What was it like studying Intercultural Communication Education

Tony Yujian Hu

I chose to study the “Intercultural Communication Education (ICE)” program at Durham for several reasons. Firstly, because it is an extension of my undergraduate program, I find the program easier to connect to after experiencing my previous studies. Secondly, after searching through the different programs, I consider the reputation of the education program at Durham to be a core element for my choices, as the program comes with top-quality academic resources for education-related studies within the country and even around the world. 

I enjoyed the conversation about the learning outcomes and enjoyed the class discussion about the possibility of the education-related topic. Over time, I have realized that conversations play the essential role of showing your understanding and dedication to the subject, participating in the course-related conversation, also means you have agreed to brainstorm about the learning material prior to the dialogue. 

Career plans

One thing that I remember very clearly from the beginning of the class is that I chose the courses specifically because it was related to my career plans.  During class time, I find many of the subject-related discussions and course plans have been inspiring to me in many ways.  Which helped me to become much more certain about choosing education-related positions as the permanent goal of my career.  I suppose all in all, after these course experiences, it is not me to choose to become a teacher, is that the teaching position chose me. 

I suppose like many of the postgraduate programs, it is essential for people to remember why they chose to pursue further study in this area in the very first place.  No matter what you learn in this program, you always need to reflect them into your career goals, try as hard as possible to connect what you learn with your plans out of the classroom.  Making your idea become workable and reliable, is one of the most reliable perspectives for me during the entire post-graduate journey. 

International education

My favourite subject in this program is international education. As I found the class demonstrate the reality and vision for innovation at the same time. Global cooperation of higher education, and international schooling after the K12 stage has become an unavoidable topic that everybody around the world can be involved in within the modern era.  How do we improve the measure of the quality of different kinds of international education cooperation has always been the major discussion topic throughout the entire class.  And extendedly, as international students ourselves, or as a possible future that may be involved in international cooperation education in many formats, we will definitely have more heartfelt experiences to share surrounding such topics.  Understanding the different prospects, Impossible developing pathways and measurement skills is what I found, one of the most important lessons that I took out from this program into my current daily occupation. 

I would recommend this course

I recommend this course to anyone who has the dedication and willingness to participate in an education career, as it provides the perfect training platforms in many different aspects for us to enhance our academic research and daily teaching skills.  I made this recommendation from an academic freshman’s perspective, if you want to become your career and follow the academic pathway like many of us, then choosing this program will help you to get the keys for you to open the door to your dreams. 

Social life

Away from study, I took part in the world-renowned Durham Debating Chamber trainings and participated in countless college-organized social activities, Including group karaoke, formal dinners, summer ball, and the occasional Scottish Ceilidh dance. The extracurricular activities have always been one of the essential reasons that made me come to this university in the first place. And the college-based system has never let me down in organizing social events for us to enjoy. 

Discover more

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Tony Yujian Hu

I am a recent graduate student from China, studying abroad in three countries: Canada, the US, and the UK since I was 15. I have been studying intercultural courses for many years prior to coming to Durham. I am currently working as a University English and foreign studies lecturer and full-time academic at a Chinese privately funded university and looking forward to pursuing a further academic career in the years to come. For my undergraduate I studied the “media, culture and communication” program at the University of Sunderland. 

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