Friday, January 25, 2013

Welcome to UNITECH, I'm your UAA LCC...

After being voted in for the role of UNITECH Alumni Association Local Chapter Coordinator (UAA LOC) at the UAA General Assembly held in the early afternoon of Friday 17th August 2012, I can finally say that I've successfully run my first event. With a turnout of 10 students to our social on Monday 21st January 2013 at 18:00 (straight after exams for some!) it seems that Loughborough is slowly heading in the right direction with internationalising our students. A small database glitch meant that current UNITECH students did not receive my emails inviting them to events earlier on in the year. However, with the upcoming new website and database, this should hopefully be resolved. 

We had three current incoming UNITECH students who were here for their first exchange semester, along with five potential applicants (out of the seven that applied) turn up who may make it through to the assessment centre on Wednesday 13th February 2013. This event was supported by my colleague David Jenner, also an UAA LOC for Loughborough. This provided a great atmosphere for the potential applicants to learn more about the assessment centre, along with hints and tips on their potential host universities and how to make the most out of their exchange. Although the event was only planned for an hour, we had a great initial discussion for an hour and a half before everyone left to study for other exams. However, the incoming students and I stayed on for another hour after discussing cultural differences in the UK versus their home countries - Germany and Switzerland. This gave us an insight into how we perceive each others culture alongside our own opinions of our culture and that it all depends on the scope provided to each person in their country. Interested in wanting to know more about the scope? Then get in touch and we'll invite you to our next social - you don't have to be part of UNITECH to learn what we do. :)


Picture taken: Loughborough Students Union, Monday 21st January 2013
Top Row: David Jenner (UAA LOC)
Second Row: Till Richter (ETH, Switzerland), Timothy Oastler (Chem Eng, Loughborough)
Third Row: Lewis Johnston (Mech Eng, Loughborough), Riyaz Ismail
 (Mech Eng, Loughborough), Mohammad Ayub (RWTH Aachen, Germany)
Bottom Row: Pascal Waldvogel (ETH, Switzerland), Samuel Nunn (Chem Eng, Loughborough), Huzaifa Essajee (UAA LOC), Riccardo Bertorelli (Chem Eng, Loughborough)