Student Experiences

Upon completing my primary and secondary education in Montenegro with the highest honors, both due to my sport achievements and active contributions to the society through work with the local NGOs and United Nations in Montenegro, I have received scholarships from multiple universities around the world. After a lot of thinking, my decision was to accept the Izmir University of Economics’ international scholarship and enroll into the department of Computer Engineering in 2014. Little did I know that this would be one of the best decisions of my life. During my time in Turkey, inside and outside of the IUE campus, I had the chance to meet people from all around the world, make life-lasting friendships, and grow both personally and professionally. One of the highlights of my personal life at IUE was meeting my future wife, Hajdina, on her Erasmus+ exchange from Slovenia to Izmir. IUE will always stay close to our hearts since we even got engaged in the campus. I had the chance to take part in the Erasmus+ exchange program myself, and enrich my academic life by spending a semester in the department of Computer Systems at Riga Technical University in Latvia, improve my practical knowledge by performing internships in Ljubljana, Slovenia and Stuttgart, Germany. Besides Erasmus+ internships, I have performed another internship in the world headquarters of the company Robert Bosch, located in Stuttgart, Germany, during which I had a chance to work on the development of the innovative product, and even held a lecture at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences, in the domain of Internet of Things. I had a lot of fun at IUE as a member of many student clubs, as well as during the process of co founding the International Community Network, which had the aim to support expats at the university. After graduation, I moved to Germany yet again. First to Stuttgart and then to Karlsruhe, where I am currently working for a US corporation, which is the largest company dedicated to industrial automation and information in the world.

Džefris Dizdarević

2019 - Computer Engineering Graduate

As a very successful junior tennis player in Serbia, I had an opportunity to take full scholarship from many international universities to continue my academic and athlete career. Most of the offers were coming from the United States of America, except one, from Izmir University of Economics. At the time I had genuine interest in Turkey and I thought I had nothing to lose if I tried something different. I am very happy about that decision. My journey at IEU started in 2014 when I enrolled in the department of Computer Engineering. With such strong infrastructure, a variety of courses, and qualified academic staff, I had all the resources I could imagine. In addition to technical knowledge, I also acquired knowledge of French and Turkish language, and performed 4 years for the university tennis team as no. 1 player undefeated in singles. At IEU I gained many lifelong friendships with people from all around the world, and I had a chance to join Erasmus+ program at Riga Technical University in Latvia. During my stay in Riga, I participated in a series of financial technology conferences where I deepened my knowledge of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. At that point I decided to start my professional career in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Upon graduation, I joined Balkaneum team in Belgrade, Serbia, where we set out to build a cryptocurrency exchange platform - Xcalibra. Xcalibra is now Swiss based with thousands of traders and is the first exchange to support Serbian dinar. Since then, I have founded a company for software development and consulting services where I continue my work with Xcalibra and other projects.

Miloš Mrdaković

2018 - Computer Engineering Graduate

My journey at IEU started in 2018 while pursuing a master’s degree in Design Studies with the subject of Environmental and Behavioral Sciences, during which, I developed an interest in the way architecture shapes human experience and affects the everyday life of people. I was always inspired, encouraged, and challenged by my professors as they were passionate about their students’ success.  Upon completing my master’s degree, I graduated at the top of my class. My thesis research found significant respect during the EDRA 51st international conference held in the USA while the results of the research brought the attention of one of the main international contributors forming architectural-behavioral theories. Now I am the Vice-chairman for SAIB nonprofit organization. I also work with the United Nations while preparing for my doctoral research that comes as an extension of my research work at IEU.  Alongside the technical knowledge that I have gained throughout the program, I also navigated the landscapes of life in beloved Turkey as someone from outside its territory. I practiced and improved research skills, and learned so much about the Turkish culture; the points of similarity with my own, and the points of difference, which by extension reflected on my understanding of myself, both as a human and as an architect. 

Zaid Awamleh

Design Studies Master`s Program with Thesis Graduate - 2020