Jolien’s joy at British graduation

Jolien Vleeshouwers first came to Teesside University on a student exchange and enjoyed the experience so much she returned to study for a BSc (Hons) Psychology.

She graduates with a first class degree and also won the John Dent Prize for the most original final year psychology dissertation.

Jolien, 23, came to Teesside on a one-year ERASMUS student exchange programme from Tilburg University in southern Netherlands. She is originally from Weert, again in the south.

Jolien said: ‘I decided to study here after the ERASMUS programme as University life is really, really good here. I like the way subjects are taught, it’s very open with lots of communication and you work in small groups to debate interesting topics.

‘There’s a lot of individual support for international students too. The lecturers get to know you by name which is really nice and the social life is good. It’s been a great experience.’

Prize-winning dissertation For her prize-winning dissertation, Jolien compared how 40 UK and Asian students coped with stress and their feelings when under pressure.

The results took two months to compile and Jolien said: ‘It was useful to explore what the differences were between the students but on the whole there weren’t many at all. I was excited to get a first and really honoured to win the John Dent prize.’

Jolien has returned to Teesside to study for a master’s degree in health psychology and aims to later study for a PhD, with the eventual aim of qualifying as a University lecturer.

She added: ‘Who knows, I may end up lecturing here, it’s an excellent University with high quality courses. My parents Alwie and Hanny are flying over for my graduation and we’re all looking forward to a typical British graduation, wearing the gown and mortar board.’

---

More about graduation 2011