Women of the Future Appeal 'breaking down barriers'

Thirty inspirational women from across the world have been awarded a masters scholarship at Essex thanks to our highly-successful Women of the Future Appeal. Here is the third in a series of stories about some of these women scholars.

For Chilean labour lawyer Andrea Serrano, the Women of the Future Appeal is a major force in breaking barriers.

“As a working woman I face inequality every day and I believe this scholarship recognises that reality and is trying to help to build a better society,” she explained.

Andrea decided to apply for the scholarship so that she could pursue her goal to study law abroad.

However, our ‘Essex Spirit’ has meant the University has offered Andrea more than just a place to study.

“Before coming here I was expecting just a good university,” she explained, “but from day one I realised the ‘spirit’ of Essex - from the encouragement of students to fulfil their dreams, express their point of view and respecting the opinion of others, to looking for change and not waiting for someone else to resolve things.”

She added: “Throughout my university education and then as lawyer, I was looking for an opportunity to study abroad. When I found out about this scholarship I felt like it reflected all my dreams and ambitions.”

Andrea chose to study a LLM in International Trade Law at Essex so she could study issues of employment and develop her knowledge of investment, trade and human rights.“The University of Essex is a prestigious English university and is well-known in the world. It is one of the best places to study Law, and its specialisations in Business Law and Human Rights were just what I was looking for.”

After her studies Andrea will return to her law firm in Chile and will use her newly-developed skills to deal with the recent labour law reform and support companies with their labour and trade union issues.

She said: “The scholarship not only supports you economically, but encourages you to create new networks and to meet different women from all backgrounds and professions, which surely is a valuable tool for your future career.”