My Journey to Studying in Vienna, Austria

Wednesday, 29 Juli 2015

Well, well, well…

This writing is the biggest work, that I dedicated most of my time working on it today and it is so relieving to be able to put all the roller coaster ride I have encountered in a note.

I am writing this so as to keep the promise to myself and to others in the world whoever may have gone through the same thing as I have. The promise I made is somehow a form of ultimatum to the universe (at the beginning) and a reward to it after all tough moments in life that has finally brought me to be who I am today.

So here, I would like to share about my journey in getting into Austrian University and to finally get my stay permit the for the whole year and the subsequent years of my study and work (hopefully).

Excatly today, just 30 minutes ago, I got a call from the Austrian Embassy In Jakarta telling me that my visa D will be done in the next few days, and also just now the General consulate of Switzerland called me that my Visa D has arrived and I can collect it tomorrow,,yeaayyy!!!!

First of all, I am gonna describe a little bit about myself.

I was born and raised in Bali, Indonesia.  I am a Biotechnology graduate from Pune University India and was an ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relation) Scholar 2011-2014. Since High school, I have been very active in hunting scholarships and any other possible chances that can bring me to other parts of the world and to gain experiences. There is really a calling within me that says I always wanted to live, study and work abroad, and I have been working very hard in order to MAKE IT TRUE. I was and still am so much fascinated by how science work, especially in cell biochemistry. My passion is always to someday contribute my work to health science and be a member of a lifetime international molecular level research. My role model is always Louis Pasteur; for being the most detailed and attentive person in applying simple science that impacted health an cure to infectious diseases, and Rosalind Franklin; for being the first Lady Scientist whose mind cant even get any greater to those on earth,  without her, those guys could not have invented, proposed DNA structure further.

Here are some points I would like to share:
 1. Deciding what you want to do in life can be tough

Of course not everyone will know what they want to be at early stage in life. Especially when you are torn between your passion and family demands. After you complete uni, there are times when you are faced with totally different reality. Society demand you to grow up, get a job that pays you well, and be responsible for yourself and the family. But this applies differently to each of us, depends on our priorities and how we see our life and the world, about money, being adult, and so on. So set this clear as early as possible. 

To simplify, some people narrow down their priorities only to things such as family or money or study, but again this is totally subjective. But, if you know me already, and if you decide to read this post, then you probably have the same objectives in higher degree studies and building a career on that like me. And this wont be possible if i don't set aside my priority to earn some $$$ or get married and build a family, which should come later in life, for me.

2. Start searching as early as possible and make the search your full time job

To be honest, I was pretty late in my research about the universities or the country I wanted to go. This was chaotic but I actually didn’t mean that to happen in my life, as I had not thought about going to Europe. I did a mistake in my time and money calculation about studying in Australia. Even though I secured a place in both La Trobe and Curtin University, but I ended up miserably not getting enough funds from the two scholarship scheme. For those applying for Endeavor Postgraduate Scholarship and Australia Awards, it s better to gain so much study and work experiences before hand, and try to contact the previous scholars on how to work on your essays.

Believe me, when Scholarship plan doesn’t work, you gotta have a back up plan for your next study possibilities. This is IMPORTANT to all the SCHOLARSHIP HUNTERS out there! The back up plan can be a total change from your first former plan. Assure yourself that you enjoy what you are doing, while still keep the hope high.

In my case, I used my gap year to work as a tutor for English and Science for year 1-12 kids in my hometown. I am very happy to work on this my job because that still gives me the chance to be in touch with science and was able to spend time with my family and friends. Few months before my departure until the week before, I was working another shift at the Plastic recycling factory in Tabanan which was somewhat related to HR management. But it was pretty cool to learn how the factory runs, the working machines and the engineering behind it.

3. Then later, I decided quickly that I wanted to go to German speaking countries, as I have learned the language before and in Europe education is paramount with fees for international students equal to those for domestic students. Mostly, I am attracted to work in any leading research laboratories in Germany and Austria. The Vienna city itself, has a Biocentre where the leading and junior scientists or masters and PhD students can study and work there.

But after doing so much research, I found that getting into those universities is not a straightforward process. As an Indonesian student with Indonesian Bachelor certificates, you need an extra qualification to enter Masters degree at any European Universities. I thank God for a better chance because I had an internationally accepted Undergraduate certificate from a recognized Indian University.

 4. Contact each and every university options and start lodging your applications ASAP, because the WAITING GAME is something you don’t want to play. If you have decided your course and university options, then start listing the contact person or the “in-charge” person at the department, and inquire about your eligibility, documents required, intake in the year, and other prospects that you may think essentials in order to get the UNCONDITIONAL  admission / offer letter.  This process may take time and if you have not collected reference letter from your previous Lecturers, prepared your CV, Bachelor certificates attestation and translation. Some European universities still don’t accept documents for admission via online, so you gotta be ready to spend some bucks for air mail and post. Again, all these will cost you some money. But, you gotta do special works in order to get special things. What you give is what you get. One principle that i always follow: when at one point, you are faced with dilemma involving risky decision, just follow the deepest voice in your head, you know yourself and your situation best.

Here are some documents that I submitted to the University:

-CV

-Statement of purpose / letter of motivation

-Legalized copy of bachelor certificate-legalized copy transcript

-Legalized copy of high school certificate

-Other certificates such as development or skills training, participation in competitions, working experiences,  for better consideration

-Work experience letter

-Reference letter from your previous manager or supervisors

-Copy of undergraduate thesis (if asked)

-Return stamp (if asked and if you want the documents to be sent back in case you don’t get selected)

-Language proficiency certificate (IELTS or TOEFL and German language certificate if required) Some courses that are held in german language expect the student to have German skills upto B2 or C1 level. But, this is not needed when the degree program is held in English.

