«My name is Bassam Haithm and I am from Yemen. I came here from South Germany, where I was studying Bioprocess Engineering. My interests are to travel a lot and to learn more about different cultures from all around the World. I have chosen the ZHAW School of Engineering because what I heard about it. Switzerland is the most beautiful country in the world and it was a chance for me to get good experiences through the interesting projects the School provides.

The system here is similar to Germany, but also quite a bit different: At the School of Engineering more projects are connected to companies/industrial partners. It was a really good experience to have. In Winterthur, the students are friendly and helpful. The semester at ZHAW, in my opinion, was a good way to get to know new people from different parts of the world and to have fun with them. Academically, I learnt how to plan and run a project and how to create an idea and implement it to reality. My exchange semester in Mechanical Engineering was totally good, but also stressful. The support of the International Office and the professors was perfect.

There are some topics, like events – especially culture ones – and trips to visit some famous places in Switzerland, I was really missing through the exchange semester. The only events that we had was through the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) and volunteering work from them. I hope that in the future the International Office will organize more events and trips for the exchange students. Finally, I would absolutely recommend to my colleagues to spend their exchange semester at the School of Engineering.»

City of Winterthur