By Brian Wong, PhD student, UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science

Over the past few years, the presence of students and members of youth-led organisations in global health spaces has led to the meaningful and sustainable engagement of young people in global agendas. One such youth-led organisation is the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), which is one of the world’s oldest and largest student-run organisations.

IFMSA represents, connects and engages with an inspiring network of 1.3 million medical students from 136 national member organisations (NMOs) in 126 countries around the globe. IFMSA was granted consultative status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), meaning it is able to send members to UN meetings to participate in the UN’s work and that of its specialised agencies.

I currently sit on the board of trustees for Students for Global Health (SfGH), a global health charity and the UK NMO of IFMSA. I was fortunate to have been selected to attend the 146^th Executive Board meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva from 3-8 February 2020 as a delegate of IFMSA. Our delegation of 11 represented different regions and a range of experience levels. Besides medical students, the delegation also included global health advocates with backgrounds in public health, dentistry and veterinary medicine.

[Find out more about getting involved with SfGH UCL, a local branch of Students for Global Health UK]

The WHO Executive Board (EB), which comprises 34 technical experts from member states, advises and generally facilitates the decisions and policies of the World Health Assembly (WHA). The EB has high-level meetings at least twice a year, with the main meeting in January and a shorter second meeting after the WHA in May, during which time the agenda for the forthcoming WHA is agreed upon and resolutions are adopted. Also present at the EB meeting are other member states, representatives of UN agencies and non-state actors (NSAs).

IFMSA is considered a NSA and is one of only two youth organisations in official relations with WHO; therefore, we can attend high-level meetings such as the EB meeting to advocate and deliver statements on relevant agenda points. At this year’s EB meeting in January, there were several hundred delegates in attendance, including WHO technical experts/department directors, representatives of the 34 EB members, non-EB member state representatives (including the UK and Canada this year) and NSA representatives (the category IFMSA falls under).

The IFMSA delegation delivered statements at the EB meeting and advocated for meaningful youth participation in global health. We split our advocacy efforts into four working groups:

• Universal Health Coverage (UHC)
• Communicable Diseases, including public health emergencies of international concern (PHEIC) – this took up the bulk of the meeting given the current coronavirus situation
• Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)
• Global Health & Governance Issues

As part of the NCDs Advocacy Working Group, I wrote and advocated for policy statements that I delivered to the international community on the following agenda topics:

• EB146/7: Political declaration of the third high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases
• EB146/23: Development of a proposal for a Decade of Healthy Ageing 2020–2030
• EB146/24: Comprehensive implementation plan on maternal, infant and young child nutrition: biennial report

In total, our delegation delivered nine statements on the topics of primary health care, UHC, the prevention and control of NCDs, the global vaccine action plan, ending tuberculosis, health emergencies, the Decade of Healthy Ageing, the global strategy on digital health and the involvement of non-state actors at WHO.

IFMSA also actively contributed to two side events. The first was the launch of the WHO Global Health Workforce Network (GHWN) Youth Hub report on youth and decent work in the health and social care sector. The second was the NGO consultation of the Alliance for Health Promotion. In addition, we had the opportunity to attend technical briefings, one on the current coronavirus outbreak and the other on electronic nicotine delivery/vaping systems.

We also had several meetings with current youth delegates and Diah Saminarsih (WHO’s Senior Adviser on Youth and Gender to the Director-General) during which we discussed strategies to increase meaningful and sustainable youth participation in global health, as well as to further support youth delegate programs. Furthermore, we conducted consultations with member state representatives to discuss youth engagement strategies in their respective countries.

Youth organisations like IFMSA continue their advocacy efforts tirelessly throughout the year. Although the 146^th Executive Board meeting is now over, work towards a successful 73^rd World Health Assembly has only just begun. We plan to continue our work with WHO and the youth delegates over the coming months to strengthen meaningful and diverse youth engagement in global health.

For the latest news about UCL’s international activity, partnerships and opportunities, subscribe to our bimonthly Global Update newsletter.

