Ruth Acolatse | Erasmus Mundus Master's in AI for Sustainable Societies

Ruth Acolatse

Erasmus Mundus Master's in AI for Sustainable Societies

"Hello everyone, my name is Ruth Acolatse. I am an Erasmus Mundus student in Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Societies, and I am currently completing my second semester at Lusófona University - Porto University Centre."

I am from Ghana, and so far my experience on this programme has been wonderful. The first semester took place in Estonia, where we studied Collective Intelligence, Tampere's accessibility principles and Data Science at Lusófona University. We are now focusing on more technical subjects, including machine learning, applied programming, statistics and geographic information systems.

Outside the University, we also had the opportunity to travel to several other cities across Portugal during Academic Week. This allowed us to experience student life more fully, explore new places and build connections with local communities.

The first word that comes to mind when I think about Lusófona University, especially the Porto campus, is diversity. Here I met students from many different backgrounds and cultures, and I felt represented by seeing people who looked like me. I felt that this is a place where you truly belong, where support is always available when you need it, and where diversity creates a genuine sense of community.

The second word would be welcoming. It was incredibly reassuring to know that there was always someone available to answer my questions and genuinely happy to help.

The third word would be community or friendship. It was much easier to make friends at this University. In Porto, people are warm, approachable and willing to talk to you, whether they know you or not. That has been a wonderful experience.

My advice to future students would be: make the most of this opportunity, apply for the programme and give it your very best. For me, this has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. The main goal of this programme is to use our existing knowledge and apply it to artificial intelligence in order to make society better.

So, even if you do not know how to code or have no previous knowledge of machine learning, this is the right place to learn. All you need is an open mind and the willingness to engage with both the community and the learning process.

Apply and make the most of this opportunity."