Name

Eva Jordans

Nationality

Dutch

Prior Field of Study

Land and Water Engineering

Career before studying for a masters degree in intercultural communication?

I completed an MSc degree Land and Water Engineering in The Netherlands and worked for 12 years in International Development across Asia and Africa.

Career after completing the degree

After completing my degree I first worked as senior trainer/facilitator for a training firm in London and then, after moving back to The Netherlands, I joined a firm that specialises in Personal and Organisational Development as senior trainer and project manager, and currently as Director.

Examples of the relevance or practical application of things learned on the course.

I am designing and conducting training programmes for staff and managers in companies that work in an international environment; for example IT firms that are outsourcing work to other countries, or companies that have merged with a company from another country. These programmes create awareness and insights in cultural differences and offer ideas on bridging these differences.

I am also managing an intercultural virtual team, which offers ample and daily opportunities to apply lessons learnt during the intercultural communication degree.

Name

DING Lei (Rose)

Nationality

Chinese

Prior Field of Study

English Education

Career before studying for a masters degree in intercultural communication?

Teaching English (as a foreign language) in a college and a training institute in China; translation.

Career after completing the degree

For the first four years after completing my degree, I worked as an executive assistant for a joint venture (China-US) energy company. Then I worked for three years as an office manager for a joint venture (China-Norway) deepwater drilling company. From Sept 2010 till now, I've been working as an HR and Admin manager for an Australian engineering company (WorleyParsons China).
I developed all these careers in Shenzhen, China.

Examples of the relevance or practical application of things learned on the course.

I've been able to use what I learned in my daily work with expatriates from America, Britain, Norway, Australia etc. to build rapport.
I implement the knowledge gained from the course to bridge the different understandings between Western business people and Chinese business people.
I am currently studying psychological counselling and trying to apply an intercultural approach to counselling to better understand individuals' psychological behaviours from different cultural perspectives.

Name

Juliet Henderson

Nationality

British

Prior Field of Study

English Literature/History

Career before studying for a masters degree in intercultural communication?

Living and working in Paris where I supplemented my career as a painter with teaching English for the Ministry of Education.

Career after completing the degree

I now have a post as Senior Lecturer in English Language and Communication at Oxford Brookes University, where I have been working for 8 years. My specialism in Intercultural Communication played a significant part in my being appointed to this role, since at that time there were few specialists in this area.

Examples of the relevance or practical application of things learned on the course.

I teach basic and advanced modules in Intercultural Communication.

I am actively involved in internationalising the curriculum across the disciplines at my university, and a member of the steering executive at the Centre for International Curriculum Inquiry and Networking.

I am currently conducting doctoral research into global citizenship as discursive social practice in higher education.

Name

Robert Johnson

Nationality

British

Prior Field of Study

Modern Languages (French & German)

Career before studying for a masters degree in intercultural communication?

Teaching English (as a foreign language) in: France, Germany and Japan; translation and proof-reading

Career after completing the degree

2002-5 – Lecturer in Intercultural Communication, English foundation courses and study skills at University of Luton (Beds)

2006-present – Sessional Lecturer in Intercultural Communication at Birkbeck College, University of London

2008-present – Lecturer in Cross-cultural Management at European Business School, Regent’s College, London

2002-present – Cross-cultural Trainer for a wide range of clients including BNP Paribas, Sony, Hitachi, KPMG, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, UKTI

2006-9 President SIETAR UK, Board Member SIETAR Europa

Examples of the relevance or practical application of things learned on the course.

I feel I have been able to use what I learnt very directly in my lecturing and training career so far. The knowledge the degree gave me has proven invaluable to my development and has led to some excellent opportunities, to engage with business people and students, to further my cultural experience, to travel and to broaden my horizons.

On the personal side, my recent marriage (my wife is Japanese) and the birth of my son 6 months ago are opening up completely new intercultural perspectives on a daily basis!

Name

Lydia Chen

Nationality

British (formerly Chinese)

Prior Field of Study

English language

Career before studying for a masters degree in intercultural communication?

Worked at a UK university as administrative support staff in the area of international student recruitment.

Prior to coming to the UK, worked in a Sino-Swedish joint venture telecommunications company (Ericsson) in China.

Career after completing the degree

I applied for and was offered a job as International Relations Officer initially at Bournemouth University upon completion of the MA in Intercultural Communication in 2002.

Over the years, my role changed and I am now Senior Marketing Manager (International Pathways) with the responsibility of establishing and maintaining the University’s international partnerships for student recruitment.

Examples of the relevance or practical application of things learned on the course.

My job requires dealing with people from different cultural background, either via email communication or face-to-face communication.

The MA course has helped me to develop general cultural awareness, to become mindful of and respect differences in people from diverse background. Having this awareness is crucial and is the basis for any effective and successful communication across cultures.

The cultural knowledge I have gained on the course has also been very useful. For example, for status-conscious Chinese delegates visiting the University, I specifically requested cup and saucer when booking tea and coffee, whereas paper cup is what’s normally available. The smallest detail such as this can make an impact, negative or positive, on the overall impression by the visitor, and on relationship building with new links.

The breadth and depth of the course may have lent credentials and legitimacy to the advice and suggestions I’ve given to my colleagues, as they are often taken as a “Chinese expert’s” opinions, as it were.

Name

Abdul Saboor Awan

Nationality

Pakistani

Prior Field of Study

Political Science & Indo-Pak History

Career before studying for a masters degree in intercultural communication?

I was working with a non-governmental organization (NGO)

Career after completing the degree

This was my second masters. My first master was in political science. Doing MA in Intercultural Communication gave my career another jumpstart as this is a multidisciplinary subject covering wide range of fields and approaches. Since graduating, I’ve been based in Pakistan, working on a number of international projects, several of which have been funded by the European Commission.

Examples of the relevance or practical application of things learned on the course.

Completion of this course gave me a lot of confidence. Intercultural Communication helped me to understand different approaches required in multidimensional working environment of modern world. It greatly helped me to understand different cultures while interacting with foreign donors and comprehend their business norms and values in an effective and better way.

Name

Mike Sweeney

Nationality

British

Prior Field of Study

Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma, Chartered Insurer

Career before studying for a masters degree in intercultural communication?

Strategic Marketing Executive for Aviva (a leading financial services company)

Career after completing the degree

Relationship Manager for AIG Affinity (recently rebranded Chartis) (2004-2007): securing customer distribution channels for insurance products by securing partnership deals with large corporate clients. Propositional Development Manager for Legal and General (2007-2009): developing new financial services products enabling customers to manage their wealth and savings to better effect.

Examples of the relevance or practical application of things learned on the course.

I have used my expertise in intercultural communication in the following ways:

1. To help explain why overseas savers choose to place their savings in certain types of UK investment (i.e. in terms of the physical or ‘paper’ nature of the investment, the degree of uncertainty they are prepared to tolerate in relation to an investment outcome, whether they are more or less likely to deploy short or long term investment strategies and the type/status/size of the institution they may choose to place their investments with or receive advice from).

2. When examining ways in which a private health insurer could differentiate its product from its competitors, I developed a paper outlining how these services could be better tailored to meet the needs of ethnic minorities from an in-patient/community care point of view.

There have also been many occasions where I have used some of these skills when dealing with UK based clients in my capacity as a Relationship Manager working for AIG. This often involved meeting clients with very diverse backgrounds on the same day (such as a large American bank in the morning and a large British union in the afternoon). My studies in intercultural communication helped me to adapt my approach to each client based on knowledge of how best to develop rapport with each organisation.