There’s a reason why it’s called a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In Jeanette Barbosa Noronha’s case, it was a prospect for any student in a country as large as India; as long as he or she was able to make the cut. And this was the case on a global stage as well with only a few being selected for a prestigious ‘Erasmus+ Scholarship’, which is funded by the European Commission (branch of the European Union).
While the University of Porto was the coordinating university for this programme, there were many countries in the world enlisted for the same, and each nation was allocated a certain number of seats- India was given one.
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Coming to India, there were many participating Institutions and Universities from the country, including BITS, IIT, etc., of which Goa University was one. Any student enrolled at one of these institutions/universities, regardless of the stream being pursued, could apply for this scholarship, and the courses offered ranged from engineering, to business and administration, to law, to psychology, literature, languages and many others.
The scholarship was to be offered to one student from India for one semester.
All this certainly sounds quite daunting, and given the odds, 22-year-old Jeanette, was less than optimistic when she sent in her application.
“The chances of being selected from the entire country were very slim, and that’s an understatement, knowing how competitive it is for students here,” she adds.
Like the other applicants, she submitted proof of her past academic record, essay responses to questions put forth by the organisers; and attached other relevant documents that covered her extra-curricular activities and achievements.
Amongst her peers, the bright and affable Jeanette was certainly a contender and her glowing resume made them believe that it was definitely worth a try.
For instance, she was the highest-ranked student in her Higher Secondary School, Parvatibai Chowgule College of Arts & Science- Autonomous in the 12th Arts stream with 91%, and topped at the TYBA at the same college with a GPA of 9.58.
The alumnus of Fatima Convent High School, Margao, graduated in Psychology and Sociology from Parvatibai Chowgule College of Arts & Science-Autonomous, affiliated to the Goa University. Since she has a love for the Portuguese language, she decided to pursue her post-graduation i.e. M.A. in Portuguese through Goa University.
And it was this passion that made the chance to get the scholarship at Porto University in Portugal, seem all the more attractive. The daughter of Julio Barbosa Noronha and Maria dos Anjos, has also regularly participated and won prizes at the popular All-Goa Portuguese singing contest ‘Vem Cantar’, and the All-Goa Fado competition.
So when she got the news that she had been selected, she was simply over the moon. “It was a delightful surprise! However, before I knew it, I had to start preparing for the programme, and get all my documentation in order, but the experience there more than made up for this lack of a breather,” says Jeanette, who hails from Borda and lives in Monte-Margao.
The scholarship also allowed for international credit mobility/transfer and a fixed monthly scholarship amount for personal expenses during the course.
While she was there, she pursued the Masters Course in ‘Portuguese as a Second Language’, at the Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, which is very much relevant to her studies at Goa University. “Having knowledge of the Portuguese language helped me a great deal- not just in conversing with my classmates there, but also in getting around the city, and the country. That being said, constantly being around Portuguese locals and speakers of the language has improved my conversation skills a lot,” she explains.
She also insists that she doesn’t like to sound clichéd but admits that she has to make an exception when it comes to describing her experience.
“You may hear foreign exchange students referring to their experience as ‘life-changing’ and ‘one of a kind’, but let me tell you, they’re underselling it! Words simply do not suffice when it comes to narrating this experience that is somehow still so vivid in my mind. Right from traveling to a foreign country alone, getting settled, making new friends and living ‘the life’, the whole journey was simply something out of a dream!”, she exclaims.
She further points out that being an Erasmus student helped her get to know a lot of other international students from different countries such as Germany, Turkey and Slovakia, to name a few, and she even got to visit their hometowns with them.
“A few friends and I joined the University’s Portuguese singing group, commonly known in Portugal as the ‘Tuna’; and so I made a lot of friends from Portugal as well. We travelled and had performances in Porto, as well as in different parts of the country, like Lisbon and Covilhã. This was something I had never done before, so it was very exciting,” she concludes.
Right now, she is back in Goa and has just completed answering her final exams of M.A. Part II in Portuguese at Goa University and is waiting for her results.
