Meeting up with Alumni in Vietnam

19.01.2020

Meeting up in Vietnam with Alumni from the Saxion Class of '99 , and a Wittenborg graduate from 13 years back.

During the Christmas and New year break, WUAS directors Peter Birdsall and Maggie Feng met up with a group of Alumni in Hanoi, Vietnam. It was a special group, as they came from the so-called 'Class of '99' - the first international class at the faculty of economics of Hogeschool Ijselland (now Saxion University of Applied Sciences) in Deventer, and were joined by Wittenborg alumnus Tracy Choé, who graduated 13 years ago.

The graduates from Deventer, had studied final year bachelors programmes at the Hogeschool Ijselland, and the master's programmes that were running at the time in partnership with the University of Greenwich. Birdsall, who at the time was director of the international office then, remembers the class of '99 as the first fully international group of students 'we had around 140 students from over 40 different countries at the time - it was very exciting'.

During the evening, the group looked back on their experiences 20 years ago, and remembered stories of the students, and teachers at the time, but especially the 'Study in Holland' experience which was quite unique in those days. The group plans to help organise a 25th anniversary in the Netherlands in 2024.