Daniyal Jafree (centre) is a MB/PhD student in UCL’s Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, combining a clinical MBBS degree with a PhD in the basic sciences. His research focuses on the development of lymphatic vessels in the kidney and in July 2019, he had the opportunity to delve deeper into his investigation by collaborating with researchers at the University of Toronto (U of T) to find out more about how these vessels are made.

Through UCL’s Bogue Fellowship scheme, which supports research visits to laboratories in the United States and Canada, Daniyal travelled to SickKids Hospital in Toronto, one of Canada’s most research-intensive children’s hospitals and an affiliate of U of T. Daniyal spent nine weeks at the hospital’s academic research institute, the Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning (PGCRL), where he completed his research, re-planned the remainder of his PhD, and formed lasting connections with the team he met there.

Q: Can you briefly describe what your research was about?
My research is all about understanding lymphatic vessels in the kidney. Lymphatic vessels act like a waste disposal system and remove debris, excess fluid and cells from almost every organ. Heart attacks, cancer and dementia are all examples of diseases that feature faulty lymphatic vessels, highlighting the importance of this waste disposal system for healthy life. But how do lymphatic vessels first grow in the kidney, an organ that itself acts as a waste disposal system for our body? This question was partly answered by my PhD research, as we used three-dimensional imaging techniques to show exactly how lymphatic vessels first appear and form in the kidney. My research in Toronto was about taking our work to the next level, by understanding where the actual building blocks (the cells) that form the kidneys’ waste disposal system come from. This kind of information is important because targeting lymphatic vessels might lead to a completely new way of tackling kidney diseases.

Q: How did you hear about the Bogue Fellowship and what made you want to apply?
My Bogue Fellowship came to be by complete coincidence. I’ve always wanted to travel around and experience research in another academic environment. I’d also heard a lot about the amazing calibre of research at SickKids Hospital and how U of T and UCL have a really well-established partnership. At a conference in the UK, my supervisor Dr David Long and I were discussing my ideas with Professor Norman Rosenblum, an internationally renowned expert in kidney development and disease. He took an interest in our work and kindly suggested I visit his laboratory in Toronto where, coincidentally, he had all the tools and techniques I needed for my research. I was mind-blown to find that he was a clinician and scientist at SickKids Hospital; I’d heard about the exciting things they do there. I then looked up what UCL had on offer to support my visit to SickKids and the Bogue Fellowship came up—everything seemed to be falling into place!

Q: What unique research opportunities did you have at SickKids?
My research needed an advanced genetic engineering technique that enables scientists to ‘tag’ stem cells to see where they end up and how. The specific tools to carry out this technique, which I required to assess how kidney lymphatics form, weren’t available in London, nor anywhere else in the UK or Europe! However, SickKids had all of the things I needed. All in one place.

Q: How did collaborating with an international team benefit your work?
In the nine weeks I spent at SickKids I completed my research and found what I was looking for, with a lot of help from members of Professor Rosenblum’s laboratory. These individuals are amongst the brightest and best I’ve met in investigating kidney development and genetic diseases that affect the kidney. Watching their way of working, their rigour and the level of science they were performing had a huge impact on me and my work—particularly the way they used genetic engineering to solve the most complicated of problems. Learning from them whilst out there led to me completely rewriting most of my plans for the remaining two years of my PhD!

Q: What were the highlights from your time in Toronto?
On a personal level: I have lots of family in Canada. The Bogue Fellowship is very generous and encourages travelling around the US or Canada to experience the culture. So, I spent a lot of time with my family in Toronto and even flew out to Vancouver to visit more family there. It made me realise how beautiful a country Canada is; I definitely see myself living out there in the future.

