This scholarship is of great importance to me. It allows me to get a lot of money off my tuition fees, which reduces my total expenses during my study period. The scholarship also gave my parents a sense of pride in me and made them more willing to sponsor me through the year.
The experience of winning the scholarship has also motivated me even more to believe that I can achieve something in the future and that it can be reflected on my CV for work so that the recruiter or interviewer can have a higher assessment of me, which will give me some new advantages in my work as well as in my job application.
My undergraduate degree was carried out at the Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE) in China, which has several collaborative programmes with the University of Birmingham (UoB), so I knew about the University of Birmingham. The University of Birmingham has a very good reputation for its graduates in China’s securities and capital markets, as well as in law firms. This makes me very keen to become one of them, to learn professional knowledge, and to be better equipped for my future work. Studying in a country with a different legal system will also broaden my international perspective and give me a very exciting life experience.
In the first semester of the programme, I studied international trade law and policy (ITLP), and the two professors taught us systematically about the legal norms in international trade and the political issues related to it through their lectures and seminars. I was very impressed by the diversity and complexity of thinking about international trade conflicts between different countries and regions, different trading systems and different ideological polities. This has enabled me to think more critically and comprehensively about what I have learned in the past and the new political landscape that I am now facing.
What I have gained most from my first semester of the course is the logical thinking about legal issues and the disciplined writing of academic papers, as well as a systematic and preliminary knowledge of English banking law. In the future, I am considering becoming a Chinese solicitor or a legal worker for an international company or continuing my studies to complete my PhD degree.
The knowledge I have gained at the University of Birmingham Law School will help me to write in a more structured way, to think more comprehensively and to express myself more confidently in the future.
My undergraduate school is in Beijing, which covers a small area and is crowded between dormitory buildings. After coming over here, I was deeply attracted by the scenery of the University of Birmingham as well as the infrastructure of the campus, a university with a long history and beautiful natural scenery.
At the same time, I was attracted by the fact that there are students and teachers of different national and regional backgrounds and colours from all over the world, reflecting the cultural diversity and inclusiveness of a university.
At first I fell in love with the city of Birmingham because of the Peaky Blinders series. The industrial revolution, the big city, the canals, these labels made me very much want to be here. It was also the good reputation of the University of Birmingham in China that made me want to do my Masters programme here even more.
However, after living and studying here for a while, I realised that it is completely different from London and Beijing in that there are not so many skyscrapers and the pace of life is not so stressful. When I don’t have classes, I like to watch the water birds swimming in the lake next to my student flat or go to the Christmas evening market in the city centre with my other friends at Christmas time. This learning experience will also be a very memorable one for me in life.