All the documents should be in English or translated into English or German, and the translated documents must be legalized as well by the notary or the issuing officer.

At that time, for me, I created 3-4 copies of the whole set of application and it costed me around USD 20-25 to send each document set through PT. POS INDONESIA, which is very convenient and reach within 3-5 days. You can track the shipping process as well as the recipient name once it has reached. For the normal post, you can pay around USD 9-12 and expect it to arrive within 2-3 weeks. It surely saves your money, but you have to pay so much attention to the closing date of application. Each university has different admission dates. Most of the Universities in Germany and Austria or others in Europe have 2 intakes in a year ; usually begin in September for the Winter semester and February end – early March for Summer semester. So, the admission process for international students starts 3 – 4 months earlier than the beginning of the semester. This is to anticipate the time consuming visa application at the embassy, and (if there is/are) missing documents that you need to submit.

Some universities have different admission mechanism which is through Uni-assist or other educational agency that require even more time to process your application. Usually this Uni-assist help the Universities to sort out and filter the applicants and of course the service comes at a price, and please do pay attention that the Application deadline of the University is not as the same as that of Uni-Assist. Uni Assist usually asks your documents to reach their hand as early as 6 weeks before the university’s actual deadline date.

Check if your target University is using Uni-Assist, or if not, then you can just directly submit your application to the International Office or directly to the Department.

5. Education system and  ADMISSION

After 4 months of doing so much research on living in Europe, and improving my German skills side by side, I finally got an invitation or a conditional acceptance from University of Applied Science (Fachhoschschule) Technikum Wien, for the course M.Sc. Tissue Engineering. This happened somewhere in January 2015. I knew the process is gonna take very long time and high level of consistent patience is required, I had applied this type of visa earlier when I went to attend an intensive German language course and university entrance exam at the FH Technikum Wien. This was part of the first step of admission as I managed to get a conditional admission letter that required me to be there in person and attend the exam and interview.

     Please do keep in mind on how hard it is to get the Unconditional Admission into these Universities. At the same time, I had also been through several entrance exam and interviews at the University of Vienna, University of Bremen, and University of Koln. It took so long for them to notify me and when they did, their responses varied. I got straight rejection from Bremen after 3 weeks, and because the exam was held in University of Vienna, they too didn’t consider me with the reason that I was not eligible for the program. Anyway, I realized the hardship of getting into top universities was somehow educating and preparing myself for a higher standard.

    The other one in Cologne was kinda unique and frustrating.  Being my most favorite place in Germany, and the uni offers program structures in Bioscience, coupled with research, this one successfully put me into uneasy atmosphere for months. I lodged my applications in late December and was notified with so much hope in March-April that they would send my Official acceptance letter only when I provide my legalized Secondary school certificate. This was insane as I was in between my admission process at FH Technikum Wien, thinking about that there might still be hope, I sent my only copy of legalized High School certificate along with its translation directly from Vienna. My second consideration was because of the name it shows.

     Let me be clear to you about two types of higher education in German speaking countries: University and University of Applied Science (Fachhochschule). University is the formal form where students can pursue bachelor, master and post doctorate degree, and is usually for professional degree like doctors, lawyer, scientists, and all those professions that require deep understanding of a particular knowledge. This somehow involves deep thinking and authentic ideas, and suitable for those who wants to initiate their own business or practice.  Also, Only students that have passed the gymnasium or high school level with outstanding grades will be most likely to get accepted into Universities. For high school graduates from foreign countries who would want to pursue European bachelor degree, it is necessary to attend a year Studienkollege (German medium) to achieve their education standard. As I told you earlier, to pursue master degree at German universities is even as hard as the bachelor entrance. Your bachelor certificate should not only of 4 years degree course, but should also contain all the subjects that are included in their standard

6. The detailed processes of paperworks and Indonesia’s bureaucracy - VISA, AND EUROPEAN RESIDENTIAL PERMIT

In this part, i am gonna be very opened about the rules and regulations of both countries between Indonesia and Austria. Basically, in all Schengen countries in Europe, the Schengen visa or Visa C (tourist visa) application procedure is common. This allows you to stay up to 90 days and travel around the Schengen countries. You can apply for this visa from any embassy of a Schengen country, or best apply to the country's embassy where you will be staying the majority of time. However, this visa cannot be extended in Europe if you wish to extend your stay.

Visa D is the same type but with longer validity up to 180 days or 6 months. This visa is usually applicable for Erasmus students or students in exchange programs between European universities or for those going for a business trip, research, or other business or academic purposes. Because usually, a strong evidence is needed for granting this visa, such as Letter of Admission, letter from the Employers / companies / institutions, family guarantee letter, etc.

For Germany and Italy and some other European countries, Visa D or National Visa is the same with its residential permit. So, for most students, they need to apply only once. There is actually no such thing as stay permit there, but just this visa allows you to stay upto a year. After that, the extension of this visa might be possible in the respective country.

For Austria, this Visa D is just an extended version of visa C and is not possible to have it extended in Austria. But this visa is the one you need to apply for studying in Austria, as later you need to extend it int he form of residential permit.

Residential permit

This is also called as Aufenthaltstitel. It is a huge thing, because once you have received your local ID, for that duration of stay, you have so many privileges as a part of Austria’s temporary citizen, or even holding a European student card can give you a lot of benefit. And when you are granted this permit for 5 years in a row, then you can be easily granted a permanent residence. Yeay!

To apply for this residential permit, you can check out the website https://www.wien.gv.at/english/administration/civilstatus/openinghours.html, or the detailed procedure and documents here

https://www.wien.gv.at/verwaltung/personenwesen/pdf/ein-studentinnen.pdf

I hope this information could be useful for you. Until next time...