On the morning of December 10, the “International Organization Career Planning” sharing session, one of the series of activities of the “Global Governance Week” in the year of 2023, was held in Danqing Academy. In this event, Associate Professor LI Jia, Executive Director of the Secretariat of Global Competency Center of Zhejiang University and Associate Professor of the School of International Studies, was invited to deliver a lecture entitled “Rooted in China and Embrace the World: Young Students Engaging in Global Governance”. Besides, WANG Meiqing, a third-year postgraduate of International Organization and Communication, and SUN Yuhe, a junior of English major, were also invited to share their internships in international organizations. The event attracted more than 50 students interested in global governance.
To start with, Associate Professor LI attached great importance to cultivating talents for international organizations. As a pivotal platform for countries around the world to perform international cooperation and engage in international affairs, international organizations are the essential channel for China to participate in global governance and the construction of new order in a wider and deeper sense. Against this backdrop, the cultivation of international talents has become a pioneering mission of strategic value and pressing importance. LI began with the proposition to make China’s voice heard and insights shared in the international community, elaborated on the cultivation goal of international talents and gave in-depth analysis of the challenges confronted by the current cultivation.
Next, she gave a panoramic introduction to the systematic and effective full-chain cultivation system of international organization talents and the fruitful achievements brought by eight years’ exploration, according to the advantages of comprehensive disciplines of Zhejiang University. She also introduced the key measures taken by Zhejiang University in the integration of disciplines, the coordination of “four classes” and collaboration with other institutions. In the end, she put emphasis on the cultivation of global vision and devotion to the national interests of the university students today, encouraged them to be proficient in their profession and make a difference, to try bravely and embrace the world while being rooted in China.
In the following peer experience-sharing session, WANG Meiqing shared her internship in United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), including an introduction to the UNFPA, the work and how to apply for the internship. In the end, she introduced channels to apply for internships in international organizations and encouraged the students to play an active role in international communication programs.
SUN Yuhe shared her internship in United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) from the experience, application and preparations before the internship. In the end, she offered suggestions for the successful application from her personal experience.
After the sharing session, a heated discussion was conducted between the two and the other students on how to be engaged in global governance and to be informed of the opportunities in international organization internship. The interaction deepened students’ understanding of international organizations, kindled their passion for global governance and enlightened their future career planning.
School of International Studies
December 13, 2023
Translated by WU Ziwei, Proofread by Xu Xueying
