A business graduate from Cyprus is full of praise for the Leicester International Pathway College (LIPC) after becoming one of the first students from its International First Year programme to graduate from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU).
LIPC, which opened in the summer of 2014 at the heart of the DMU campus, helps prepare international students from some 58 different countries for DMU degree courses.
Delighted Business and Management BA (Hons) student Eleni Georgiou collected her degree certificate from DMU at one of the university’s graduation ceremonies in July.
The 21-year-old said: “Studying business management has always been my fascination but as I grew up in Cyprus – a country surrounded by the sea and the sun – I was afraid to move abroad and speak a foreign language, which is a difficulty that many international students face.
"DMU is a global university, so it presented a good opportunity for me. It offers all kinds of help and services to the students and, as well as my studies, I was involved in language lessons, volunteering, the ‘buddy’ scheme and with #DMUglobal.
RELATED NEWS
Come to the next DMU Open Day and experience a truly international university
Pioneering LIPC passes full review with flying colours
DMU is awarded the Gold standard for teaching excellence
“A degree from a well-known university like DMU is a big benefit and the best thing is that it has given me extra experiences in my life and my studies."
Eleni successfully completed LIPC’s International First Year (IFY) in Business and Management in 2014/15 – the equivalent of a first year of study at undergraduate level but with specially-designed academic modules and English language support – before moving on to complete her degree at DMU.
Eleni is one of eight students who graduated this summer after starting life at DMU as one of the inaugural students on the IFY programme.
The enthusiastic Eleni said: “LIPC provided me with multiple academic modules and increased my understanding of the English language. The IFY is specially designed for increasing numerous skills for international students and it provided me with an intensive combination of first-year university modules with extra study and language skills.
“My long-term career goal when I joined LIPC was to improve my reading, listening, writing and speaking skills. My experience started off with a friendly environment in class and teachers willing to help us in any difficulty. Yet, what made me improve was how special I felt as a person in the class, with my teachers continually pushing me forward by identifying my weaknesses and providing me with feedback on how to be better every time.
“Apart from the supplement of an all-around curriculum, I met other people from all around the world that faced the same difficulties as me, and we helped each other to improve. This made me feel more comfortable and I started to communicate more.
“The whole experience with LIPC made me feel extremely proud and pleased that I started my degree in such a friendly environment with a wide range of improvement opportunities.
“I would recommend to every friend of mine to apply and be educated at DMU as they help you to adapt and improve within the whole university environment.”
Eleni, who was also a LIPC student ambassador during her time at the university, added: “Being an ambassador gave me the opportunity to work in marketing, public relations and to host external visitors to LIPC."
Now she has graduated with a 2:1, Eleni is delighted with how she developed following her experiences at LIPC and DMU. “At this point, I can describe myself as a person who can work creatively and accurately through any challenging situations,” she said.
Tracey Simpson, Eleni’s first-year business tutor at LIPC, said: “Eleni and I started at LIPC at almost the same time and to see her graduate with her peers with upper second-class honours makes me feel very proud of all she has achieved.
“She was a pleasure to teach and was always happy to share her own work experience with her classmates. She shone as an ambassador for LIPC and I wish her every success in the future.”
Eleni is now planning to study a Master’s in Shipping Management.
Posted on Tuesday 1 August 2017