Good relations with the teachers, useful equipment and lots of project orientated courses are some characteristics of the International Master’s Programme in Electronics Design – at least according to the two students Azadeh Mirzaie and Leila Shafieian.

Azadeh Mirzaie and Leila Shafieian are both from Iran and their decision to come to Sweden and study is something they don’t regret.

– Compared to universities in Iran, the university is well equipped and there are more practical exercises. There is also generally thought in Iran that electronics is difficult for women since boys are often more interested in the subject than girls. But that’s just not true. And mixed groups generally reach better results than groups consisting of only males or only females. We have different ways of thinking and solving problems.

Great career opportunities

Leila is attending her first year at the programme and Azadeh her second. An important reason why they selected to specialize in electronics was because of the excellent career opportunities in this field.

– In our country, those who work with electronics are very well paid, so of course that’s one of the reasons we chose a related major. But we’d rather stay here and work; it’s not very easy for females to find work in electronics field in Iran. It's a very male dominated profession.

Looking forward to life after education

One thing they have in common, except for their gender and nationality is that they prefer studying embedded systems to programming, a subject they admit to not being particularly fond of.

– Studying embedded systems means more practical work and it’s very specific. It’s easy to relate to how it can be used in reality, for example how to improve the lives of all people in different ways, like safe energy, sensor systems and such.

They look forward to start working as soon as they’ve finished their studies. Leila can see herself working in research, whilst Azadeh is anxious to start working as soon as possible. Their education makes them feel confident about their knowledge and skills so they’re not worried about the future.

– It’s a hard course sometimes but in the end that also gives a better result. And the different projects we work on really improve our qualifications.