I was lucky enough to be awarded Erasmus funding to attend some training at EBC Hochschule University and also attend the Global Connections and International Careers Services Executive Training in Berlin. This was an amazing opportunity to share ideas and best practice with colleagues from all over Europe and since I’ve been back home I’ve already been in touch with a number of contacts in Germany and France and the UK. The visit brought about opportunities for building partnerships between Careers Services where we can offer a better service for our international students as well as offering more support to those UK students wanting to study or move abroad.
Training from the Global Impact Institute brought home the importance of encouraging our UK students to grab every opportunity to make themselves more globally aware. In an ever changing global market, International graduates have the edge over their UK peers when it comes to mobility, a global outlook and languages. As a Careers Service, we need to be working more closely with the Global Team, placements and encouraging more students to get involved in opportunities to grow their knowledge and understanding of different cultures. The Global Talent Programme is a great way for students to do this, but even better would be for students to move out of their comfort zone into the big wide world and really live it – this could really increase their chances of landing a great job on graduation.
Alison Zorraquin