Leticia Ferreira Magnin spent one year at the Trinity College Dublin
Leticia Ferreira Magnin, student of Biological Sciences at Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (USP/ESALQ), reminds the hospitality of the Irish people. “They are very welcoming, friendly, unlike other European nations”. She was awarded a scholarship from Science Without Borders (CsF) and lived in Ireland between September 2013 and August 2014.
At the Trinity College Dublin, she took courses focused on ecology and environmental management, studying subjects about wildlife management and conservation, ecology of plant communities and environmental governance. In Dublin, she lived with people from all over the world, which enabled her to improve her language skills, in addition to the exchange of experiences. “In the beginning, it was difficult because of the accent. But the professors at the university were so kind to understand my language difficulties”.
Academically, Leticia pointed out that the studies with ecological restoration are more advanced at ESALQ. However, she highlighted that studying biomes and plant and animal species that are different from the Brazilian reality also contributed to her knowledge. About the educational system, the student noticed that the workload in classroom is reduced in Ireland. “The time in class is reduced compared with ESALQ, but the extra-classroom activities of producing reports and academic texts help in the learning process and take a lot of time to the studies”.
The exams take place once a year, what also called her attention. “It’s a system that requires a lot, but the researches conducted outside the classroom are helpful, because we can learn more independently. However, we don’t have time to do internships because of the classes”. She reminds that the internships are taken when the students are on vacations. “In my case, I worked at the Zoology Department”. Back to Brazil, Letícia has spent her time going to the classes and writing a research project in the field of restoration of degraded areas.
Trinity College Dublin - Founded in 1592, the institution combines tradition and innovation. It offers graduate and undergraduate programs in 24 schools and three colleges covering arts, humanities and social sciences; engineering, mathematics and science; and health sciences. Spread over 47 ha in the center of Dublin, it has 17,000 students from all 32 counties of Ireland, and foreign students are 16% of its student body.
Written by: Caio Albuquerque
Translated by: Tobias de Paula Lima Souza
Proofread by: Marisa Aparecida B. Regitano d'Arce
Photo by: Gerhard Waller
Acom (ESALQ’s Office of Communications)
November 11th, 2014
