MSc students sourcing analytical work experience in China
Chinese MSc students at Southampton Business School now have the opportunity to apply for placements in their home country, thanks to a pioneering initiative by Dr Yu (Jack) Gong.
Dr Yu (Jack) Gong has been securing summer projects with leading Chinese companies and organisations for postgraduates studying analytical degrees.
"Many Chinese students choose to complete their education here with a postgraduate degree at one of the UK's leading business schools", says Jack. "Although there are opportunities to gain work experience in the UK with a placement here, some prefer to return home and this is the ideal solution."
Jack organised four placements in summer 2017, with the Chinese logistics company SF Express, DHL and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) - China. In 2018, he increased that number to ten with new sponsors Xingjin Real Estate in Guilin offering five places and the China Social Investment Forum offerigng two, Other project covered tropical issues of marine pollution and recycling with non governmental organisation (NGO) Redu Haiyang and WWF -US. He is now working to provide 15 places for students in 2019.
Zhen Tan, studying MSc Supply Chain Management and Logistics, worked with Duoyue in Shanghai on how to improve education in rural areas. She says: "Mobile libraries offer children in kindergartens a good choice of books to encourage them to read. I used the company's data to improve their scheduling. Through this enjoyable project I have learned many practical skills and developed the knowledge to help the company. It is a good foundation for my future career.
Postgraduates studying Masters in Business Analytics, Operational Research and other programmes offered by the University's Centre for Operational Research, Management Sciences and Information Systems (CORMSIS) have the opportunity to tackle a summer project at the end of the taught element of their degrees.
Jack invites students to apply for the opportunities, interviews them on behalf of their sponsors and arranges the placements. He visits them in China during their projects and supports them to write up their experiences for their dissertations.
UK companies keen to offer analytical projects to talented postgraduates should contact the CORMSIS co-ordinators at P.D.Becque@southampton.ac.uk to discuss potential placements.