On a professional level: It was a huge accomplishment to complete my project in such a short time. It was very ambitious for nine weeks, so much so that the Bogue Fellowship committee recommended I stay out there longer! However, mostly because of personal commitments, I was insistent on keeping it to nine weeks. Thanks particularly to the lab’s Research Project Manager Christopher Rowan and Professor Rosenblum’s MD/PhD student Rob d’Cruz, we were able to squeeze all of our experiments into nine weeks. Actually, what we found was quite profound. We found that some of the cells that form kidney lymphatic vessels come from the most unexpected of places; this finding could affect the way scientists think about how lymphatic vessels grow in different organs. It also raises the question of whether lymphatics that form from different cells have different impacts on disease.

Q: How have the connections you made in Toronto and the research you did there made a lasting impact on your career?
In addition to bringing back to UCL the ideas and suggestions related to my work on kidney lymphatics, Professor Rosenblum and Dr Long have now forged a long-term collaboration. They are now co-supervising an extremely talented PhD student at UCL who is investigating a molecule that may have great therapeutic benefit on polycystic kidney disease, the most common genetic cause of kidney failure. Aside from the science, Professor Rosenblum gave me invaluable insights into how to forge a career path at the interface of clinical medicine and laboratory science. One day I hope to run a laboratory of my own alongside clinical work, and I have a feeling Professor Rosenblum’s advice will come in very handy. The only thing I am unsure about is whether to pursue these ambitions in the UK, Canada or somewhere completely different—time will tell!

Q: What advice do you have for students considering taking advantage of UCL’s global partnerships?
My advice is short and very simple—put yourself out there, look for the right opportunities and take your chances at applying for schemes like the Bogue Fellowship. The collaboration between UCL and U of T represents a unique link between two of the most academically-strong research centres in the world. Who knows? A trip to U of T from UCL, or vice versa, might completely change your mind set for the better. It definitely did mine.

For the latest news about UCL’s international activity, partnerships and opportunities, subscribe to our bimonthly Global Update newsletter.

UCL articles have a phenomenal global reach – that’s the upshot of new statistics released by The Conversation, which show the countries in which UCL articles are most widely-read, as well as the number of readers.

As the data above shows, in 2019 well over a million and a half UCL articles in The Conversation were read by US-based readers, followed by over half a million article views in the U.K. and Australia. We also have an impressive spread of readers around the globe, from our European neighbours to Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Top articles by UCL academics from 2019-20 include Mark Maslin’s ‘Five climate change science misconceptions – debunked’, which looks at the truth behind beliefs including ‘climate change is just part of the natural cycle’ and ‘changes are due to sunspots/galactic cosmic rays’.

Mark Maslin is the Professor of Climatology at UCL, and this article got over 220,000 views after it was published in September 2019.

Professor Maslin’s article ‘The five corrupt pillars of climate change denial‘ was the second most-read UCL article at The Conversation between 2019-20, after it came out in November 2019.

With just under 200,000 views, this article takes an in-depth look at climate lobbying, and how the fossil fuel industry, political lobbyists and media moguls have spent the past 30 years sowing doubts about the reality of climate change.

Another highly popular article from UCL academics in The Conversation is ‘We accidentally created a new wonder material that could revolutionise batteries and electronics’, written by Chris Howard, Associate Professor in Materials Physics at UCL, and Mitch Watts, a PhD student at UCL.

Looking at the unexpected creation of how phosphorene nanoribbons at UCL, this article garnered 167,000 views after it was published in April 2019.

Climate change was by far the most popular subject for UCL articles in The Conversation between 2019-20, with one article, ‘4°C of global warming is optimal – even Nobel Prize winners are getting things catastrophically wrong‘ by Steve Keen, honorary Professor of Economics at UCL, attracting a global readership of just under 95,000.

 

 

 

Deenan Pillay, Professor of Virology at UCL Division of Infection and Immunity, is preparing to begin his three-year term as UCL Pro-Vice-Provost International (PVPI), succeeding Professor Dame Hazel Genn.

The PVPI provides engaging, inspirational and strategic academic leadership for UCL’s networks of Regional Pro-Vice-Provosts and Vice-Deans International.

Until recently, Deenan was also seconded from UCL as Director of the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI), where he focused on clinical, population and laboratory-based studies to limit the spread of HIV.

