In our University Journey blog series, the team behind our Global Sustainable Development department share their personal experiences of university and how it helped them get to where they are today. Dr Romain Chenet is GSD’s Senior Teaching Fellow, as well as our Director of Undergraduate Studies and Admissions. Romain here shares early experiences of university and how GSD has developed to prepare students for the modern world.

Before university

As a child of nomadic parents, I had an unconventional early life. From as early as I can remember, we never stayed in one place longer than two to three years, and much of my schooling was done in several different countries across the Asian continent, such as a high school stint in Cambodia when I was 15.

Although the constant change of locations could be stressful and unsettling, I have come to appreciate aspects of the upbringing that I had. Not only did I experience lots of different cultures, but it developed my natural curiosity about multiple subjects, which ended up helping me in my life and academic career.

After finishing the IB in Hungary at 18, I took a year out and worked at a hotel in Paris while living at home - an experience that convinced me I wanted to go to university! I focused on British universities as I was most comfortable with the English language and chose a Joint Honours in Politics and Sociology – this made me the first person in my family to get a university degree.

My university experience

I really enjoyed my course as although I had core modules, I appreciated that I could write essays on topics of my choosing. Although I did some extracurricular activities whilst at Newcastle - such as writing the music column for the student newspaper and engaging with the Rock Music Society - I do wish I had participated in more and different things, which is why I always encourage my current students to get involved with societies and campus activities around their studies!

Of course, not all my university experiences were fun or easy, as in the early 2000s there was not much support for mental health awareness. This makes me appreciate how far universities like Warwick have come, as there is now an abundance of groups, forums and services on campus all designed around helping students.

After finishing my undergraduate studies, I did some backpacking and was then faced by a difficult job market so, after a few years, returned to higher education to complete a master’s degree. This was followed by a career in London where I worked on corporate engagement and high-value fundraising management for international NGOs, which is less glamorous than it sounds! I also missed the intellectual opportunities of university life, so once again returned to complete my PhD. And the rest, as they say, is history!

Advice I would give to parents of students considering a GSD degree

It is understandable that parents want the best for their children and so may be tempted to guide them towards a degree with a clear and definable career path such as law or medicine - especially if their child seems to be unsure of what they want to do in the future.

However, it is important to remember that it is normal for a 16–17-year-old to not be sure about what they want to do for the rest of their life. And, if they aren’t focused on a particular vocation from the get-go, it may be a far better option for them to pursue an interdisciplinary degree like ours.

A degree like GSD – which has flexibility and draws on a range of disciplines – has a huge amount of employability potential given the diversity of the job market, and many of our students go into roles in multinationals, sustainability, banking and consulting industries, and yes, even global development organisations. Our programme is designed to give students practical skills that modern-day employers are searching for, and because of how diverse our courses can be, it allows students to actively learn what they want to do for work later.

Advice I would give to potential students considering a GSD degree at Warwick

Some have said our course could be called “fancy Geography” and I quite like the sound of that, but GSD at Warwick is so much more!

One of the benefits of choosing to study GSD at Warwick is that you’ll be walking away with a degree that is widely respected from a highly recognised institution. Other universities have started trying to catch up by offering similar programmes, but what I believe makes us one of the leading courses of this sort in the world is how our diverse team of academics have worked to address and re-define our visions over the years since we started.

So, if you want to learn about practical responses to contemporary global challenges from perspectives in politics, sociology, economics, urban design, geography, arts, humanities, environmental science (and many more approaches), I’d say you should go for it! We’d love to welcome you to GSD.