of the university in Barcelona was enriching and full of challenges. Above all, the way in which the students understood each part of the lessons was a challenge, which, when we studied together or did group work, meant understanding things twice, from your perspective and from that of the rest of the group."
"The trends of internationalisation and localisation are taking place at the same time. An increased pace of internationalisation can induce the urge to reconcentrate on local characteristics of culture and society. This can lead to self-segregation tendencies among cultures and underlines the need for cross-cultural dialogue."
"Since I was a child, I have been enchanted by the idea of studying abroad, learning about other cultures and traditions, having the opportunity to live in my own skin in a range of diverse educational systems, and achieving what, personally, is the last step of the “adult life” in its early years: being resilient to live by your own. "
Maria Ollé Grau (UPF)
"Starting my portfolio I was in a plane towards Los Angeles, scared and unwilling to do the adaptation process and effort of moving into a different culture. However, writing this essay made me realize how much each international experience has given me, and how this one would be just as life changing."
As president of the EUTOPIA Student Council, Marie plays a key role in this student-centred alliance. In her reflective portfolio, she uses the experience of a single EUTOPIA Week as a focal point for exploring her perspective on internationalization. Marie describes her commitment to EUTOPIA as an inclusive space in which students help to shape the future of international Higher Education. She reflects candidly on the challenges of coordinating multiple perspectives across institutions and cultures (within and beyond Europe), but also embraces this challenge as a key aspect of her EUTOPIAn experience. This experience, as Marie says in her concluding remarks, has made her re-think her plans for an academic career and explore how she can continue to work in international relations.
'A great victory for me has been getting students involved in EUTOPIA and creating a real sense of community: this sense of belonging is really important… Speaking at a student conference regarding what the pandemic has taught us about mental health at universities, I argued that we need to stick together and share more with each other. We hear a lot of people on social media saying "this is my community", but sometimes we lose sight of the point: being a community means having strong links, finding common ground, and trying to help each other. I felt that very strongly when participating in events that were outside my usual spectrum in EUTOPIA. Things are always changing and the work can be stressful and exhausting…but I really love it!'
"Through my international experiences, I have learnt how different cultural backgrounds relate to each other in the school environment. The encounter with cultural diversity is increasingly becoming a part of everyday life, and the task of education in the framework of these experiences lies in the teaching of intercultural competencies."
"Seeing with perspective what I have been through to arrive here, I am sure that I am not the same person that first enrolled on the IB program, not the same person that went to study for one year in Belgium, and not the same person that is now part of an international organization. I have gone through a long journey, but the path hasn’t ended here."
"Apart from Slovene, I started learning basic English and German words in kindergarten. I picked up French as my third foreign language in high school. I’d been singing in choirs and solo in many different languages and learned to feel in many different social contexts. Now that I think of it, it had not been that many. The main domain of my feeling acquisition had been the European Catholic musical tradition – I was raised a Catholic more than I realize."
"Through my international experiences, I have made very good friends who have now become my family. I call them my family because like members of a family, we spend most of our time together, we watch movies, we talk about our interests and beliefs, and the culture and history of our country, and we celebrate our ceremonies together, and we even cry together!"
Uwe describes his early international experiences as ‘a drop of water creating concentric shockwaves’, driving him to expand his own cultural boundaries at every stage of his academic, professional, and personal development. Uwe grew up in Germany, spent a year abroad at a U.S. high school, carried out internships in Belgium and Italy, and became a EUTOPIA Student Career Ambassador during his recent studies in Sweden. He makes a strong case for the value of stepping back and reflecting on such experiences and comments on how his engagement with EUTOPIA has added new layers to his international mindset.
'It is not often that you get the chance to be gifted some time to reflect and turn around, look back at where you are coming from, what your path has been, and what ultimately led you to the place you are today… I am considering this international and intercultural experience to be the drop falling onto a still water surface, creating concentric shockwaves that carry on to travel across the whole surface, impacting whatever comes in life after that impact and setting prior experiences into perspective… I am where I am because 10 years ago, I decided to go on an adventure and move to another country where I had to build up everything from scratch.'
"After graduating from a law school in China, I spent four years working on different cultural projects and travelling to figure out what I wanted to do in my life. Since beginning my studies at Warwick, the Resonate Festival is the activity that has most influenced me: I have not only deepened my academic understanding of sustainable development studies but also gained practical life skills."
"When the opportunity of an exchange program arose last year, I chose to study in China so I could come back to my roots after more than 15 years – and more than that, sort through my feelings about who I am and who I should be. This is why I consider this year overseas as an ‘identity journey’."
Filipa has enjoyed an extraordinary international journey, from her upbringing in Bulgaria to currently supporting an international community of progressive change-makers advocating for social, environmental and economic justice. Along the way, she describes the impact of growing up between Bulgaria and the US, participating in a European Parliament program for integration when Bulgaria was on its way to enter the EU, her experience as a tour guide in Paris and Barcelona, and ultimately the decision to return to university. While working on her degree in Political Science and Government at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, she got involved in the pilot of the EUTOPIA Open Innovation Challenge. Her portfolio describes how her international experiences prepared her for this, but also how the EUTOPIA program impacted her studies and perspectives on international challenges and cooperation.
Gah-Kai’s international perspective has developed through his Erasmus+ year abroad and subsequent teaching assistantship in France, as well as through his MA in Transnational Studies at UCL and his current doctoral studies in Political Theory at Warwick. In his portfolio, he offers an in-depth reflection on how multilingualism, intercultural awareness, and engagement with urgent global challenges have shaped his academic profile and career ambitions. Gah-Kai thereby shows how different forms of internationalization can play a crucial role in the early development of a researcher’s mindset.
As president of the EUTOPIA Student Council, Marie plays a key role in this student-centred alliance. In her reflective portfolio, she uses the experience of a single EUTOPIA Week as a focal point for exploring her perspective on internationalization. Marie describes her commitment to EUTOPIA as an inclusive space in which students help to shape the future of international Higher Education. She reflects candidly on the challenges of coordinating multiple perspectives across institutions and cultures (within and beyond Europe), but also embraces this challenge as a key aspect of her EUTOPIAn experience. This experience, as Marie says in her concluding remarks, has made her re-think her plans for an academic career and explore how she can continue to work in international relations.
Uwe describes his early international experiences as ‘a drop of water creating concentric shockwaves’, driving him to expand his own cultural boundaries at every stage of his academic, professional, and personal development. Uwe grew up in Germany, spent a year abroad at a U.S. high school, carried out internships in Belgium and Italy, and became a EUTOPIA Student Career Ambassador during his recent studies in Sweden. He makes a strong case for the value of stepping back and reflecting on such experiences and comments on how his engagement with EUTOPIA has added new layers to his international mindset.
