Business Management student looks back on GCU journey
A final year student has reflected fondly on her time at GCU and how everything from online stateside placements to the Common Good Award has helped pave her way to the world of work.
Fourth year Business Management student Tarandeep Kaur has always loved to travel and couldn’t resist the temptation to make the move to Glasgow in 2018 – with the friendly welcome being an added bonus.
She said: “I’m originally from Lake Garda in Italy and my parents were immigrants from India. I decided to come to Scotland because I enjoy nature and I chose GCU because the Business Management programme provides a one-year placement during third year - it was important for me to gain experience while studying.
When I first arrived, I remember the GCU Student Life team had social media posts out wishing everyone a ‘Happy Diwali’. I was pleasantly surprised because I’d never seen anything like that when I was growing up in Italy.
I also found the English language a little difficult at the start, but the lecturers were happy to help me understand topics and answer any questions.”
The challenge of adapting to a new language didn’t provide Tarandeep with too many issues, given she already knew Italian, German, Hindi and Punjabi. However, March 2020 brought about a different kind of hurdle, when COVID-19 made its mark on the world.
Like all students at GCU, Tarandeep was forced to quickly adapt to the world of online learning - and online placements.
She said: “The third year placement was always going to be a highlight of my time at university, so it was disappointing that everything moved to remote working, but I couldn’t do anything about it.
I was lucky enough to land a full-time year-long placement at Northeastern University (NEU) in Boston, USA. Both universities supported me very well to allow me to work from home; my GCU lecturers made sure I had all the proper equipment and the right environment to operate in, while Northeastern helped me transition into the role.”
With everything set up, it was down to Tarandeep to make sure she got the best possible experience in her role as Global Co-op Ambassador at Northeastern, which has nine different campuses: five in the USA, three in Canada and one in London.
Tarandeep said: “I helped the Employer Engagement and Career Design team to advertise job positions on their career hub, while managing their social media channels on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I also helped deliver events, which allowed me to learn more about Zoom and Microsoft Teams. On top of this, I acted as a mentor to help students apply for jobs and also created internship opportunities.”
She added: “The strangest thing about it all was probably working American hours from 2pm until 10pm but it was a really enjoyable experience - I felt more like a staff member than a GCU student on placement.”
Tarandeep has made sure the pandemic didn’t leave a lasting legacy on her university experience, and has thrown herself into every opportunity that’s come her way, including being a GCU Student Ambassador.
She said: “I found out about this opportunity through another Student Ambassador. They approached me with an IPad asking me to complete a survey, so I just asked how they got the position because it was very interesting for me to see how much GCU valued student opinions. I decided to apply because I wanted to help other international students feel as welcome as I did.
I’ve made a lot of friends and had the opportunity to interact with different people across the University. My biggest highlight in the role has definitely been Freshers’ Week, because I got to help so many people and answer all their questions about GCU.”
As well as being a welcoming face at the start of the new academic year, Tarandeep wanted to go one step further to positively impact on the experience of students.
Tarandeep explained: “I was also involved in the Keep in Touch campaign, where Ambassadors phoned over 14,000 students across the University to check if they required support or advice during the pandemic. I was quite nervous at the beginning, but I realised I had a lot in common with the students, given we were all going through this difficult time together.
Taking part in this actually led to me completing the hours required for the Common Good Award. I was able to combine my experience of Keep in Touch with my other role as a GCU Student Mentor. Two of the activities I completed on placement at Northeastern University were also used towards it; designing social media marketing for an organisation in India and a diversity and inclusion project which provided African students with scholarships.”
It’s been a frantic four years for Tarandeep but her extensive list of experience has helped formulate her plan for life beyond GCU.
She explained: “I really like the idea of working full-time in Germany because I know the language and want to get the chance to live in another country.
The placement at NEU during my third year provided me with that international experience and definitely helped me realise that I’m not limited to staying in the UK upon completion of my degree.”
By Ross Clark
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