Student life for an African in Europe

Throughout history of Africa, many of its presidents went to Europe to study. Nowadays also many young African students from the middle or upper class come here for educational reasons. According to a recent report, 77 per cent of all African students who study abroad choose European universities. But why is Europe so popular? Although the curriculum does not differ very much, one of the most significant differences is the quality of the education. Another reason for studying in Europe is the fact that European universities put more emphasis on practice. Thus students are able to use the here acquired knowledge to contribute to the improvement of the situation in their home countries.

Before fulfilling their dream of studying at a European university, students coming from Africa have to face serious requirements. First of all, they need to acquire a passport, a student's visa and a health and travel insurance, which can lead to difficulties as the bureaucratic system in most African countries is not as modern and efficient as it is supposed to be. In some cases they even have to bribe someone in order to get these documents. Another criterion is to have a certain amount of money on their bank account, which requires a strong financial background. This is a big problem, since generally not many families can afford to send their children to study abroad or to study at all.

Despite the above mentioned difficulties, it is not impossible for an African student to enroll in a European university. There are a number of programmes offering funds and scholarships for talented and motivated students. Furthermore, the association called AASE  (Association of African Students in Europe) plays a significant role in building a strong African community in Europe. By supporting African students, Europe can achieve a positive change in Africa´s economy and it contributes to closing the cultural gap between the two continents.

individual paragraph

2013 is the European Year of Citizens for a very valid reason. Due to lacking public awareness people do not know about their rights as a European Citizen ,thus they do not appreciate being one. Therefore, the goal of the EU is to inform EU citizens of their rights and to promote the many advantages of being a Citizen. For example, the right to move and reside freely in any European country. By raising the public awareness the European Commission hopes to encourage people to appreciate the significance of being a Citizen of the European Union. They want people to participate in forming a better Union that also reflects their own goals. This can only be achieved if more people vote actively. Creating a real union between nations is only possible if every individual sees his personal interest in it. This is the reason why the perspective of 2013 is the individual citizen.



Feedback: I got some very good suggestions from my colleagues and also Melissa, that help me in improving my text and make it more interesting to read. One of them is that I should place the emphasis more on the reason than on the Year. So the topic sentence would reflect more the actual topic of the supporting sentences. Another point that was rather a mistake they found than a suggestion on improvement is that I wrote citizens capitalized. What's more,  they suggested to give a further explanation on how voting changes the EU. All in all, I very much appreciate the constructive feedback.




There is a very valid reason why 2013 is chosen to be the European Year of Citizens. Due to lacking public awareness people do not know about their rights as a European citizen ,thus they do not appreciate being one. Therefore, the goal of the EU is to inform EU citizens of their rights and to promote the many advantages of being a citizen. For example, the right to move and reside freely in any European country. By raising the public awareness the European Commission hopes to encourage people to appreciate the significance of being a citizen of the European Union. They want people to participate in forming a better Union that also reflects their own goals. This can only be achieved if more people vote actively. Because voting is the best method to participate in changing the EU into something people want it to be. Creating a real union between nations is only possible if every individual sees his personal interest in it. This is the reason why the perspective of 2013 is the individual citizen.


Feedback: Again I got some very useful suggestions from my colleagues concerning cohesion and register. It was especially annoying for me that the word EU and citizen appear too often. So I mentioned this to the person who was so kind to proofread my text. The suggestion he gave me was that I should rephrase some sentences or replace the word in order to make it more cohesive. All in all, I am very happy with my text, especially after utilizing the suggestions I received.


There is a very valid reason why 2013 is chosen to be the European Year of Citizens. Due to lacking public awareness people do not know about their rights as a European citizen ,thus they do not appreciate being one. Therefore, the goal of the European Union is to inform their citizens about their rights and to promote the advantages that are for many unknown. For example, the recent regulations concerning mobile roaming. By raising the public awareness the European Commission hopes to encourage people to appreciate the significance of being a part of the European Union. They want people to participate in forming a better Union that also reflects their own goals. This can be achieved if more people vote actively. Because, voting is the best method to participate in changing the EU into something people want it to be. Creating a real union between nations is only possible if every individual sees his personal interest in it. This is the reason why the perspective of 2013 is the individual citizen.

Final version 2:

There is a very valid reason why 2013 was chosen to be the European Year of Citizens. Due to a lack of public awareness, many people do not know about their rights as  European citizens thus they do not appreciate being one. Therefore, the goal of the European Union is to inform citizens about their rights and to promote the advantages that are for many unknown, for example, the recent regulations concerning mobile roaming. By raising public awareness, the European Commission hopes to encourage people to appreciate the significance of being a part of the European Union. They want people to participate in forming a better Union that also reflects the citizen`s own goals. In order to do so they try to encourage people to vote because voting is the best means to change the EU into something people want it to be. After all, creating a real union between nations is only possible if every individual sees his personal interest in it. This is the reason why the focus of 2013 is the individual citizen.

5 EU related topics

I have to admit, choosing five topics that interest me and are in someway connected to the EU has proved to be a bigger challenge than I expected. What's more, I tried to choose topics that are not just interesting, but also "easy" to write about. I don't want to end up with a topic that turns out to be too difficult and complicated so that I would regret having chosen it. I had that experience last semester with American religions and to be honest it was very distressing. So I tried to choose more or less wisely this time.

1. EU standards on playgrounds
The standardized EU playgrounds were my very first experience with the EU. I can remember that in my hometown all the playgrounds were demolished and new "EU playgrounds" were built instead. As I was too old to appreciate the newly set up playgrounds I just watched my brothers having a lot of fun using the new equipment. My question now is what are the standards that the playgrounds have to live up to. How is it decided whether an equipment is safe enough or not. What are the requirements of an EU compatible playground. ( one of the more complicated ones due to lack of resource)

2. The Hungarian majority's opinion about the EU.
In Hungary the recent government and partly the opposition are strongly against the European Union and permanently seek the opportunity to criticise the EU. They try to persuade the people that the EU is only holding back Hungary's economy and that the country would be better off without the EU. What are the reasons for reluctance? What kind of picture do the people get about the EU in Hungary?

3. Orbán Viktor (Hungary's Prime Minister) and his relationship with the EU.
This is partly connected to the second topic. This is a very recent issue in Hungary. Mr. Orban's relationship with the EU is very complicated and controversial. It would be great to write about this in order to gain a better view on the happenings. Besides the news and the Internet is full of resources related to this topic.

4. European Week of Sports ( EWoS)
The European Week of Sports is a request that was put forward by the Council in 2012. It is still under discussion, but it would be an event organised annually and would promote participation in Sports and physical activity all around Europe. What will the program look like. What are the ideas? What kind of sports will it promote? Will it be like an Olympia only for Europe? The problem is that it is still under questionnaire so there may not be enough information to write a paper about it.

5. The European Union as pease keeper?
The reason for the establishment of the EU ,as by know you may all know, is to prevent peace within European countries, but is that really what it does? In some aspects it seems to me that the EU is causing more controversies than peaceful stability. For example, the tension between Germany and Greece. Even if it is not causing a war, the dissension between nations seems to increase rather than decrease.