Luzia is originally from a small town in Germany, close to the Dutch border. She decided to study Tourism Management at Saxion, since the education at Saxion offers her practical experience.
Working on real projects
‘’I really enjoy the practical relevance. From the beginning on, I’ve worked on real projects for clients within the industry which prepares you for your future career. These projects are very divergent. I have executed a project for a castle, that wanted to attract more Chinese visitors; for the Greater Region in the Netherlands that wanted to strengthen cross-border collaborations or for the foundation Ijssellandschap (a Dutch landscape), that wants to find the perfect tool for storytelling in order to tell the story of this unique landscape. It is just so much more motivating to put theory immediately into practice, inst4ead of solely ‘readying books’ all the time.’’
A typical day at Saxion
‘’I am currently in the Smart Solutions Semester, a semester in which you work together with students from various studies on real-life challenges. We meet either online or in real life each week. During this meetings, we discuss our further process and divide individual tasks for each one of us to do. The other days of the week, I work on my own task that contribute to solving this real-life challenge. In addition to that, I have a Business English class once a week, which also includes group work. So, I’d say a typical day as a student at Saxion, I (online) rush from meeting to meeting and work on my individual tasks. I definitely like the variety of individual- and groupwork.
Bring on the future
‘’At Saxion, you get prepared for your future. Think of the practical projects I’ve mentioned before or by following an internship. For my first internship, I went to Nuremberg in Germany, where I supported the team of the destination management organization of Nuremberg. I learned a lot, had a lot of responsibilities, extended my professional network and most of all, really enjoyed it! As for my future, I wish to work as a destination manager (a similar function such as my internship) or as a sustainable tour operator.’’