William Jiang
My student life before I came to Imperial College was split between two countries that had vastly contrasting education approaches: China and Canada. While the prior focused on rigor and rote memorization; the latter emphasized application, subjectivity, and interpersonal confidence. When I first attended school in Canada as an international student, the process of fully adapting to a new set of academic expectations was a major challenge that I struggled with before eventually thriving under that context. This is the exact problem I believe many of us will encounter as first-year students studying in a university setting, and something that I wish to assist you all with as your Academic Representative.
With the vast majority of students in the molecular bioengineering program coming from international education backgrounds, it can be hard to quickly develop the complete set of skills that are necessary to succeed in this interdisciplinary course. I know that many of us might struggle with the same issues that I have before: troublesome communication attempts, lack of practical experience to complete hands-on projects and labs, as well as the unfamiliarity of extensive self-studying and lecture-style teaching. My responsibilities as the academic representative will extend beyond simply hosting group study sessions or addressing our academic concerns to the faculty, but equipping all of us with the fundamental skills we need to feel comfortable studying at Imperial for the next four years. My name is William Jiang, and I would be honored to have your vote.