Please can you give us a brief overview of what the Africa Health Research Institute does?

AHRI is a 600-strong research institute in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa focusing on HIV, TB and related diseases. One of its key characteristics is its work across disciplines from heath systems and behaviour through to molecular biology. It has two campuses, one in rural northern KZN based around a population surveillance infrastructure, and another laboratory base 3 hours drive south, at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in Durban. The major funding stream is from the Wellcome Trust, as one of the WT Africa and Asia Programmes, which is more than doubled through external grant income, leading to a total annual research budget of around 15 million pounds.

How did your own research interests align with AHRI?

My interest in HIV started in 1988, when I started my clinical specialisation in Virology. HIV had recently been identified as the cause of AIDS, and there was immense pressure to develop antiretroviral drugs. I undertook a Fellowship in 1993 to study how the virus becomes resistant to these drugs. Despite this major limitation of the early generation of therapy,  I was fortunate to witness firsthand, during the 1990s and 2000s, the translational pathway from early compound screening, through development, to trials and implementation – with a profound impact in changing a death sentence to a chronic disease management paradigm. However, whilst this model of drug development may work in the resource-rich world, it is an inadequate global response. My move to South Africa some 30 years later was a reflection of this inequality, and the challenges provided by trying to implement interventions in a setting of 30% prevalence of infection and with limited resource. My research had by now extended to HIV transmission, and I am proud of the work we undertook to understand how best to reduce new infections at scale. I am pleased that the most recent AHRI data shows a reduction in new infections in rural KZN.

What were the challenges of being Director of AHRI?

There were two main challenges. Firstly, AHRI represents a merger of two research organisations, differing in geography, culture, research disciplines, and ethos, despite both having a focus on HIV and TB research. AHRI was formed in 2016, and so the development of  a single mission remains an ongoing process. Secondly, and relatedly, is the development of cross-disciplinary research towards our goals of reducing HIV and TB morbidity and mortality. Much is written about how the major solutions to global problems will require cross-disciplinary approaches – this is more difficult in practice!

How is UCL engaged in AHRI?

AHRI is an independent research institute, with a board to which the Director is accountable. UCL has a seat on that board, and is an important stakeholder. Indeed, the Wellcome Trust grant to AHRI is via UCL, and therefore UCL is held responsible by the WT for overall academic performance and governance. UCL also employs the Director and a number of other Faculty members. Having said that, there are other stakeholders, including the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and a strong push for AHRI to be a truly South African research institute, and growing local capacity. In keeping with the UCL ethos of global engagement, future collaboration will be far more likely based around researchers being based full-time at AHRI, than the old colonial model of samples and data flowing from South Africa for analysis in London! I would encourage UCL staff and students interested in working with AHRI to speak to the new Director, Professor Willem Hanekom.

You’ve recently been appointed as Pro-Vice-Provost (International) at UCL’s Global Engagement Office. What are you most looking forward to about this role?

UCL has an increasingly important global role. Firstly, to create students who are comfortable as global citizens. And secondly to bring expertise to bear on the key issues of global importance. I am looking forward to contributing to the vision of ‘London’s Global University’, and getting a better sense of the huge wealth of impactful research and teaching across our campuses.

Find out more:

Global Engagement Office

Africa Health Research Institute

By Yasmin Lambert

The winning entries from this year’s UCL IOE Confucius Institute Young Photographers’ Competition will soon be available to view during upcoming exhibitions at UCL.

The Young Photographers’ Competition is open to people aged 18 years and under, run by the UCL IOE Confucius Institute for Schools (IOE CI) and supported by the Chinese Embassy.

Its aims are to dispel the cultural stereotypes of China through photography, to show the country through the eyes of young people, and to encourage young people to explore their relationship with China and Chinese culture.

The IOE CI offers support to UK schools so they can both teach Mandarin Chinese and learn about China. It also oversees international school partnerships, supports curriculum development, develops teaching resources, undertakes research, runs annual student camps to China and works with awarding bodies on accreditation.

