Shiting Gu
MA: United States Studies: History and Politics
Intrigued by US foreign policy during my undergraduate studies, I was honoured to receive the Americas Excellence Award from UCL’s Institute of the Americas and commence a wondrous academic journey, which in retrospect constituted a solid foundation for my future endeavours. In addition to an abundance of research resources, I was exposed to pioneering courses, inspiring seminars, and thought-provoking peer discussions.
What I am most grateful for are the mentors that I met at the Institute, who were always there to unravel the puzzles in my mind and illuminate the way forward with wisdom, patience and passion for academia. The rigorous interdisciplinary training I received sharpened my analytical thinking and enabled me to skilfully use historiography and international relations paradigms which proved instrumental to my final research.
After graduating from UCL, I went through a series of exams and interviews and was selected as a sponsored trainee at UNESCO. The intensive traineeship not only marked my entry into international development, a domain I have always been passionate about - but also opened doors to consultancies with international organisations and other opportunities in the private sector. Later, I presented my candidature to the UNESCO Young Professional Programme (YPP), a recruitment initiative targeting underrepresented and non-represented Member States. I was placed on the Young Professional Talent Roster and subsequently offered a position as a Junior Professional Officer (JPO).
Currently working as Associate Project Officer in the Education Sector of UNESCO, I engage closely with some of the least developed and crisis-affected countries in Africa and Asia, supporting their efforts to strengthen their education systems and improve the quality of learning through capacity development. My role includes flexible and needs-based programming, coordination of technical and financial resources, monitoring and evaluation of education initiatives.
In a nutshell, I highly recommend the Master’s programmes at the Institute of the Americas. The transferable skills I gained from the MA programme have been a significant asset to my professional trajectory.