Kraaijenbrink has background in child development and applied cognitive psychology and decided to try to join the program after she finished a voluntary internship at Philips Research. After graduation she would like to apply the theoretical and practical knowledge to the design and development of products and systems, preferably for children.

“I didn’t really know how much competition there was to get into the program until I got here, and of course you wouldn’t if you get in on your first try”, says André Fialho from Brazil. “I have a lot of experience on the web and was already working in computers back home. I wanted more background knowledge, but I didn’t want to become an academic. I had a lot of interests so it was difficult to choose. This is the perfect combination of computer science and insight into interaction. I didn’t realize this program existed but it’s just what I was looking for, and it gave me a chance to go abroad. At the moment, I’m learning a lot about how to behave in a group in industrial situations, things like time management, decision-making and dealing with conflicts have my attention.”

American Brian Pagán came to the Netherlands after being stationed with the US Airforce in Germany. He studied psychology at the University in Maastricht. “The Netherlands is a wonderful place to be, a much different atmosphere than in Germany or the States. I enjoy the lifestyle and am planning to stay for a while yet. I’m also really enjoying this program, which gives us a lot of freedom to explore our interests. We’re encouraged to learn in a holistic way. I’m fascinated by the new ways technology gives us to express ourselves and how it changes the way we communicate. For my internship, I’d like to go to Vodafone in Maastricht, but KPN or Alcatel would also be possibilities.”

Qing Liu from Guangzhou, China, is in his first year of the program. He did his bachelor’s at Fontys and an internship with Philips. “I met some people from USI in 2005, and I liked their practical approach. Of course I had to get my master’s before I could apply. But here I am!”, says Liu. “I plan to stay in the Netherlands for the time being. For my internship I’d like to go to an insurance company such as Interpolis in Tilburg.”

The two-year User Systems Interaction program is quite intensive. Students take part in a number of modules (the user experience, software engineering basics, interaction technology, user research methodologies, user-centred design processes), work on their professional development, tackle a design case and do a nine month industrial apprenticeship in their second year. Companies pay 30,000 euros to have a future USI engineer working for them on a practical project and the intern is seen as an expert./.