In 2019, the competition featured five China-related categories that could be interpreted in different ways. Four of the five categories included photographs that had been taken in China and the fifth category was for photos with a Chinese theme that had been taken in the UK:

• China in colour (Portfolio)
• China and her food
• China at home (UK-based)
• The people of China
• Young China (Under 14)

The majority of entries came from school students in the UK and feature photographs that the students had taken on school trips or holidays to China. As ever, entries were of a very high standard and it was fascinating to see how the students had interpreted the category titles.

After much deliberation, the judging panel shortlisted four entries for each category (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and Highly Commended), and the winners were announced just before the Christmas break.

To celebrate the amazing quality of the photographs and the success of the competition,  all 36 of the winning entries will be on display – first at the Chinese Embassy on 24 January to celebrate Chinese New Year – and then open to the public at UCL.

3–21 February 2020

• UCL North Cloisters, Wilkins Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
• 10:00-18:00 Monday – Sunday
• Cost: Free

1-22 May 2020

• UCL South Cloisters, Wilkins Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
• 10:00-18:00 Monday – Sunday
• Cost: Free

China in colour (Portfolio)

Amrit Chahil, Age = 13

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

China and her food

Henry Yue, Age = 16

 

 

 

 

 

China at home (UK-based)

Sofia Millington Gomez, Age = 12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The people of China

Becky Gillan, Age = 17

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Young China (Under 14)

Julian Castro, Age = 14

 

 

Xiaojing Wang is one of the first students graduating from the UCL-Peking University MBA.

Launched in 2016 as part of UCL and PKU’s deep strategic partnership, the MBA combines the unique research and teaching strengths of the UCL School of Management and the Peking University National School of Development.

Based in Beijing, students have the opportunity to complete elective courses in London during the summer. They also undertake a business research project, supplemented by training and guidance on consultancy services, business planning, and business research.

• Can you tell us more about your current job and what your role involves?

I’m working in the UK Department for International Trade Education and Skills Team (China) as the Head of Early Years Education and English Language Training.

My role is to support UK-China G2G and B2B collaboration in these two areas, both on export and investment.

• How did you hear about the UCL-PKU MBA and what made you want to apply?

One of the stakeholders that I knew studied an MBA at PKU, so I contacted the recruitment team and was recommended the UCL-PKU programme.

The programme was appealing to me because I am promoting UK education, and I am a huge fan of UK universities. UCL as a top 10 university of the world is a huge plus for my education experience.

• What’s been the most interesting aspect of the programme for you?

The summer study in the UK was the most interesting thing. First of all, it really made me feel that I am part of UCL rather than just PKU. It gave me more attachment to the university. Secondly, the programme and the professors were really great. They offered us opportunities to align the theory we’ve seen in class with practical cases, as they took us on quite a few company visits. Thirdly, as the university is in London, it really gave us a great opportunity to feel the dynamics of the city.

Also, as we were the first group taking part, the programme did attract quite interesting colleagues to join, which made the study quite fun.

• What did your Business Research Project focus on?

Together with two other colleagues, we analysed the Fedex and TNT acquisition project.

We basically used the theories we’ve studied in class – including accounting, decision-making and strategic management – to analyse why it was a good option for Fedex to acquire TNT. We hope to generate some suggestions for Chinese express companies to take as reference when they consider overseas mergers and acquisitions.

I was very impressed by all the courses related to decision making and strategy, especially in the UK. The professors were very enthusiastic, and passed on their enthusiasm and knowledge to us.

• What are the rest of your cohort like? Have you found it useful to learn from each other?

Indeed, the colleagues who joined the programme were from different parts of China and different industries. I’ve definitely learnt a great deal from them, and they also made my study experience more fun as well.

• Do you think doing the MBA has benefited your career? If so, how?

I do think has benefited my career. I am from an Arts & Humanities background, and the knowledge I gained about accounting and decision-making etc. helped me to be more rational when looking at different projects. I could provide more profound insight to the stakeholders that I work with.

