My name is Yuchun Liu, I am 25 years old and I come from Taiwan. I was automatically awarded the Academic Excellence Scholarship, which at the time was worth £1,000 (it is now worth £3,500 from 2016!) off my tuition. Since the scholarship was “automatic”, it surprised me when I first read my tuition fee note and found that I had automatically received it!

Bournemouth University was always my first choice for studying Tourism at Master’s level, so when I began to undertake my research on BU scholarships through the internet I discovered this would be my main option. The PG Academic Excellence Scholarship is automatically awarded after BU receives the report card with the last academic year grade from new students. In other words, the scholarship all depended on my undergraduate course marks.

In order to receive it, I worked hard to maintain my grade in the final year of my Bachelor’s degree, and I was very glad my efforts paid off. For me, the scholarship is more than just a financial support to my family. It also makes me feel good that I made a little contribution to my parents, especially for their kindness of paying my living and education fees while abroad.

Talking about the school life in BU, I will be honest and say that I have found the course to be difficult. Especially as my first degree in Taiwan was English Linguistics and Literature and now I am studying Tourism Management and Planning; it took me lots and lots of time to do the research and understand the concepts of this new subject. However, I am enjoying what I am doing! Especially in the second term, I’ve learned so much about sustainable tourism planning and management from environmental, social and economic approaches. I can feel that I’m gaining knowledge every time I attend a lecture, and I know there’s much more out there waiting for me to dig out. Which makes things more exciting, and I can’t wait to test my capability in my future career.

During my stay in Bournemouth, my life has not just been about studying. I’ve also participated as a Chinese conversation facilitator in the BU language centre, a volunteer in Dorset’s Disability Charity, a member of the Postgraduate Development Award, a player for a social basketball team once a week, and the thing that one should never miss, is the social life with international friends after the lectures. With my good friends, we’ve discovered all kinds of food and drink in Bournemouth town centre. And the time spent with them just makes studying abroad easier.

By Yuchun Liu, MSc Sustainable Tourism Planning

我的名字叫劉宥均，今年25歲，來自台灣。2014年入學時獲得PG Academic Excellence 獎學金。因為這筆獎學金是Bournemouth University依據新生在大學的校內成績 (包含最後一學年) 而自動頒發，所以一開始在入學通知的學費上發現獲得1000英鎊 (2014年起為3000英鎊！)的學費減免時給了我不少驚喜。

Bournemouth University 一直是我在英國念觀光研究所的第一選擇，所以一開始調查學校資料時也找了關於獎學金的資訊。在發現PG Academic Excellence獎學金是我唯一有資格申請的獎學金後，我很努力維持自己在大學的成績，也很高興我的努力有了回報。對我而言這筆獎學金不只是對家裡經濟上的支援，也代表自己對家裡微薄的貢獻，可以多少減輕父母的負擔，尤其是當我的父母在經濟上的無償支援我的學業時，能盡這一點微薄之力讓我感到很開心。

聊到在BU的課業生活，老實說在這裡的課業讓我感到很吃緊。尤其是我在台灣的大學主修是外國語文學系，著重在語言學和文學方面，所以來到英國念觀光系時，課堂內所教的內容和知識都與我以往所學相差甚遠，幾乎是從頭開始學起，所以我花了很多的時間在查詢和學習觀光產業相關的知識和概念。但即便很辛苦，我對於我現在所學的內容卻相當樂在其中!  尤其是在第二學期之後，我學到了很多如何在經濟、生態、和社會環境方面的考量之下，來永續經營和規畫觀光產業。每一堂課的課程在結束時都讓我覺得自己又學到了新的東西，也了解自己還有多少不足之處，種種這些都讓我對於自己未來的職業產生了躍躍欲試的想法，希望能有機會將自己所學實踐在工作之中。

當然在學校的生活不只是唸書而已，這一年下來我也參加了不少活動，包含在BU 語言中心擔任口語會話老師，在Dorset’s Disability Charity (多賽特傷殘慈善) 擔任志工，參加Postgraduate Development Award（ 研究生發展獎），每星期固定在學校的籃球社打球，還有出國在外最不能錯過的就是和外國朋友一起出去吃飯喝酒玩樂。有了這些好朋友，挖掘市中心的餐廳和酒吧變成一件趣事和消遣，也因為有了他們，大大減輕了我一人在國外唸書的辛苦。