Abstract:

Joint degrees provide extra challenges over other programs. There are multiple reasons for that like moving to a different country (or continent, as well as living far away from friends and family, not mentioning others. Because of these, applying for a joint degree is always a hard decision, moreover, Covid-19 introduced some new difficulties and made the already existing ones even harder.

European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) Digital Master School consists of two years master's programme at two different European universities. The programs are Information Technology (IT) related, however, every curriculum includes 30% of innovation and entrepreneurship studies. This provides enough knowledge to create a startup from scratch and make it a successful company. The program also offers extra events like a summer school, and a kick-off which helps people in networking, getting to know teachers and other students from the different universities who take part in EIT Digital.

Converting all of these events to an online platform can be very challenging for both the organizers and the participants. Organizers had to find a way to involve attendees in the activities while participants had to interact with others and solve problems from their homes. Many things could have gone wrong during this: internet issues, software issues, device issues, time-zone issues, etc. Sometimes these issues could not be fixed easily, but inside of the EIT Digital community, even under the given circumstances, people did everything to make each other feel comfortable and involved. Online platforms made it possible to reach out to people who would not be able to attend an in-person event. Inviting widely acknowledged presenters to give a talk about their area of expertise is a great way to give students a role model, especially when they are in lack of social inputs. The results are self-explanatory, over 90% of students find a job in a related field to their studies within 6 months.

Keywords:

Joint degree, master's degree, online studies.