Meet our students
EIT Digital Master Schools offers a two years programme in 19 of the best Europeans universities, providing ICT and entrepreneurship training. Every year, 500 graduates join the alumni network and begin a career in the best European and international companies and organisations. Over the year, we will meet former EIT Digital Master Schools students and let them tell us why they choose our programme and how they see their professional future.
Today, we meet Andra Lungu
Andra is a student from Romania, who joined the Cloud Computing and Services (CSS) Master after a bachelor degree at Bucharest Polytechnic University. She tells us about her learning and experiences during the two years of the Master.
What studies did you do before joining the EIT Digital Master Schools programme?
I started studying Computer Science in high school, as I was good at maths so it was quite a straight path and logically I passed my bachelor degree at Bucharest Polytechnic University in Computer Science. The content of the programmes at the University were technical and I graduated as an engineer in 2013.
How did you come across the EIT Digital Master Schools programme?
An Assistant professor at the Bucharest Polytechnic University recommended the EIT Digital Master Schools programme to me as I was searching for a Masters programme after University. The Cloud Computing and Services (CSS) Master had all I wanted from a Master programme and offered me the benefit of studying abroad, in France and Germany.
What motivated you in joining the programme?
I liked the idea of experiencing two different cultures in the course of my study. It was also a challenge, as I knew French language but no so much German. To me, it was the opportunity to discover new cultures and work in two different countries.
Can you tell us about your experience as a student in France and Germany?
Université de Rennes 1 in France was a great start to my studies, the programme manager, Stéphanie Gauvain, did a lot to help foreign students settling up in France. She was a bit like a second mother, helping us with administrative work and day-to-day issues. Rennes is a small city and to me, coming from Bucharest, it was fun and unusual to have people recognizing me in the streets, like in a village.
During the Summer School in Finland after the year in France, I was able to develop a personal entrepreneurial project based on information and big data, which helped for my second year in Berlin.
My second year at the Technical University of Berlin was even busier. I didn’t suffer from the language barrier as people spoke English and Berlin is an international minded city. At the time, a lot of startups were being created and I felt right in the middle of the buzz.
The EIT Digital Master Schools taught me entrepreneurship as well as competences in my field of research. In the first and second year, my project was about big data, so logically I join the startup « Flink » to work as a research assistant during my studies. It was great to work in a team of startupers and get both academic knowledge and business experience at the same time.
During the programme I liked how we could combine startup ideas with technical courses in a fun way. In Bucharest I just studied engineering, with EIT Digital I could also get into the business side of technology. It was also very interesting to compare evaluations methods in Rennes and Berlin: France academic system is more theoretical whereas German academic system is more practical.
What did you learn about yourself during your studies?
I learned that I can face cultural challenges, become friends with other Europeans, and I learned to become independent by working and studying at the same time.
What have you done after the Master?
After the degree, I came back in Bucharest, and joined Orange to work for a project in big data - my job consisted in developing methods and tools to analyse data from phone networks. I am now working for Adobe on a gateway project: we develop a bot to detect anomalies and work on algorithms in machine learning.
Do you wish to move again in Europe?
Yes, I would like to travel again, but maybe not just in Europe. I can envisage America as a next adventure. Silicon Valley next, who knows?
Why would you recommend the EIT Digital Master Schools?
In this programme you meet people from all around the world, with very different backgrounds, you experience the challenge of working together in the same project.
Joining the EIT Digital Master Schools means joining a huge network of alumni and friends all over Europe. I still have good friends and keep great memories of the events graduation ceremony and of our Summer School in Oulanka (Finland).
In conclusion, I would recommend the Master programme as it is a great experience to go out of your comfort zone and discover new cultures, as well as study in the best European Universities. With my experience at the startup « Flink » and my year at the Technical University of Berlin, my CV was very attractive for the big tech companies I already worked for.
It is a unique personal and professional experience.
