Please tell us a bit about your background

I’m from the Netherlands, and studied Clinical Psychology in Leiden, a well-known student city. After completing that master’s, I worked as a therapist for a few years. While I greatly enjoy doing this work, I wanted to broaden my skillset, and started thinking about doing a second master’s.

Daniël Benen, self-portrait

Why did you choose the Master’s Programme in Education with International and Comparative Specialisation?

I chose this master’s programme because I wanted to get into a new field, education, as this has been a strong interest of mine. At the same time this programme has broad potential, including becoming a researcher. During my previous master’s I enjoyed research a lot, but decided not to pursue it, but this master’s programme allowed me to both enter a new field of study, and to orient myself more towards research.

How are you finding your studies so far?

I very much enjoy these studies. Sometimes I had to get used to the programme, as there is a large focus on theoretical research frameworks, something I hadn’t encountered much yet, but is quite interesting!

Due to COVID-19 the studies went a bit different than expected. The first year was full of interaction and group work. Something I enjoy a lot, and added quite a bit to the programme. The department did a good job of transitioning to online classes, and it works quite well, but I do miss face-to-face education.

What do you enjoy most about the programme?

The diversity of people is amazing, people from all over the world. This adds a lot to discussions during courses and exposed me to a lot of new views.

What advice do you have for students who are thinking about applying for the programme?

Moving to, and living in Sweden is quite easy (from an EU-citizen’s perspective) so don’t worry about that, it will work out. As for applying to the programme- when you read the available information about the courses, imagine the course with people from all over the world with different perspectives and ideas. If that’s something that interests you, this course will fit you!