Alumni dreams #68

After the BA, Simone Hencke rewarded herself with a three-week-trip to Vancouver, Canada. She then worked for a few months in a restaurant in her hometown Düsseldorf to save money for her next big adventure: an internship in Japan!

She now works at the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Tokyo as part of the Communications department.

Tasks include assisting in managing the Chamber's online platforms (mainly the Chamber's and news website and Facebook) and in the preparation/creation of various publications. Most notably this is JAPANMARKT, a German-language magazine on topics like Japanese business, politics, technology and society. 

After her internship Simone plans on either doing her Master here in Japan or looking for another job in a similar field as her internship. 

Here is she is smiling in Tokyo's Shinjuku Park!

Alumni dreams #76

Demi Donninger is doing a Master’s in Chinese and Management at the University of Leeds. After learning Chinese in the BA and going on exchange in China, she wanted to keep studying Mandarin. She wished to take management courses too. This degree which she enjoys, offers both, with courses such as Chinese business!

She is not yet 100% sure what to do after, probably studying instead of a job. Demi still has an interest in learning more about East Asia, Korea in particular. She has fallen in love with the language and is determined to broaden her horizon and learn Korean as well.

Demi would love to do this in combination with another master instead of just a language course. Just as with learning Chinese, it would be great to go to South Korea, since the best way to master the language is to immerse oneself in the culture. 

While this is all in the distant future, thinking ahead is never a bad thing. That said, you never know what opportunities you might get in the future!

Here's to seizing all the opportunities Demi!

Alumni dreams #113

Starting with a PRINS project on European Space Agency - ESA, Johann Peter Gies dedicated his efforts to pursue his childhood dream of working in the aerospace industry. 

He interned at Sabern researching the global aviation market and developing a marketing strategy. He began the MSc Marketing, Management and Communication at Toulouse Business School and set focus on Strategic Marketing in the Aerospace Industry. 

With aircraft manufacturer ATR, he wrote a case for the school's Aerospace MBA on Fleet Management and Network Strategy in Papua New Guinea! He volunteered at USAIRE, which connects aerospace industry leaders for transatlantic co-operation. 

Soon he will intern at the Strategy Department of Airbus on business model development for Urban Air Mobility/Air Taxis! 

He says the BA gave him key marketing and strategy skills: the execution of rigorous research, a strong sense of analysis and the ability to reflect profoundly on markets and developments via various angles and variables. He hopes the next internship leads to a career in strategy development in aerospace. 

We believe so, prepare for career liftoff Johann!

Alumni dreams #129

Yuka J. Yeh finished the BA with quite the ending: a thesis on the Japanese phenomena of the 2000s and a winning PRINS project. She could not get enough of wind and rain yet and looked into the local job market, applying widely since it can open doors to more opportunities. 

Right after graduation Yuka became a junior brand manager at a Dutch wine company! Day-to-day tasks vary from wine tasting, marketing & communication planning, making export overviews and market analysis, creating wine brands... and many more with a focus in East Asia.

With the responsibility to forward numerous containers to different locations, she was first intimidated. However throughout the process, she learnt she had the basis of freight forwarding and logistics knowledge thanks to working on her PRINS project for Damco (& MAERSK).

It was the plan to jump into business after some years of Arts & Humanities and frankly it has been quite challenging and fun. She hopes to pursue a Master's in the near future, but first work experiences!

Wish you great ones! Keep on developing and enjoying Jungchia!

Alumni dreams #133

After graduation Alessandra Jonkhout enrolled in the Research MA Asian Studies, as well as the MA International Relations at Leiden University! Through these masters she is focusing on (political) communication practices and digital media in China. 

Alessandra also had the opportunity to present some of her research at the Oxford China Humanities Graduate Conference early this year, in addition to assisting Dr. Florian Schneider in his research within the Critical Approaches to New Asian Media Ecologies (CANAME) project https://lnkd.in/eJFd3CD

Next year she will be doing field research in China for her thesis, where she will look into information gathering practices to understand China's position in geopolitics of China's young and urban elites!

Impressive Alessandra! Enjoy your passions for research, policy and China!

Alumni dreams #139

Rubén Provencio Kuijk worked at a law firm and began teaching. He then choose to teach language part-time while pursuing a Master in International Education in Madrid, followed by another Master in secondary education. Rubén says it was very challenging but he came out stronger and more resilient!

International Studies helped him to become more culturally sensitive, studying alongside 67 nationalities. Rubén interacted with people of all strata of society and interests throughout both Europe and the world. He see the same diversity in his classroom and it is his responsibility to equip students with such skills to navigate their lives. The curricula he works with also match the variety in subjects and multidisciplinarity of his bachelor.

Highlights in his BA were the IDSS Africa project and Taipei and Beijing exchange, leading to a better understanding the political, economic and  social issues faced by emerging and growing economies. 

Rubén aims to continue his career in international education at a British/ International School in the south of Spain and is hopeful for what the future will bring.

Inspiring Rubén! Here he is enjoying a life-changing trip to Israel!

Alumni dreams #153

After graduating from International Studies with Honours College and being BASIS The Hague Head, Siqi Wei decided to go to Mexico for a volunteer teaching project. She wanted to explore a continent and a culture that she was not yet familiar with, and also put her interest in children’s education into practice.

After Mexico Siqi came back home to China to stay with family for some time and prepared herself for the next steps. Currently she is working in the British Embassy in Beijing and improving her language skills at the same time!

In the fall she will start her Postgraduate study in Social Anthropology at The University of Edinburgh. She discovered her interest in this field during an exchange semester in Japan and looks forward to pursuing it further!

For the near future she is exploring opportunities in the field of gender studies, education, arts and culture as well as any fields where she can apply her area specialist knowledge.

Go for it Siqi! Here she is happily spending time at the contemporary art Museo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City!

Alumni dreams #202

During her Bachelor's Jozefien Voorhuis thoroughly enjoyed Global History, Practicing International Studies and Emerging Economies. Before writing her thesis she interned at the Dutch embassy in New Zealand, during which she supported the organisation of the state visit of the King and Queen of the Netherlands to New Zealand.

After the BA Jozefien worked at a startup incubator and developed an interest in business analytics. She began an MSc in Big Data & Business Analytics in Paris and after interned at The HEINEKEN Company for 5 months in the Netherlands next to thesis. During which Jozefien applied for a job at Heineken and luckily got it!

Since January she has been working as a business analyst in the trade marketing team of the retail department. Due to corona she has been working from home for almost 6 months now. It allows more flexibility but sometimes she does miss her colleagues.