ISEJ – International Student Experience Journal
Overall, the activity gave us a great opportunity to put what we had learned into practice. Our previous lectures had provided us with some theoretical knowledge about business models, and Booster Weekend became an application platform allowing us to try out our learning and analytical abilities. Furthermore, I believe this activity was also helpful for leadership development. As our group leader, I was responsible for the equal distribution of tasks according to members’ skills and capabilities, setting the timetable and balancing different ideas. In other words, I personally gained extra valuable leadership experiences from the activity. In conclusion, the Booster Weekend was such a rewarding and interesting activity that each member gained tremendous benefits from it. In spite of the stressful hard work, we had our confidence boosted and analytical ability enhanced. Particularly, being involved in an internationally diverse group provided a great opportunity for me to practice my English and therefore develop communication skills, as well as understand other’s cultural backgrounds. Hence, the friendships formed within our group have lasted long after, as since then, we have been collaborating to overcome a lot of difficulties. Also, no matter what modules we take for our Master’s degree, the courses involve a large amount of group work, so the BME Booster Weekend activity gave us memorable lessons.
CONTACT THE AUTHORS yxg393@bham.ac.uk
………………………………………………………………………………………………… Student article
The Challenges and Value of Booster Week Activities Ignacio Vera Izquierdo University of Birmingham My name is Ignacio Vera Izquierdo: I am a 29-year-old Industrial Engineer from Chile. I graduated in 2008 and after that, for two years I worked for a water supplier company in the public sector, mainly focused on the production of public infrastructure. During these four years, it was always my intention to continue improving my professional skills and my level of English. However, I did not make the decision to do so until an earthquake struck Chile in 2010: this encouraged me to fulfil my desire. From then, English was much more present in my daily work due to increasing communication with foreign firms, such as insurance companies and technology suppliers. Therefore, I decided to go to England to study for a postgraduate degree. The University of Birmingham (UoB) seemed to be one of the most attractive because of its prestige, world ranking position, the quality of its programmes and its location in a multicultural city with international relevance. In addition, my decision was strongly influenced by the great international approach that the Birmingham Business School has and the special focus on preparing its overseas students for successful performance in their chosen programmes. In particular, the university offered me a course called the Business ISEJ, Volume 2(1), Spring 2014
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