International student showcases GCU to school representatives from around the world

A student has had the opportunity to share their experience as an International student, as part of a campus tour organized for school counsellors from around the world.

Third year International Business student Mariafrancesca Iengo recently helped lead a campus tour for a group of school counsellors, representing  schools from Switzerland, Canada, Hungary, USA, Spain and Italy.

The purpose of the visit, which took place on 30 March, was to allow international schools get an insight into life as an international student in Scotland, as well as studying at GCU. Visitors had the opportunity to experience the different facilities available on campus, including the Media and Journalism department, labs based in the School of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment, as well as GCU’s Eye Clinic.

Leading the tour was Italian student Mariafrancesca, who chose to study in Scotland in 2021. Mariafrancesca felt excited to have the opportunity to share her own experience as an International student and why choosing GCU has proved to be so beneficial to her.

She explained: “I work as a Student Mentor and a Student Helper at events, so the Marketing and Recruitment team know me pretty well. They’re also aware that I’m from Italy and were looking at ways to encourage international students to come to GCU.

For me, this was an opportunity to get involved in a completely professional environment. It gave me the chance to interact with counsellors that represented universities from different parts of the world, so I had the job of interacting with them and being as informative as possible from an international student perspective. I often work with students, so this was a great chance to engage with international staff from schools in Italy, USA, Hungary, Canada, Switzerland and Spain.

It also gave me the chance to find out about their different cultures and how they differ to life here in Scotland, as well as answering questions about what it’s like to be an international student studying here.”

As an International Business student, engaging with international audiences is an important skill to have and Mariafrancesca used the opportunity to improve her communication skills. She said: “This experience has allowed me to interact with people on a professional level. Having this opportunity will help me improve my professional, business, and communications skills. It has also shown me that I can adapt my communication to suit different audiences. Speaking with staff from different countries meant that I had to ensure that I was speaking clearly and in a way that was easy for them to understand.

I very often had to share my personal experiences, so it was important to do that whilst still remaining professional and speaking clearly.”

Mariafrancesca, who always takes the opportunity to help others, really enjoyed having the opportunity to showcase GCU to an international audience.

She said: “I loved it; the different counsellors enjoyed getting to see the different facilities; the labs, the Eye Clinic and our media studios. They had a lot of questions about the campus and I was really happy to answer them – I love having the opportunity to share my own knowledge and experiences of university life.

What really attracted me to study at GCU is because it is the University of the Common Good. It’s a university that will provide opportunities to every student, and I really wanted to get that across to the counsellors. It’s a really dynamic university which goes above and beyond to involve students with the community. As an international student, the Student Events team organized activities for us to get to know GCU and Scotland in general, as well as plenty of events through the year to make you feel involved. I would say that the university has a unique approach in how they welcome students to other countries.”

She added: “I was asked ‘Why did you choose to study here?’ and my answer was that Scotland creates opportunities for everyone to study here. In Italy, I would have had to pay a lot of taxes which might have possibly limited my education opportunities. Here, I had the opportunity to become independent.”

By Rachael McAlonan

Got a SCEBE or GSBS story? Email me at Rachael.McAlonan@gcu.ac.uk or connect with me on social media here