"Hey there, my name is Darlington Onwuama. I am from the eastern part of Nigeria and completed my degree at Ruhr-University in 2020. I had completed my bachelor’s degree in my home country, at Nnamdi Azikiwe University to be precise, studying Industrial and Production Engineering, and had plans for a master’s degree abroad. I spent some time doing my own research for a country and a university, and decided on Germany and Ruhr-university Bochum respectively.
I went with Germany for some obvious reasons – very good standard of education, security / support for students, well-known for the contributions in research and Engineering, low or non-existent tuition, opportunity to work in the industry/University while studying, relatively low or subsidise cost of living for students, and some very good scholarship opportunities! But outside the obvious reason, there are also some personal reasons; I wanted to experience the well-known German culture/tradition, I wanted to be fluent in German, I wanted to try the German beer and of course, the Brötchen.

I went with Ruhr-University & Computational Engineering, even though I was admitted to several other universities in Germany, because the program is embedded in a very strong research environment where students work alongside researchers/professors. Also, Ruhr-University has a really good reputation and the modules contained in the program was also really interesting as there is something for everyone. This is not to mention that the University is situated in the Ruhr district.
Coming from Nigeria, I really enjoyed my time in Bochum. The environment was really nice and the people were receptive. There was a lot of extracurricular activities to do like swimming, football, carnivals, parties! etc. The University garden (Botanic Garden) was also very lovely. The library was well equipped with as many books as one would require. To this very moment, I still miss Bochum. Bochum feels like home.

To be sincere, the first semester was really hard for me academically. Computational Engineering is quite demanding and requires a lot of effort. But I got really good support from the department and was able to meet all of my academic goals/target; graduating with at least a 1.5 and on-time. I’d give a 110% to the support system at Computational Engineering. They are always there whenever you need them.

While I was studying, or during my second semester to be precise, I was able to secure a really good student job at E.ON Climate and Renewables (Now RWE Renewables) as a result of the skills/knowledge gained during my studies. This working student job then lead to a permanent position with the same company right after submitting my thesis. For this, I am really thankful.

To conclude, even though there is so much more to say, I’d like to say a very big thank you to Ruhr University, to Germany for the opportunity, and then to Computational Engineering at RUB. Without your support, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I made a lot of really cool friends from all over the world. I have been placed in a competitive position in the global market. I can now speak some German (Ich kann jetzt etwas Deutsch sprechen) as there were German classes offered for free! I am also now an alumnus of the great Ruhr University. I do not have any regrets concerning my program of choice, school of choice and a country of choice. I would do it all over again!

Thank you, Computational Engineering at Ruhr-University Bochum."