Find out more about the UCL-PKU MBA.

Peking University and UCL agree joint MBA programme.

More news about UCL in East Asia.

In late September 2019, Dame Nicola Brewer, Vice-Provost (International) and Katharine Carruthers, Pro-Vice-Provost (East Asia) met with a delegation from China’s Zhejiang University (ZJU) to sign an expiring Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

Founded in 1897, Zhejiang University (ZJU) is a prestigious research intensive university in China, located in the city of Hangzhou, about two and a half hours’ drive from Shanghai. With around 55,000 students across 37 colleges and schools, Zheijiang ranks among the top three universities in China. The MoU aims to deepen collaborations between UCL and ZJU in education and research across areas in Social and Historical Sciences, Brain Sciences, Population Health Science and Engineering Sciences.

During the meeting, Nicola and Katharine shared UCL’s approach to global engagement with Prof He Lianzhen (ZJU Vice President International), who was on her first visit to UCL. There are already strong existing links between UCL and ZJU in archaeology, brain sciences, global child health, women’s health, engineering and student exchange. Over the past five years, these collaborations have produced 117 co-authored papers in areas ranging from biochemistry to engineering sciences.

After the meeting, the delegation met with Professor Sue Hamiltion (Director of IoA), Professor Dorian Fuller (Executive Director of the ICCHA) and ZJU alumni at the Institute of Archaeology. Finally, they visited Dr Dominic Perring at the IoA to discuss his joint research project with ZJU, the Shanxi Digital Documentation Project.

This project aims to undertake a comprehensive survey of the ancient Daoist and Buddhist temples in the remote villages of China’s Shanxi province, using high-resolution photographic and three-dimensional photogrammetric techniques to produce digital images of temple paintings and associated architecture. There is an urgent need to undertake a comprehensive survey of these temples, which are home to numerous undocumented wall paintings and temple art. These temples, which have fallen to ruin are frequently targeted by looters, and so it is crucial that their artwork is recorded for future research and conversation before they are lost forever.

 

International competition for overseas students has never been fiercer, with recent reports showing that the UK’s main competitors are increasing their international student numbers faster than the UK and eating into our share of the global market. Prospective students will use many different sources of information to whittle down their choices, but the opportunity to speak with representatives in person is still highly valued by all those who have the opportunity to meet us, and still forms a key element of the international student recruitment strategy.

Each year during the planning phase, the student recruitment team will assess what worked well in the previous year and what can be improved and revamped from our trip schedule. We approached this year with a new tactic, using a matrix to tier countries based on size of market and potential for recruitment to UCL programmes. Based on these results we have invested more in markets with the greatest potential at the same time maintaining a presence in lower-tiered markets in order to diversify the student body. We noticed that applications from certain markets were growing yet conversion from offer to enrolment could be improved. For this reason, we have shifted away in some markets from mainly application generating trips in the fall to be more focused on conversion activity in the spring. We have added conversion trips to the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. We will be monitoring the application, offer and acceptance numbers for each market against activity within that market to evaluate the success of the additional conversion activity.

Details of UCL’s international student recruitment activity for 2019/20 are now available in the UCL Visits You section of the international pages of the UCL website. The event list is regularly updated as we add more details about forthcoming events, so bookmark the site and check it regularly for the latest information. Members of the Student Recruitment team will represent UCL, and academic staff and other departmental representatives will join us at selected events. Each overseas trip includes a range of activities such as attendance at an education exhibition, university visits, school visits and meetings with key contacts in-country, such as funding bodies and alumni. Each trip aims to include a mix of events to cover all levels of study.

The 2019/20 recruitment activity is scheduled to include visits to a wide range of countries, covering every continent except for Antarctica. Most of the countries on the list are places we visit regularly. It is important for us to be constantly reviewing our activity, and we must be both alive to new opportunities and bold enough to change what we do not feel is working. The education sector welcomed the government announcing that international students will be allowed to stay in the UK for two years after graduation to find a job, reversing the decision made in 2012 by then Home Secretary Theresa May. We anticipate this will generate an influx of applications, especially from India the market that saw the largest decline in students coming to the UK when the scheme was pulled in 2012. The additional trip added to India in the spring is timed very well to not only focus on conversion but also address the new visa scheme.

