Jana Vitvarová
‘Erasmus gives you a pair of wings’ Home institution: University of Žilina, Slovakia Žilinská univerzita, Slovensko
‘My parents were my Erasmus ambassadors,’ says Jana Vitvarová. ‘International contacts were important in both their professions – my father was a computer science researcher and my mother a French teacher – so I didn’t need anyone else to explain to me the benefits of going to study abroad.’
Host institution: National Institute of Telecommunications, Evry, France Institut National des Télécommunications, Evry, France
In Paris, she relished the business focus at the National Institute of Telecommunications. In real-life simulation exercises, students worked for intense three-day sessions to develop project proposals for different companies. ‘Many of my classmates had already done traineeships and I could see that they had extra intuition as a result.’
Field of study: Telecommunications
She also valued the requirement to present her work, rather than just hand in written assignments. Thanks to the experience, in her later work specialising in next generation networks she found it easier standing in front of a group of people presenting her work. ‘The presentation skills I acquired have improved my outputs in teaching, research as well as in business cases.’
Duration: 5 months (2000)
When selected as the one millionth Erasmus student from Slovakia in 2002, she was little prepared for how it would change her life. At the celebration in Brussels, she met her future husband, a former Erasmus student from the Czech Republic. Together, the pair moved to Ireland and, after a period in Austria, are now based in the Czech Republic with their two young children. ‘Erasmus gives you a pair of wings. It’s up to you whether you decide to fly a long way or just make a round trip.’
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