Erasmus Student at CforC!

My name is Husniye Firat Simsek and I came to the Centre for Competitiveness (CforC) from Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey, as an Erasmus student. I will be here for twelve weeks in connection with the Erasmus Programme.

Erasmus is the EU’s flagship education and training programme, enabling 200,000 students to study and work abroad each year, as well as supporting co-operation actions between higher education institutions across Europe.

I just finished my PhD lesson and I am doing research about my thesis. My core area is Innovation and I think that CforC was the best choice in Europe for me to visit. I heard the Innov8n Waves Presentation given by Bob Barbour, Adrian Gundy and Derek Johnston at KalDer’s 2005 annual congress (KalDer is EFQM National Partner for Turkey).

I did not think that I would be able to work for CforC one day! I had previously visited the CforC website and I researched the services: Innovation & Creativity, Productivity, Quality Excellence and Collaborative Working.  But now I am writing from CforC! It is great experience for me.

When I applied to the Erasmus Program I did not know much about it but I did not imagine it to be like this. This program is definitely a bridge between different cultures.

First hand, I have to say thank you to Adrian, because when I wrote to him with my application, he accepted me and immediately sent me an intention letter.  This is my second week and everything is so good, and much better than I imagined. Before leaving my country I heard that Northern Irish People are happy, good-humoured and helpful and I now know this is correct, everybody is always smiling at me! When I need something everyone is very helpful and this is not only at CforC, people are willing to help me everywhere I go. So really I love Northern Ireland’s people, you are very friendly and sincere!

My first aim was to find good research questions about my thesis and I think that I will able to find lots of thing at CforC and in Northern Ireland.  I can only encourage students to spend some time of their degree abroad on a work placement. The experience is unforgettable and will undoubtedly add much value to anyone’s life and curriculum.  Discovering the cultural differences of other countries is one of the highlights of travelling and was one of the main reasons that I applied to Erasmus.

Thanks to everybody who give to me this opportunity, and I am so glad to be here.

Husniye Firat SIMSEK

Background to the Erasmus Programme

The Programme is named after the humanist and theologian Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1465-1536) whose travels for work and study took in the era’s great centres of learning, including Paris, Leuven and Cambridge. Like the man, the Erasmus programme places great importance on mobility and furthering career prospects through learning. By leaving his fortune to the University of Basel, he became a pioneer of the mobility grants, which now bear his name.

Studies show that a period spent abroad not only enriches students’ lives in the academic field but also in the acquisition of intercultural skills and self-reliance. Staff exchanges have similar beneficial effects, both for the people participating and for the home and host institutions.

In addition to mobility actions, the Programme supports higher education institutions to work together through intensive programmes, networks and multilateral projects.
Erasmus has become a driver in the modernisation of higher education in Europe and inspired the establishment of the Bologna Process. The general aim of the Programme is to create a European Higher Education Area and foster innovation throughout Europe.