University of Groningen - RUG Speciality : Environmental Sciences
programme: Environmental Policy and Regulation

I moved to Groningen after graduating in Law at the University of Florence, to attend a one-year Master Programme in Climate and Energy Law. My decision was based on the good fame surrounding RUG, and on the good experience, I had in the Maastricht Uni, during my Erasmus programme in 2018. Nevertheless, I now have to acknowledge that this University is definitely not what I thought it was. I identify three major problems:

a) the study load is disproportionate, illogical and sometimes not accompanied by proper, clear and understandable material;

b) the study load is exaggerated mainly compared to one factor: the time. There’s is literally no time to keep up with all the readings, book chapters, lectures and group activities. This causes, in the long run, anxiety, depressive attitude;

c) the other two points strongly interact with the following one: the criteria and methodologies used to assess the students’ performance are harsh, disproportionate and not take into account the pressure put on students.