I graduated from the MSc International Risk Management and Finance in September this year. In January, I took part in The Global Talent Programme at BU, which is a four-month programme that has helped me to discover my potential skills, enhance my global employability, and enlarge my network. The certificate I obtained will also help me stand out from the crowd.

During the programme, I was engaged in various lectures and events every week, having face-to-face talks with senior management from big corporates or local companies within different industries, for example the Managing Director of Amuzo, the Founder of Nourish Care, the HR Director of Hays Recruitment and an expert on Personal Branding.  The events were organised so that speakers could share with students their experiences of what they thought were the key elements of being a global candidate in a global company.

At the same time, I also expanded my network and met more students from other faculties at BU through different kinds of events and activities. Mostly, I felt my brain refresh every time when exchanging ideas about current hot topics and cases, like understanding global issues, creating a global community, talking about public interests and ethnic boundaries within the economic environment, etc.  The free communication atmosphere and brainstorming exercises were really helpful as they encouraged several soft skills like creativity, innovation, interpersonal skills and critical thinking. Sometimes we were divided into groups to undertake a range of tasks and challenges. These challenges pulled me out of my comfort zone and exposed me to some obstacles.

At the end, we were required to work within a group to present a project about one global issue, and what we would do to solve it, which was an exciting and unforgettable experience. Our group’s issue was mental health, which we discovered was an important global issue when we did the background research. Our solution was to start by establishing a psychology corner within the university, cooperating with the professional services inside the university. Eventually, we would like to see this solution adopted in other universities.

The procedure of identifying, solving and presenting our ideas through this exercise was an exciting and unforgettable experience.

by Xiaohua Zheng