Luis Ignacio Borges Fitipaldo
My advice to students would be to choose wisely! Doing a MSc in 18 months is a challenge, you can only succeed if you're really interested in your specialization.
What made you decide to study this particular programme?
When I decided that I wanted to do a MSc, I immediately knew that Sanitary Engineering would be the right programme for me. It was the specialization that fitted best to my tasks as chemical engineer. In addition, the Uruguayan national agency for research and innovation (ANII) offers grants for this particular specialization, which was another advantage compared to other programmes.
Can you say something about studying in Delft/the Netherlands? Cultural and social experiences?
It's a fantastic experience. The Netherlands and Delft in particular, is a nice environment to live in. One of the biggest advantages of Delft is the mobility. Since it's not extremely big, everything is nearby and can be reached by bike. Studying at UNESCO-IHE also gives you the chance to get in touch with many different cultures. This really is a nice experience.
What kind of professional background do you need to succeed in this programme?
Personally, I have a chemical engineering background and I feel like that really helped me during my first months here. Coincidently, my brother is one of my classmates and he has a civil engineering background. That appeared to be a good background as well. The mixture of both civil as chemical engineers creates a nice learning environment. During the modules that are more linked to chemical engineering, we help classmates that are more into civil engineering and vice versa.
Why should new students/water professionals choose this programme? And do you have any advice for them?
Of all the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's), the sanitation goals are still far from succession. So there's still a lot of work that yet has to be done. Therefore, there is a need for well-educated professionals in the field of sanitary engineering. My advice to students would be: choose wisely. Doing a MSc in 18 months is a challenge and requires commitment. Thus you can only succeed if you're really interested in your specialization.
What are you going to do once back home?
Initially I'll return to my previous position, in which I do research for a university. But it's very likely that I'll do some additional and more specialistic tasks, since I've now gained more knowledge.
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