QMU-Postgraduate Prospectus QMU PG Mini Prospectus 2019 sp | Page 22

Your personal development: extracurricular learning opportunities Initiatives, including internships and special funds, enable students to enhance their learning experience, build their confidence, improve their employability and broaden their horizons. The Vice-Chancellor’s International Travel Fund The Vice-Chancellor’s International Travel Fund was set up in 2010 with the sole aim of broadening our students’ horizons by providing the means to travel abroad to embrace new cultures and experiences. These overseas projects enrich students’ academic experience, broaden their outlook on the world and help them to make a real contribution to their field or to serving society’s needs. This financial support enabled Debra Rickett, an occupational therapy student, to take up a placement in Canada at the Veterans’ Care Programme at Parkwood Hospital in London, Ontario. Debra worked with the residents, both men and women, who were veterans of the Second World War and Korean War. Debra said: “I gained valuable experience working with people in an outpatient mental health setting in Victoria Hospital. I found this to be very beneficial to my learning, particularly the time I spent with the therapeutic recreation specialists, behaviour analyst and music therapist.” Neil McLeod, a first year film and media student, applied to the Vice-Chancellor’s International Travel Fund to help finance his travel and living costs as part of the Study China Programme. His successful application to the Fund allowed him to study Chinese history and culture, as well as learn Mandarin in Shanghai last summer. Neil said: “This was a huge opportunity and I was extremely excited to be a part of it. I’m honoured to have received an award from the Vice-Chancellor’s Fund. Without it, I would have not been able to fund my time with the Study China Programme.” Other recipients of awards included Niamh Allum, an occupational therapy student, who also completed an eight-week placement in an outpatient mental health setting in Victoria Hospital, Ontario, Canada. Bernadette Dooley, MSc Gastronomy student, used the award to visit Ostersund, Sweden, to collect data to investigate the Swedish National Centre for Small Scale Artisan Food Processing (Eldrimmer). Grace Farhat, a PhD Public Health Nutrition student, received the Vice-Chancellor’s International Travel 20 Fund to attend the Experimental Biology Meeting in San Diego, USA. For more information on the Vice- Chancellor’s International Travel Fund, visit our website at www.qmu.ac.uk/ alumni-and-friends/funding-opportunities- for-current-students The Saltire Scholar Internship Programme The Saltire Foundation provides paid internships in international businesses to Scotland’s most talented students – an opportunity to which they may not otherwise have access. Katie Graves-Morris, an applied pharmacology student completed a communications internship with global healthcare company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), thanks to Entrepreneurial Scotland’s Saltire Scholar Internship Programme. Katie spent nine weeks as part of the communications team at GSK in Montrose, Angus, where she worked on improving graduate recruitment and retainment. She then spent the final week of her internship at the GSK headquarters in London as part of the company’s Leadership Week.