I grew up in Great Britain and moved to Berlin last year for my Software Engineering studies at CODE University of Applied Sciences. Two weeks ago, in the middle of my second semester, CODE decided to close the campus and go completely remote due to the coronavirus. The staff is trying to make the best of the current situation and the support we get is amazing. The academic team is adapting very well and takes on the challenge. They do not just help us with the technical equipment for the online courses but also think about how to adapt their courses to the current situation on a didactic level. Sometimes lectures are even more personal now, because there are less people in classes and it is easier to have one-to-one interactions. Through screen sharing and chatting it can be more interactive and a great chance also for shy people.
But especially the care factor made a world of a difference. I had an individual session with my CODE mentor the other day and it helped immensely to reduce the pressure I felt. I can tell that the CODE team is truly interested in how we feel. Because I moved to Berlin on my own and do not know many people apart from the CODE community, meetings like these or our weekly check ins mean a lot to me.
We are also trying new formats for our free time: There are online coffee hangouts with the student affairs team, yoga sessions and weekly remote community calls with over 100 students.
When I reflect on how this situation would have been handled by my previous university, it only makes me more grateful to be at CODE University. The most we – students – would have gotten would probably be an email, with not much of a care about what happens to international students.
Caring goes a long way and I would trade anything for my time at CODE.
