News

US student receives national scholarship

American student Jessica McKnight, who is spending a year abroad at Essex, is one of just two recipients of a national scholarship scheme.

The Butex (British Transatlantic Exchange Association) Scholarship is awarded to American and Canadian students who have been offered a place as a study abroad or exchange student in a UK university. Two awards, worth £400, are awarded annually.

Jessica, from the University of California, Los Angeles, explained why she chose to spend a year in the UK: ‘It’s a paralyzing thought to realise what a small bit of the entire world you know, and I want to seize any opportunity to make my bit bigger. I believe the best way to come to know a place is by slowly existing there, rather than blowing through it as a tourist. In this sense, studying abroad is probably the best way for me to experience England.’

She added: ‘The Butex Scholarship has freed me from the limitation of worrying over food, money or book expenses and given me leave to explore beyond Colchester and introduce myself to more of this new country.’

Essex links with Seoul

The University has forged a link with the Seoul National University of Education (SNUE), the leading institution for the training of primary teachers in Korea.

In September, a party from the SNUE visited Essex, and signed a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate co-operation between SNUE and Essex’s Department of Language and Linguistics.

Professor Shin Hang-Kyun, Vice-President and Dean of Student Affairs, Professor Pang Keum-Ju, Director of the Institute of Planning, and Dr Hong Sun-Ho, a PhD graduate of Essex, who now teaches English and linguistics at SNUE, were shown around campus by Head of Department Professor Martin Atkinson.

Professor Rob Massara meets Professor Shin from SNUE

The group were joined by Head of the International Academy, Stuart Bannerman, at a lunch hosted by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Rob Massara.

Young economist awarded

Recognition has come quickly to one member of the Department of Economics.

Holger Breinlich, who joined the Department as a Lecturer in September, has been honoured with a European Economic Association (EEA) Young Economist Award.

The award is bestowed on young authors of outstanding papers submitted to the EEA’s Annual Congress, and who are or have recently completed a PhD. Holger’s paper, entitled ‘Trade liberalization and industrial restructuring through mergers and acquisitions’ was presented at this years congress in Vienna.

In it, he demonstrates that trade liberalisation leads to a significant increase in mergers and acquisitions activity, using the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement of 1989 as a case study. The implications of this are that mergers and acquisitions provide an important alternative channel for reallocating resources from less to more productive firms.

Holger joined the Department from the London School of Economics. His research interests lie in the areas of international trade, economic geography and applied econometrics. Past research has looked at the role of market access in shaping regional income structures and the process of industrialization.

Also in the printed November edition of Wyvern:

• Students face fire alarm fines
• VC to step down after 12 years
• Walking with robots
• Societies spotlight: Jump for charity
• New faces in health
• AFM welcomes new staff
• Top prize for Computer Science
• Computer Science collaboration