Graduate gets a snapshot of the world
International Relations graduate Sam Davies believes his ANU experience has set him up for a career in Australia or abroad.
"I think it is really important to combine theory and practical education and I've been lucky enough to do that during my time at ANU," Mr Davies said.
Mr Davies graduates with a Bachelor of International Relations from the College of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS).
In 2014 Mr Davies took a gap year to the Middle East in order to get more practical experience and put to use what he'd learned in the classroom.
He lived in Jordan and worked for Save the Children in their Middle East and Eurasia regional office.
"Save the Children deployed me to Iraq shortly after ISIS took over Mosul. I was working in refugee camps which was obviously harrowing, but also a really educational experience," he said.
Mr Davies was again able to put the skills learned in the classroom into practice in his final semester.
He participated in the ANU-run Australian National Internship Program and was placed with Federal MP Jim Chalmers.
"I was able to do a substantial body of research for him and spent two days a week at Parliament House in his office, which was a great way to do practical learning," he said.
One of the highlights during his degree was going on an ANU exchange program to the George Washington University in Washington DC.
"It was great to further my studies and look at the same content from different intellectual perspectives," he said.
Mr Davies said his ANU lecturers were prominent in the media and prestigious Australian thinkers on his topic of study.
"It's been great to read what they have written in the newspaper or in their books and then be able to hear it first-hand and really delve into the way they think and why they think what they do," he said.
"I've also been lucky to have lecturers who were really interested in my educational outcomes and followed me through my whole degree. Some helped organise internships for me or put me in contact with people when I was overseas."
Mr Davies said the friendships he has made at ANU will stay with him for life.
"One of the other great things about ANU is the student body itself. I learned as much from my peers as I did the courses, as we discussed the content beyond the bounds of the courses off campus or in other social gatherings and that is really great," he said.
"It's a really amazing group of people who study here and we will be friends and colleagues for a long time to come."
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