Linz

In a way, Austria is located in the centre of Europe. During weekends, I was either going to other places in Austria or abroad. Regarding the places in Austria: - I have been to Salzburg and Innsbruck which are very nice cities in the Alps - I have been multiple times to Vienna, which is an amazing city (lovely castles, parks, cultural facilities…) - I have visited a lot of cities with beautiful lakes (Gmunden, Hallstatt…) I have also been to the neighbouring countries including: - Germany (Munich) - Hungary (Budapest) - Croatia (Zagreb and Split) I still have to visit Czech Republic, Slovenia, Liechtenstein, and the eastern of Switzerland as well as South Tyrol in Italy. For sure, you will have a lot of things to visit: nature, big cultural cities, opportunities to party…

I was an exchange student for two semesters at Johannes Kepler University (JKU) in Linz (Austria). We had different types of classes: regular courses (more of a top down approach with a lot of content), seminars (smaller groups with a more practical approach - group work) Depending on the teachers, the approach can be either super academic or super close to non formal education with active learning methods (e.g. I had a class about Leaders, Groups and their Organizational Environment. All the classes were based on role plays and concrete cases. Same with a course about negotiation skills where we actually played the role of different political parties aiming at forming a coalition for the next Austrian government). At JKU, most of the classes give between 2 and 6 ECTS. Therefore, you need between 5 and 15 courses to reach 30 ECTS per semester. For master degrees, it is not unusual to have classmates with years of professional experience, starting their master degree few years after completing their bachelor degree. In Austria, the grades are 1 (top!) 2, 3, 4 (enough to pass the exam) and 5 (failure).