"Living in Barcelona and passing the Senegalese street vendors on my way to and from class each day inspired me to write a paper on them for my African Studies class. That paper then inspired the topic of my master’s thesis on Senegalese migration in Europe, which eventually led to my work in Africa. After handing in my master’s dissertation, I travelled to Portugal on assignment for a travel magazine, then to Senegal. Soon, with luck and persistence, I was offered an internship at the United Nations Development Programme Regional Centre for West and Central Africa in Dakar. It was a dream come true to finally be working for the UN." 

"I chose the Master’s in International Relations because I realized that I was occupying a lot of my time with reading and studying about international affairs and politics. So, I figured that I might as well make a career out of my interests. The defining moment that led me to pursue this Master’s, was my reporting on the Las Ramblas terrorist attack. I realized quite clearly at that moment, that we as individuals cannot ignore international politics and issues, regardless if we want to or not. It was clear that we live in a highly globalized world that is relying on a fragile peace, that can be disrupted if we do not make a unified effort internationally."

"When I worked as an international journalist I felt I was lacking an academic framework that would allow me to better analyse and understand the “reality”. IBEI’s MA gave me the academic background that I was lacking. It also gave me the opportunity to reach jobs that I could not have accessed. It was a very enriching experience. Not only on the academic side, which it undoubtedly was very valuable to my career, but also on the human-side. I felt we built quality relationships between students and also with professors. They were closely involved in our academic experience." 

"In a globalized world, with the constant increase of fake news and the emergence of populist and authoritarian movements, it is very important to have criteria to disentangle the information and to know what is true and what is not. Information is powerful and can do a lot of damage. I think this is what IBEI taught me the best: to analyze, assess and above all have a critical vision and not get carried away by appearances." 

"I believe that my experience at IBEI was crucial in contributing to my long-term professional goal of being in academia. Coming from a Computer Science background, I wanted to transition to Security Studies. The training provided at IBEI gave me the necessary skillset to meet this objective. The masters programme, being more research oriented, gave me the necessary knowledge and mindset required for the role I am currently in. This applies to both me being a researcher and a doctoral candidate." 

"I have very good memories of my time at IBEI. I cherished the low student-staff ratio. Professors knew you; they would call you by your name and they were always available in case of need. This contributed to creating a very comfortable learning environment whereby interesting debates and discussions took place and no one felt ashamed of expressing hers/his opinion or of asking questions."

"The knowledge I acquired during my Master’s degree served as a useful basis to build on as I started working in the field of international security. The Master’s helped me strengthen my analytical, writing and public presentation skills, and the courses I took inspired me to continue pursuing a career in this area. But perhaps most importantly, IBEI gave me the opportunity to learn how to live and work in a multicultural environment." 

"My research (and teaching) falls at the intersection of international relations and comparative politics. IBEI's program gave me opportunity to devote almost a full year to strengthen my conceptual and theoretical foundations in the field of international relations – something that ended opening some doors down the road. At IBEI I also meet faculty members that gave me great advice and inspired me."

"I think the master helped me to better understand many of the existing problems in Latin America and the EMEA region, and particularly the reasons why it is so difficult to progress in the infrastructures Field. It also prepared me to understand the social aspects of the Environmental problems and how to deal with different cultures, backgrounds, etc."

"A key benefit from the master course was the advancement of my knowledge in research theory and methods. I followed different courses, both at CEU and at IBEI, that gave me a solid understanding of the possibilities and limitations of doing research in the social field. Additionally, the courses that discussed poverty reduction and development put me in contact with recent discussions on these topics."