Macquarie International is pleased to announce that applications are now open for the 2018 Outbound Professional Staff Exchange Program. To provide some insight into what to expect from the program, Feargal Caley, International Development and Recruitment Manager for the Faculty of Science and Engineering, shares his experiences from his 2017 exchange.
The 2018 Outbound Professional Staff Exchange provides an opportunity for professional staff to enhance their career and personal outlook by visiting a partner university and participating in a range of activities including work shadowing, sharing best practice and where relevant, participating in workshops.
With applications now open, Macquarie International encourages professional staff to contact their manager to discuss this opportunity, and connect with Macquarie International via email at international.relations@mq.edu.au for application forms and guidelines.
Feargal Caley, International Development and Recruitment Manager for the Faculty of Science and Engineering, has recently completed his exchange program with Jilin University in China, and has shared some highlights of his experience below.
“During June I was fortunate to take part in a staff exchange program with Jilin University in Jilin, China. Jilin Uni is one of the top 10 universities in China and so in some ways is kind of similar in profile to Macquarie. It’s also a long-standing partner of the Faculty of Science and Engineering where I work and was, therefore, a great choice for the exchange.
Whilst at Jilin Uni, I was based in their international office and was able to assist them with planning incoming study tours of foreign students, including a group of undergrads from Macquarie’s School of Engineering. Working alongside my new Chinese colleagues gave me a deep appreciation of their ways of working and all the differences (and similarities!) in university bureaucracy and governance between Australia and China. As well as developing solid personal relationships with my counterparts, being based on their main campus also afforded me the opportunity to observe their engineering labs and meet with key course conveners to scope out possibilities for future joint programs.
On my free weekend, I took the opportunity to do some hiking on the ‘Perpetually White Mountain’ which holds a special, almost mythical, importance to both Chinese and Koreans. The mountain is actually an extinct volcano and has a large crater lake which was still mostly frozen over when I visited despite the fact that it was almost time for the summer solstice. The mountain and the lake also happen to form the border between China and Korea and so behind me in the photo (above) you can see North Korea.”
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