After finishing my master’s study, I wanted to stay in the Netherlands for a number of reasons

Bedilu Befekadu Adela MSc

Bedilu Befekadu Adela, PDEng ICT candidate, started on 01/10/2011 and is currently working on the project: "Antenna Design for an MR Compatible Phased Array Hyperthermia applicator"

In 2009, I came to the Netherlands from Ethiopia to pursue my MSc study at TU/e. I specialized in Broadband Telecommunication Technologies in Electrical Engineering department and graduated in August, 2011. After finishing my master’s study, I wanted to stay in the Netherlands for a number of reasons.

The first reason is the PDEng project I am working on. My project is about antenna design for MR compatible hyperthermia systems, where electromagnetic energy is used for treatment of cancer patients. This is a very interesting application area and in addition, it is done in collaboration with Erasmus MC, which has a well established experience in the hyperthermia. The collaboration helped me to do the project in an effective manner.  In general, from a technological point of view, Eindhoven is a brain port of the Netherlands where TU/e and many technology companies which have close ties with TU/e are located. This means that any student who joins TU/e also benefits from these close ties.

The second reason is about new environments. Coming from Ethiopia, a country which has a different culture than the Netherlands, it wasn’t easy to adapt to the new environment. The way people communicate, the food, the weather condition, I encountered a lot of differences. However, TU/e as an International university offers dedicated courses to help students who come from any corner of the world with different backgrounds. These courses, in addition to English being spoken almost everywhere – shops, supermarkets, university, hotels, and etc. –helped me a lot to adapt myself in a very short period of time. The Netherlands feels like home now for me. I am planning to stay here even longer, for that I am taking the Dutch language course.