Meet Steve, one of our International Recruitment Officers.
Steve travels the world recruiting the top talent to our Postgraduate courses, he is currently in Indonesia for two weeks visiting Higher Education fairs and meeting students.
In this blog post, we share pictures and anecdotes Steve sends back to us in the UK to see what it is really like as life as an International Recruitment Officer. In this trip to Indonesia this November, he visits fairs in Jakarta, Surabaya and Bangkok.
Email from Steve, November 8th 04:03 GMT:
“Not just my name on the coffee cup – totally representative of the warmth of this country everywhere I go :-)”
Update from Steve, November 15th 04:40 GMT:
I took the 06:30 flight on Sunday morning to arrive into Bangkok to catch the OCSC exhibition – really well attended with lots of stands. Our alumni Soi and Ant came along to help us and they were absolutely brilliant, talking with prospective students about their Newcastle experience and what it meant to them.
On Monday we visited our agents, travelled around on the skytrain, and it was also the day of the Loy Krathong festival.
Today Tuesday I’m about to go to my last meeting. It’s always great to go along to our agents and say hello, meet the staff who help our students, share any new information about our Newcastle courses, and learn more about current educational trends in Thailand. Tonight it’s the 20:30 flight home, back to Newcastle!
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Question time with Steve:
What have you most enjoyed about Indonesia so far?The hospitality of the Indonesian people who are just so lovely, friendly, kind and polite – it is the Indonesian way.
Are the student recruitment fairs different to other countries you have visited?
The Indonesian students we met were very enthusiastic, confident, pleased to see us, and the events were very busy. We talked to students continuously all day long. They were also pleased to learn about the Indonesian Student Association, PPI Newcastle and the Discover Indonesia event on campus, as well as student diversity at Newcastle, and see campus and city photos.
What's the most common question students have asked you this trip?
Information about fees and scholarships, if students can apply for LPDP funding to study at Newcastle (they can).
The range of programmes available, and if they can study business even though their undergraduate degree was in a different subject (they can, and we have a range of options available).
As for our alumni who I met, they were just so happy to meet me, and tell me about their Newcastle experience, how it enabled them to develop professionally and personally, and how they miss being there!
Where is the best place you have visited in Indonesia?
Although I have not had much time on this trip to look around as I’ve been busy and based in the business districts of Jakarta and Surabaya (it is also quite challenging to get around as Jakarta is famous for its heavy traffic!). One thing I’ve really loved is the amount of vegetation and greenery that has been planted around the cities, everywhere.
I’ve also really enjoyed meeting our education agents at the SUN and IBEC offices, and I enjoyed going for lunch at a traditional restaurant.
