Lots of international students come to the Netherlands every year to study at Tio University of Applied Sciences. One of these exchange students is Vittoria Fiammenghi, a 19-year-old student from Rome, Italy. She is currently following the Hotel and Event Management programme at Tio. Vittoria: “Since I was young, I really enjoyed organising events and small parties. That’s why I wanted to try this amazing experience.”
Ready for an amazing adventure
Last year Vittoria decided to take one year off and went to Oxford in England, she says. “After that, thanks to my Dutch best friend, I found Tio and started to read everything about it. I talked about it to my parents as well and they decided to let me try this experience. I chose for the campus in Amsterdam because I fell in love with the city a few years ago. Besides, in Amsterdam it would be easier to see my Dutch boyfriend.”
Excited to start at Tio
Vittoria hadn’t touched a study book for a year, so she was very excited to start this year at Tio. How has her experience been so far at Tio? “So far it has been quite complicated to understand the student web, courses, etcetera”, Vittoria says. “But I really like it and it gives me so much hope because I know that one day I’ll achieve something big.”
High level of English
“I can only say that the Italian educational institutes are not even comparable to the Dutch ones”, Vittoria continues. “Here in the Netherlands the level of English is much higher than in Italy. At Tio the level of English is high as well; the lecturers are all well prepared and have good knowledge of the English language. The most important thing of studying in the Netherlands is that here you can, at least, see your future job coming to you; in Italy there are not many job opportunities anymore.”
Getting ready for the future
One final question for Vittoria: would she recommend her friends and classmates in Italy to come and study at Tio? “I would”, Vittoria says. “Tio focuses more on the practical way of studying with a lot of internships and focusing on finding your future job. All my friends back in Rome are wondering how they can survive after they get their diploma and thanks to Tio I don’t have to worry about this.”