Prospects Postgrad 1

ADVICE AND GUIDANCE Postgrad 21 MIND AND SEOUL Studying abroad first interested Jennifer Frost during her undergraduate studies. Last year, she enrolled on an International Studies MA at Yonsei University in Seoul. After finishing my law degree in 2006 I worked as a Paralegal for six months and then as an assistant retail manager for nine months. Both roles provided me with a vast array of skills but I had always wanted the opportunity to live in a foreign country, experience a new culture and learn a new language. I heard about a scholarship offered by the Royal British Legion, Samsung and British Korean Veterans Association (BKVA), which provides for postgraduate students from any discipline to live and study in the Republic of Korea (South Korean) for up to two years. The scholarship was fully funded and without it I would not be studying here today. I have had no problems with finance during my studies although opening a bank account in Seoul is a lengthy process. For the scholarship itself, I had to fill out an initial application form to detail why I qualified, i.e. being a graduate and that I am a direct relative of a veteran of the Korean War (my grandfather). I then had to do a presentation and be interviewed by a panel with representatives from the Royal British Legion, Samsung and the BKVA. My experience so far has been very positive. All my fellow students are friendly and welcoming – we are all in the same situation so it is easy for us to get along well and ask each other for advice. It is obviously a very different culture in Seoul to that in the UK but it has been easy to adapt. I had not lived in a big city before but now I am living in a city with over 10 million people! My grandfather, who was a prisoner of war for over two years, recently visited me in Seoul, along with the rest of the family. To anyone thinking about studying abroad, I would say make the most of it. It is a once in a lifetime experience so try to fully integrate into your new culture as much as you can. STUDY BY CANDLELIGHT: Two weeks after graduating flights, insurance, malaria tablets, everything really. It was hard to justify sometimes, though, because the scholarship is primarily for commonwealth students outside the UK. I hope that it someday translates into more Ghanaian students coming to the UK to study. The University itself was everything I expected; it was very much Americanised. The facilities were not great but again this was not a culture shock. It’s unfair for me to compare Cape Coast to Cambridge, but the biggest thing that struck me was that sometimes lecturers did not turn up, or if a supervisor wanted to see you they would find you in the local town, rather than just email you. Given the energy crisis in Ghana, there were also lots of scheduled and unplanned blackouts. I even took an exam by candlelight. Ghana is a wonderful country though, and I found it very easy to get around. After completing the course I returned to the UK and began an internship with the Overseas Development Institute in London. Subsequently, I was offered a short-term contract. In the future, I would like to travel back to Africa and work within the development field. from Cambridge, Emma Broadbent was in Ghana ready to start a Research Masters in African Traditional Religion and Philosophy. She looks back on her experience. In my fourth year I had pretty much decided that I wanted a career in development and definitely wanted to work abroad. I was originally thinking of doing a Masters in development studies in the UK but my careers adviser basically told me not to bother and to get out to Africa. Ghana was somewhere I hadn’t been before so I settled on this as the country where I wanted to study. I then looked at institutions and decided I wanted to study by the beach, rather than in the city. The University of Cape Coast was the only university to offer this setting. I applied for a Commonwealth Scholarship Plan to support my study and was successful; they provided tuition fees, accommodation, a subsistence wage,

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Prospects Postgrad Autumn 2008 Contents: What’s Inside For Love and Money Cash for Qualifications A Tale of Two Students Meet the Postgrad People All Aboard The Postgraduate Environment Maths Market The Postgrad Programme Teacher Training Arts and Humanities Science and Engineering Business and Management Social Sciences

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