ERASMUS CHANGING LIVES OPENING MINDS fOR 25 YEARS

Madara
Apsalone
‘I learned that one should never underestimate the diversity of Europe’
Home institution:
University of Latvia, Latvia
Host institution:
Copenhagen Business School,
Denmark
Field of study:
Global Management/International
Economics
Duration:
5 months (2006)
Recently returned with an MBA from a top US business school in Arizona,
Madara Apsalone recalls how Erasmus – and a scholarship from her own university
– helped set her on a path to an international career. ‘Without Erasmus,
education at Copenhagen Business School, located in one of Europe’s most
expensive cities, would be off-limits for me.’
Back in 2006 in Copenhagen, the management and economics student had to
adjust to a team-oriented study culture. ‘In Latvia, it’s much more theoretical. In
Denmark, we didn’t even have an exam in some courses; you are judged on how
the team performed. This was very new; we had to manage all the dynamics of
the team.’ The experience gave her ‘a broader perspective on life... I learned that
one should never underestimate the diversity of Europe.’ It also prompted her to
go on a further study exchange, this time to California.
Keen to help others get the most out of their exchange experience, she also got
active in the Erasmus Student Network (ESN), ‘perhaps the second best initiative
for international higher education of the European Commission beyond mobility
programmes themselves’. She helped to enhance the structure and profile of
ESN, before teaming up with five other ESN members to conduct PRIME, an
EC-funded project into course recognition problems, and its successor PRIME II,
in which she is international adviser. ‘From my experience in ESN, I realised students
themselves can find great ways to enhance international mobility and crosscultural
understanding.’
34