All the trips are thoroughly researched beforehand and analysed afterwards, to ensure that we are participating in the most appropriate events and reaching as wide an audience as possible. Overseas visits also provide the Student Recruitment staff with invaluable opportunities to meet key contacts and influencers, as well as to get the latest market information. If you would like to know more about any of our overseas recruitment events, please contact Katja Lamping, Director of Student Recruitment at k.lamping@ucl.ac.uk .

By Nicole Blum
Development Education Research Centre, UCL Institute of Education

In 2017 we received funding from the Global Engagement Office to identify some of the reasons young people decide to study abroad and what they think they gain from the experience. The research, conducted by myself with support from Douglas Bourn, set out to understand whether the learning students have gained resonates with UCL’s global citizenship and student mobility strategies.

The term ‘global citizenship’ has been around for a while, but is often used in different ways. Key authors in the field suggest that it can have a number of dimensions, including a focus on increasing global employability and competitiveness, cultivating greater understanding and appreciation of difference, or critical engagement and radical transformation of inequitable global structures and relationships.

UCL’s definition includes elements of all of these dimensions, and describes global citizens as individuals who: understand the complexity of our interconnected world, understand our biggest challenges, know their social, ethical and political responsibilities, display leadership and teamwork, and solve problems through innovation and entrepreneurship.

Our work was motivated by the common assumption that international experiences for students – including study abroad, overseas volunteering and work placements, and international travel – will result in positive learning about diverse cultures and global concerns.

While there is plenty of research which strongly supports this idea, it has tended to be based on quantitative data from questionnaires completed at the end of an experience. Relatively little research has looked in-depth at student’s own perceptions about their learning while abroad or when they return home.

We interviewed undergraduate students on UCL’s Arts and Sciences (BASc) programme to gain a better understanding of their perceptions.

The data highlighted a range of push and pull factors which influence young people’s study abroad decisions, as well as a wide range of ways in which the experience encourages (or does not) reflection on global issues and on students’ sense of themselves in the world.

Students highlighted the personal aspects of being a ‘global citizen’ when talking about their study abroad experiences:

Studying abroad was the first time I felt like I could call myself a global citizen. Before this, I had some awareness and interest in international issues, but had never left Europe and only travelled for brief periods of time. On returning, I found I had a reverse culture shock, and could relate better to international students studying in the UK.

The evidence also suggested that a number of different kinds of learning take place during study abroad, including about particular topics/ issues, experiences of particular places and/ or exposure to new ideas:

I really do think my sense of history has changed and sense of international politics has changed, and also a sense of what an English person is had changed.

Learning about colonialism and racism in the Netherlands taught me to reflect more on my own country’s issues and ugly history. Thus, making me think more globally about the lives of individuals who have suffered as a result of colonialism.

While these experiences can be highly significant for individuals, it is important to recognise that transformative learning may not happen without support. Students in this research clearly recognised the value of their study abroad learning and experiences, but also the need for more ways to reflect on this with programme organisers and with peers, particularly if they are to be able to take their learning forward.

UCL clearly sets out the potential outcomes of study abroad, with a strong emphasis on the benefits to participants’ enhanced employability, new experiences and skill development. The students we interviewed tended to agree with these benefits, although they often emphasised one aspect as most relevant to their own experience:

I’m actually probably more open now to going and working in other countries or studying in other countries, and it doesn’t feel impossible, it doesn’t feel like this huge ordeal, like this huge challenge, because ‘Oh I’ve done it now’.

