Name: José A. Baeza
From: Úbeda, Spain
Graduation year: 2012
Current job: PhD student at University of Seville
Not long after coming to Linköping University, José found out about the master’s programme in Biomedical Engineering and decided to apply for it.
”I decided not to keep going with my education in Spain, but to get involved at Linköping University and make the master’s programme my first priority. Here (in Spain), within telecommunications, we used to have a very small area related to biomedical engineering, not a whole programme. When I found out I could pursue the MSc degree and get a cutting edge education in this field, I realised I wanted to devote my life to it. After that I felt more and more convinced about the imaging part, which is the part that I like the most.”
”Knowledge from many different fields”
Biomedical Engineering was a new field for José and the change was not easy, but it was worth the effort. He was able to broaden his perspective and follow the way to his current position – PhD student at the University of Seville.
”I think it’s a tough programme but I am glad I did it. It is very cross-functional, so you get a lot of knowledge from very different fields. I do think it gives you a better start on the job market. I enjoyed it a lot because as an engineer you hardly have the chance to approach very exciting topics such as anatomy, cell biology, and intensive care, for instance. I also think that most professors are real experts in their fields, which makes you confident that you are getting a more relevant education (…). Now I work at the University of Seville in the medical physics area which is closely related to what I studied in Linköping.”
Excellent student experience
Student life was rich and exciting for José. He met many people from different parts of the world, as well as locals living life the Swedish way.
”At the beginning, it was very nice because Erasmus was crazy. Everyone wanted to gather and stay together. Once I finished my first year, I wanted to live a bit more like a Swede.”
The time spent in Linköping was a truly international experience for José.
”Living abroad is definitely a very enriching experience. It's funny that before studying in Sweden almost all people I spent time with were Spaniards; but suddenly, little after arriving in Linköping, I was sharing the table with an Iraqi, an Iranian, a Chinese and an American. Those experiences certainly were key in my personal growth.”
He was mostly impressed by Campus Valla with all its facilities:
”It’s such an amazing campus! All the buildings, the infrastructure, all the facilities… the university it’s almost like your home. You can go there at any time and have access to most places. It’s something I would have never imagined from Spain.”
Further on the same path
When it comes to career plans, José would like to work in the R&D department of a company specialised in biomedicine. He had been looking for such jobs right after his master’s studies but realised quite soon that most of them required a doctoral degree. According to Jose, biomedical engineering research is often an expensive and not very widespread field but he is hopeful in finding the job that he wants when the PhD programme is over.