Face of Flanders: Hatice Genc

The Diversity Prize is given annually by the university and Het Belang Van Limburg newspaper to a “new Belgian” student who is considered a role model. This year’s winner is 26-year-old Hatice Genc, who is studying law.

She started out studying for a professional Bachelor’s degree in legal practice at the PXL University College in Hasselt. That led her to the academic Master’s course in law at the university, where she followed what is known as a switch programme: Students move from a professional to an academic education. That involved taking not only classes from the switch programme syllabus, but also from the first and second year Master’s course.

Genc comes from a Turkish family, and “when I decided a few years ago to study further, some people looked as me as if I was from Mars,” she said on receiving the award. “Some thought I was aiming too high, others said I was wasting my time. But I knew I would get my degree.”

She called on her fellow students not to be defeated when things get hard. “Never forget: The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.”

Genc has also been selected to take part in the Erasmus international exchange programme. She will go to Ankara University in Turkey, the first law student from Hasselt to do so, where she will prepare her dissertation on comparative law in Belgium and Turkey.

“That might be a good first step in achieving my dream,” she said, “to become the Belgian ambassador to Turkey.”

Photo: Liesbeth Driessen/UHasselt