“Ireland is the Silicon Valley of Europe” among reasons to study in Waterford

Zhihao Liu, from Gaoqing County, Shandong Province, China, management student in Waterford, shares his four reasons to study in Ireland

Claddagh Scholarship recipient Zhihao Liu came to Ireland from China to study on WIT's Bachelor of Business (Hons) in the management stream.

Before I moved to Ireland I:

Before I came to WIT, I worked in China mainly in management operations. Through my years of work, I have not only gained a wealth of work experience, but I have also realised the importance of continuing to learn professional knowledge. Because I studied marketing at my previous university in China, in order to be able to do a better job in the management category in the future and to be able to take on higher management positions, so I decided to go back to university and combine my years of management experience to systematically learn management expertise.

I chose to study in Ireland because:

1. Ireland is the only English-speaking country in the EU post-Brexit, with a pure language environment. The all-English living and learning environment helps me to improve my level of English

2. Ireland has a very good education system and Irish universities have a long history and high educational standards. I think I will be able to learn a lot of expertise in Ireland.

3. Ireland is known as the Silicon Valley of Europe and is home to many internationally renowned companies and a wide range of employment opportunities. I hope to be able to find a job in Ireland after my undergraduate degree and improve my work skills.

4. Ireland has a beautiful natural environment, a pleasant climate, a good security situation and friendly and tolerant people. I feel I could live very comfortably in Ireland.

Some of the highlights of my experience in Waterford include:

I really like the collaborative group learning style, which I think develops students' ability to work together and team spirit. I actively contributed my own ideas in the group discussions and successfully completed the research on the topic with my group members.

The most interesting cultural differences for me are:

In the winter classroom, I drank hot water from a thermos while most of my classmates drank cold water from a bottle. My classmates were rather surprised that I was drinking hot water.

How I benefited from moving to Waterford from my home country:

Since I came to Waterford from China, I have not only gained expertise at the school, but also an insight into the local culture. It made the study abroad trip very rewarding for me.

My advice for international students considering studying here:

WIT is a very good university, with small classes, a reasonable course schedule and teachers who are very eager to help students with various problems, allowing students to learn better and improve their personal skills. I now feel that I have made a very wise choice in choosing WIT and I am confident that, with the help of my teachers and my own efforts, I will graduate with honours. I hope that more Chinese students will choose to study and live at WIT.

Related Courses

• Bachelor of Business (Honours) in  Business (Management)
• Bachelor of Business (Honours) in  Business (Common Entry)