The International Foundation Year: Esse's Success Story
Esse began her University of Salford journey by completing a degree in corporate law. After achieving her LPC with LLM during the pandemic, Esse decided to return to Salford to complete an MA in Public Relations and Digital Communications.
Read on to discover how both of these courses set Esse up for success and what her career ambitions are now.
CHOOSING SALFORD
“A close family member attended the University of Salford and couldn’t speak highly enough about the facilities and how welcomed they felt as an international student. After hearing about their experiences, I knew the University of Salford would be the right next step for me.
As an international student, I had not completed A-Levels therefore I initially enrolled on the International Foundation Year to gain the skills and knowledge I needed to successfully complete my degree.
Since graduating, I have been asked to provide A-Level grades when applying for jobs and my grades from the International Foundation Year have been accepted as an A-Level alternative.
Whilst I did not require English support as I am from Nigeria which is an English-speaking country, I did take a few English writing courses run by Salford Languages to refine my written English and help with my academic essays.”
OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM
“During my first year of undergraduate, I applied for the Erasmus Exchange Year Programme and was incredibly lucky to be given the opportunity to complete a year abroad studying business administration at Jaume I University in Spain.
The University of Salford’s International Opportunities team assisted me in finding the ideal course and country as well as with the visa application and language classes. Whilst abroad, I was still considered a University of Salford student, so I was able to access all of the university’s facilities from abroad.
The lecturers on my course had lots of industry connections and helped me to gain a mini pupillage at Kenworthy’s Chambers in Salford, which gave me an understanding of what a law career would actually be like in practice.”
RETURNING TO SALFORD
“After completing my LPC and LLM during the height of the pandemic, entry-level legal jobs were difficult to access, as a result, I decided to return to Salford to study an MA in Public Relations and Digital Communications.
I had a very positive experience completing my undergraduate degree at Salford, therefore I knew that it was the right choice for me to return to complete my postgraduate qualification.
During my master’s, I was able to secure a placement role within the marketing department at the University of Salford. Within this role, I utilised all the knowledge I was learning in my course and put it into practice to further develop my skills.”
MY CAREER AFTER SALFORD
“After achieving a Distinction in my master’s, I was able to complete several internships as a Public Relations Assistant, one of which was at the law firm Gunner Cooke LLP.
The experience during this internship reignited my passion for law and I decided this was the path I wanted to follow. Since then, I have worked as a Financial Services Paralegal at Eversheds Sutherland International LLP and I am now employed as a Regulatory and Compliance Paralegal at EY Global.
My career aspiration is to qualify as a Commercial Solicitor, and I know this wouldn’t have been possible without the University of Salford.”