I really thought I was just going to learn French, but actually I got a lot out of it academically. I took quite a lot of … studies in creative art, so video games and the cinema and comic books…. there’s a huge games industry out there but also the arts are quite strong in Montreal. And it sort of convinced me that that was a legitimate career choice. I think before then I’d sort of seen that as … you know creative industries is kind of a pipe dream, or it’s something you do if you get lucky. But actually, out there [in Canada] there are people writing scripts for video games or films or … and the fact that I could study it as an academic discipline made me realise that this is a legit thing … it’s not just this fanciful dream. So actually, I’m now hoping to go into radio.

While this study reveals some of the reasons behind the decision to study abroad, more research is needed to explore more deeply how students themselves understand their experiences of study abroad and the ways in which their learning informs their lives in the future. This is perhaps particularly important in the context of increasingly diverse student groups as well as a rapidly changing world.

For more details about the study, access the full report here: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10078730/

By James Ashcroft

The Yenching Academy of Peking University aims to build bridges between China and the rest of the world through an interdisciplinary master’s program in China Studies. UCL History graduate James Ashcroft was among the first recipients of a fully funded scholarship to the programme. Here, he blogs about his experience at the Academy.

I still remember being asked by my then tutor Dr Vivienne Lo to forward an email to my fellow students about a new scholarship programme at Peking University. I had seen so many emails in my time at UCL that I didn’t bother to open it, so I just shared the email and left it at that. For some reason, I later on decided to open that email. I am so fortunate that I did because it quite literally changed the course of my life.

The Yenching Academy Scholarships give graduates from around the world the opportunity to experience China in a very international environment. It’s a fully funded scholarship at one of the best Chinese universities in the world. You get your flights paid for and your accommodation paid for, and you’re taken care of in the most incredible way.

Authentic Chinese experience

It’s a programme which gives you the opportunity to study alongside and make lifelong friendships with some of the brightest and most talented people you’ll ever meet. And for me anyway, it goes beyond your average study abroad programme in a way which makes it a truly authentic Chinese experience.

In my experience, the Yenching Academy Scholarships are relevant to anyone at UCL, whether or not they speak Mandarin or know much about the country. As someone who grew up with lots of friends who spoke multiple languages, it was always jarring that I could only speak English.

The Yenching Academy Scholarships didn’t seem like an obvious fit for me and I couldn’t speak a word of Mandarin at the time I applied. I also didn’t know much about China or its history. This is a really important point to make as I wouldn’t want any student to miss out because they don’t see the relevance to them.

Extremely rewarding

I grew so much during my time at PKU and always felt empowered to step up and contribute to the community of scholars and the university more broadly. One of my highlights was sitting on the executive organising committee for The Yenching Global Symposium, which brought together 100 or so Yenching scholars, alongside 50 graduates from PKU and 50 other students from around the world. The event has taken place every year since and it’s been extremely rewarding to see it become the success that it has.

My education at PKU was essentially a Masters in China Studies, and the qualification included elements of economics, history, international relations, law and society. I was also required to study four hours of Chinese a week, and could choose between attending classes taught in English, Mandarin or both.

My thesis analysed the Chinese government’s long-term development plan for the game of football in China in order to explore the intersection between economics, politics, and the country’s sense of place in the twenty-first century world order.

Incredible conversations

Education was only part of the picture though – as with any programme like this – and whenever I think about my time in Beijing, I think about the people I met there. I got a tremendous amount from speaking to my classmates, and we had the most incredible conversations and invigorating debates on some really important global issues.

When you’re living in another part of the world, these things can really bring you together. I’m still in touch with so many people with whom I studied – some even on a daily basis. I often meet up in person with Yenching Scholars when they come to London and I’ve visited a number of them in their home countries too.

Truly global environment

My time at Peking University has opened my eyes to working in the 21st century within a truly global environment, and I am certain that countless other students would benefit from this great opportunity.

I am always happy to speak to UCL students about my experiences as I feel very passionate about the university being represented each year in the latest cohort of Yenching Scholars. When that email comes round this year, please think carefully about opening it because it might change your life as well.

• Find out more about James’ experience
• Find out more about UCL Study Abroad opportunities