Another post today courtesy of Adelah Bilal, Administrative Assistant in the King’s Experience team here at Careers & Employability, who along with a few students is here to introduce another award in the King’s Experience roster, the Global Award. And why not check out our posts from last week on the London Award and the Leadership and Professional Skills Award.
Go Global or Go Home!
King’s College London has a culturally diverse student population, with students from some 150 countries around the world. This means that our campuses are a hub of intercultural exchanges. We get to form relationships with people from all around the world with different values, perspectives and opinions.
Studying in the heart of London also means that many King’s students go on to work in ethnically diverse London communities, international firms based in the City, or even abroad. Employers want to know that King’s students are aware of cultural differences, are adaptable irrespective of their location, and are ready to explore new perspectives.
The King’s Experience Global Award helps students to demonstrate their knowledge, attributes, skills and experience. It’s a great way to promote your global engagement and to enhance your cultural awareness.
Our last cohort of students did an amazing job at reflecting on their experiences and illustrating what they learnt.
Read on to find about Imogen, Julie and Risako’s experiences and skills development…
Imogen Richardson: ‘Only Connect’: A Passage to India and the Benefits of Global Learning in a Global World.
Imogen reflects on how a traumatic experience in India helped her to appreciate “the importance of bodily, human connections” as opposed to the tendency to “only connect through the internet and social media.”
Imogen’s reflective essay creatively engaged with the novels Howards End and A Passage to India by E.M. Forster, which share the theme of human connections. She brilliantly engages with the journey of the characters in these novels and compares it to her own experiences exploring India.
Imogen concludes in her reflective essay that it was only after witnessing the traumatic accident that she was able to appreciate “the privileged state of sanitation and healthcare in the UK.” Imogen goes on to say:
“I believe that this knowledge was only possible because of my physical immersion in a different culture. Like Margaret in Howard’s End, I believe that we run the risk of inundating ourselves with innumerable, and inferior connections. Social media outlets quantify our ‘friendships’ making them replaceable. They are also at a remove, and my trip to India emphasised the importance of bodily, human connections.”
Julie Schwarz: Is culture singular? A reflection on multiculturalism
Julie is French but was raised in New York City; she studies English and French Law and reflects on how the English and French law differ based on “societal conceptions.”
Julie was made aware of how her cultural upbringing impacted on how she viewed the law when she volunteered at the LSE Featherstone Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Moot (like a mock legal trial).
Julie understands that her opinion of the debate was strongly influenced by her French roots. She explains how she was able to explain how a conversation with her French flatmate increased her “awareness of how secular France is” and how this shaped her perspective. To demonstrate this Julie writes; “separation between private and professional life is very specific to France as a secular country.”
Furthermore, Julie weighs up the pros and cons of this mind-set, stating:
“The distinction between public and private life means that there is less tension and discord in workplaces. It encourages people to become well acquainted with each other before sharing their opinions. This makes them more likely to listen to other people’s opinions and arguments … which leads to smarter discussions.”
But conversely, it means that France is less aware of issues that might face specific communities and less likely to discuss those issues.”
Julie’s critical reflection demonstrates a mature understanding of culturally sensitive issues and how this awareness has benefitted her professional and personal life.
Risako Yoshioka: A Reflective Account on My Study Abroad Experience in Italy
Risako writes a wonderful account on her personal development during her time in Italy. She shares how she has learnt to understand and appreciate the value of the unique attributes inherited from her multicultural upbringing.
Risako also compares how her behaviours adapted to being in different cultural contexts, without having to imitate behaviours or ‘act’ Italian.
What Risako has evaluated as being most important is:
“embracing one another as different human beings and respecting the fact that we come from different backgrounds, without deliberately building a clear cultural boundary in between. Of course, understanding and respecting other cultures is extremely important, but realising the difference in cultures is only a supplement to building relationships, and this is what I learned from studying abroad in Italy.”
Risako’s account intelligently depicts strong interpersonal communication skills, with her interactions in Italy demonstrating an ability to respond to context on relationships in cultural, social and professional environments.
Feeling inspired?
If you have completed a global experience (at least 25hours) in the past year, you are eligible to apply to the King’s Experience Global Award!
Visit King’s CareerConnect to apply.