Madison Hutchinson, the Student Experience Advisor at Cardiff University Kazakhstan in an interview with El.kz spoke about vibrant community at the new branch campus in Astana, the unique qualities of Kazakhstani students, and how a Cardiff degree opens doors to international careers in London and beyond.
— Hello again, thank you for your time today. Could you please tell about your role at Cardiff University?
- I'm the Student Experience Advisor at Cardiff University and I look after the student experience here at Cardiff University Kazakhstan. That includes things like student enquiries, student voice, so the student rep system, to give academic feedback and feedback about their general student experience on campus. But I also look at developing processes at Cardiff University Kazakhstan to improve the student experience.
— What does your typical day look like as a student experience advisor?
-– So every day looks a little bit different. No two days are the same in my role, which is why I love it. I engage with our students every day whether I'm here in Kazakhstan or whether I'm back in the UK. I have regular calls with our student government. I work very closely with our student hub team here. Some days I'm working in the background helping develop policies and processes and then other days I'm fully engaging with students and organising welcome week like I have this week.
— As you closely work with students, how can you describe Kazakh students?
— The students here in Kazakhstan have really amazed me. They're very, very engaged. They all want to be engaged in university life, not just their studies. They want to participate in sports clubs, in societies. They want to be student reps, they want to be in the student government. The students here are also very happy to provide feedback which is really useful for us especially as a new branch campus here in Kazakhstan having feedback to know what students are really enjoying and what they'd like us to change and adapt or new things that they'd like us to start. So it's really nice to see those students who are so engaged. Students here are also very polite and very friendly. They always want to chat to you, which is so nice. It really feels like a good community here and it's nice to be a part of that.
— And what's the difference between Kazakh and British students?
— So, our students here are a little bit younger than students at university in the UK. So I wouldn't say that there's much difference between the students here and the students in the UK. Both sets of students are very engaged, want to participate, want to work hard in their studies. So I don't notice many differences between our students.
— What are the challenges that students usually face and come to you to discuss ?
— A lot of the things that students come to speak to me mostly is about the community side of things here. So it's helping them organise events, helping them create new clubs and societies, helping them reach out to other students and get in contact. So I also run the student newsletter here. I regularly communicate from the university to the students with updates and feedback on things. Students will often come to me to ask for their section to be in the newsletter to be shared with the students. But I work very closely with our student government who will bring any sort of student feedback to me and then I work with my colleagues here in Kazakhstan and in Cardiff to create plans and resolutions to some of their ideas. The students here have lots of really creative ideas that they want us to work on so that's kind of where I come in to try and bridge the gap and create some of those new ideas for them.
– Could you tell us about some interesting projects that are available at the Cardiff University Kazakhstan?
— One of the things that I find really interesting is that our students in last academic year, in our founding academic year, they all created their own sports clubs and societies. So there's over 30 clubs and societies that students can get involved with and there are a real range of activities. We have volunteering clubs, we have football clubs, we have academic clubs, we have a civil engineering club. And they all do different projects and I find it really interesting how they all are so different but it's the same students that engage in all of the activities. Our volunteering club run lots of events on campus for students and work very closely with our student government.
But one thing that I've found really interesting is the collaboration between the groups. The student societies often work very closely together to provide events and services for students. They very rarely work independently. It builds that really nice sense of community where they can all get involved. And they often work with our student government as well to help establish events and with our staff members in the student hub. So it's a real sense of community that they can get involved with. But in terms of activities in Cardiff University as well that also run here, our student rep system in Cardiff University Kazakhstan mirrors the student rep system in Cardiff. So they're able to provide formal feedback in the exact same structure as Cardiff. And it gives students the opportunity to speak not only to academic staff here about their feedback but also academic staff in Cardiff who have engaged with them here in Kazakhstan. They can also develop their team working skills, communication skills and public speaking skills in those kind of activities as well so that's really nice for them to be able to get involved in that too.
— Do your students at Cardiff University Kazakhstan have opportunities to work with companies, professionals or on real-world problems?
— Yes, so a lot of our academics who travel from Cardiff to Kazakhstan will talk to students about opportunities across the world that they might be interested in engaging with. We're also developing some internships at the moment with local businesses in Kazakhstan and in Astana that students will be able to do internships with. And a few of our academic societies as well, they've been working with some organisations here in Astana to organise site visits to their companies to go and see what happens in their companies. And we're also helping them develop internships as well for the summer period so that they can go and get some real world experience.
— What skills do you think young people need most today?
— With the world changing so quickly with AI, there's definitely some skills that we need to develop for our students to be able to deal with AI and the changing technology world. I think that something that's also really important for us as a university not to forget is developing students personal skills and interpersonal skills as well and ensuring that students can still engage with other people, interview well whenever they're applying for jobs and really be able to set themselves apart from other people and really be able to say I'm a Cardiff University graduate and here are the skills that I bring with - AI skills and other skills like public speaking and communication and confidence as well. So I think it's really important for us to focus on the AI elements of things and within our programmes we do incorporate AI and the good uses of AI and how students should use it within their studies as well. But we also focus on the person-to-person side of things as well so that the students don't lose those skills and abilities.
— Do your graduates have an opportunity to work in London after graduation?
— Yeah, so our graduates here in Astana will graduate with the same qualifications as our students in Cardiff. So there is nothing stopping them from being able to travel to the UK and work in the UK. And I know that there's a lot of international companies that are based here in Astana and across the UK. So it would be really nice to see some of the students come to the UK to start their working career. There will also be some academic mobility opportunities for them in the future where the students will be able to come to Cardiff to complete a part of their studies as well. So they'll be able to come and visit the main university campus. And I know lots of them are really excited for that so I'm looking forward to being able to help them come over to Cardiff and see what the main campus is like and get to experience and see how their environment here is very similar to the environment in Cardiff.
— You mentioned that it's your first work experience in Kazakhstan. What has surprised you most about Astana and people who live here?
— I think the thing that has what surprised me the most is the hospitality of everyone here. I always heard that Kazakhstan was a very friendly place. I came here and I grew up in London and I love London but sometimes everyone in London is very focused on what they're doing. But when I came to Astana, everyone is very, very friendly. People are coming over and really want to speak to you and learn where you're from and what you're doing here in Astana. And something that I really enjoy is if I'm speaking to members of the public, especially young people who might not be here at our university yet, but they're learning English, they really want to be able to practice their English with me. So I quite often have conversations with young people in shopping malls or in restaurants and they come and they say, "Can I practice my English with you for a few minutes?" They ask me questions about the UK, I ask them questions about Kazakhstan and it's a really nice way to be able to engage with people.
— Many young people in Kazakhstan dream about studying at an international university. What advice would you give to them?
— I would say work hard in your studies, practice your English as often as you can, developing your English skills is very important. It's something that once you hopefully join us here at Cardiff University Kazakhstan that will continue to develop. But I think my biggest piece of advice to young people, not just in Kazakhstan but everywhere, is to say yes and get involved in different opportunities. You never know once you take part in one opportunity what are the doors that will open to you across the world. I never imagined that after graduating from Cardiff in 2023 I would then go on to be part of the student union elected representatives in Cardiff. And when I said yes, when I put myself forward to be vice president of the students union in Cardiff as a third year student in 2023, I never imagined that I would then end up working in Kazakhstan, helping establish our university's first branch campus. So, always say yes to opportunities. You never know what doors it will open in the future.
