Blogging
From Abroad

Ok, allow me to brag for a brief moment. This month I have a total of 6 excursions (I already have had 3! (-; ), that is more than 1 per week! They take me all over Austria, from the snowy peaks of Styria and Tirol, to the bottom lands of Burgenland, this month I am REALLY making the most out of my magnificent stay in Austria (-: While traveling so much does have its drawbacks; laundry, increased expenses and different accommodations all the time, I absolutely feel it is worth every waking moment (-:

When I finished that last paragraph you just read, I realized I had a lot on my mind about BOKU and WVU, so in this blog I will dabble into some distinct differences between BOKU and US universities. After reading feel free to comment! Having spent time in 2 very different forestry programs, I feel I am ready to make a comparison. Before I get started, it is important to note that I did not follow a traditional program here at the BOKU, I am an exchange student and my brief stay, as well my American mindset probably influenced my feelings, they are very subjective.

I just want to say that no other University that I know of has as many travel opportunities as the BOKU (if you love to travel like me, it is simply amazing!). You see, at the BOKU, they realize a well-rounded student is a prepared student (for the working world) and so accordingly, they seek to expose their students as much as possible to outside influences. Very similar to what can be offered by my program at West Virginia University (-:

Education is largely state funded in Austria, and not privately funded like a few programs in the USA, perhaps BOKU professors are less influenced in how they want to structure their teachings. It seems to me that professors at the BOKU can continuously restructure/improve their respective programs to best suit the needs of the students, and in a rapidly changing society such as we live in, this is absolutely crucial. The private industry of the USA also has enormous incentives to innovate itself, but the push for a certain study program comes from a different direction (-; Maybe an academic program in the US follows the traditional ideals and values of the industry that supports it (when I say ‘industry’ I mean the forestry industry).

However, I am not trying to assert that the Austrian system is better. The USA situation is different because academic programs depend on outside funding and often, they would not exist without it. So there are objective reasons for a biased curriculum in the USA. In many ways this is essential because the local forestry industry guides the local employment which guides the specialized training of individuals (-; Maybe somehow the global perspective is missed (however, there are MANY exceptions to this).

Austria has its own issues relating to forestry. For one, there is such a small amount of forester jobs scattered around the country (it is quite small compared to ours (-; ). A market currently only exists for timber-based products and a few alternative products/services, so growth within the field is very limited. As a professor told me on our trip to an excursion last week, the forestry community is also extremely tight knit in Austria, you have to know someone, get a good research position at the BOKU or already be in “the group” to become a forester in Austria- otherwise you have to go to a different country (this happens often).

At the BOKU, I feel their active inclusion of numerous beneficial excursions, team-taught courses, international professors and a student-based administration make for an absolute winning combination, one where all students can benefit.

Ok, to summarize, I feel it is crucial that students get exposed to as wide a range of topics as possible, but without losing the focus that drives their programs niche. I think we can improve at WVU. We can start by actively encouraging students to study abroad and create opportunities for them to do this more easily. At WVU we should expose students to more global issues of forestry, we can prepare them to see the bigger picture. Build international relationships at an early age, there is so much to learn from fellow colleagues! I am tremendously grateful for my opportunity to study here at the BOKU, I hope I can inspire students to gather a more global perspective on forestry, so remember, “Think globally, but act locally”.

Wow! I did not mean to be so long winded, but I have a lot more I want to say about this, I already feel like I have blogged my brains out tonight (-;

Gute nacht!