For my undergrad, I studied English in Trinity College Dublin. I wanted to stay within the English sphere for my masters, and publishing had been in my mind for a few years as something that I would like to do. This course was the first publishing one I looked at, years back. In third and fourth year, when I started researching courses more seriously, I found that this one was the one I always came back to. My research and my visit to the university during the summer confirmed that this was the right course and the right university for me, and my work experience after my visit made me certain that this was what I really wanted.

So far I’m really enjoying it. The classes are very interesting and I feel that the wide range of projects, exercises and assignments are giving me a lot of practical experience. The staff are all very knowledgable in their fields, and the speakers who visit us weekly are great for opening your eyes to the range of things entailed in publishing and related industries.

Looking forward to the rest of the year, especially the publishing project!

I’m a postgraduate student majoring in publishing studies at the University of Stirling in Scotland. My English name is Taylor. I came from Shanghai, China. My major was accounting when I was studying at Shanda University in Shanghai.

Then I came to the University of Stirling to change my major because I want to learn something I’m really interested in. More important, I hope I could find a job which I think is meaningful and suitable for me in my life. In addition, I’d like to mention that I’m really interested in traditional Chinese culture and education, because learning traditional Chinese culture can help us raise our moral standards and teach us how to get happiness in our life. I pay a lot attention to education including domestic education, school education, social education and self-education as well. And I found that publishing, espeacially children’s publishing, has a close relevance with education. If I become a staff member in a children’s publisher or an educational publisher, I would do as much as possible to consider what our publisher can do to benefit social education and what kinds of products we should choose to publish to benefit children’s growth, rather than only considering profit.

My undergraduate was in English and Scottish literature, at University of Edinburgh.  No matter how much I travel, I always return to this city.  This was a big factor in choosing to study at Stirling, because it meant I could still live in Edinburgh, and be close to my friends and employer.  However, this of course was not the only reason.  Stirling has a great reputation in academic excellence, and Alison Scott (Postgraduate Secretary) was fantastic at communicating about the course. I decided to pursue Publishing due to my love of literature, especially Scottish, post-colonial and Victorian.  Publishing also interests me due to the creative process.  I really enjoy the editorial classes, learning more about design techniques and the history of the industry.  However, I didn’t realise how interested I was in marketing until studying here.

So far, it has been interesting, engaging and the practical work is valuable.  Writing this profile does begin to feel like what I assume an on-line dating application would be like – so, I’m an Aquarius, who likes long walks on the beach, travelling, pretty things, Christian Slater, and am a little freaked out when people baby-talk to small children.

Karen Raith