Diane is a member of the Class of 2017 and attended École Jeannine Manuel from 2006 to 2017. A French national, she spent many years as a child living in Asian countries such as Singapore and China with her family. Recently graduated with a BA in Statistics, Economics, and Mandarin at the prestigious University College of London, Diane has also founded her own charity Passport for Education. The charity aims to promote the access and quality of education in India through the provision of material and financial support.
What made you chose such a challenging degree ?
I had spent a lot of time as child in Asian countries like Singapore and China. When we moved to Paris, one of the reasons we chose École Jeannine Manuel was so that I could continue working on my Chinese language skills and continue my education in an international school. I passed my HSK4 in Première, and it was essential to me that I continue improving my Chinese at university, where I recently succeeded at the HSK5. This degree from UCL was one of the few that would let me take both Chinese and maths, another passion of mine.
The workload for a degree like that must be intense. How did you find the time to start your charity ?
The workload is intense, but not more so than any other degree at UCL : the work is simply more varied. One key takeaway I have from my time at École Jeannine Manuel is an active, autonomous entrepreneurial spirit. That really helped me to balance the charity’s rapid growth with my academic life. I was also lucky to be surrounded by a great team of people, including a former classmate of mine at École Jeannine Manuel (Saga Jaubert, Class of 2017), who is now vice-president of Passport for Education.
Do you have any advice for current École Jeannine Manuel students when it comes to choosing their degree or university ?
Do serious research into the course you are applying to. Look closely at the course description on the university’s website and call the university to go beyond what’s written. That will save you from having any unpleasant surprises when you start the course. My second piece of advice would be to not choose a course simply because you think it will help you find a job later. Study what you are interested in. Especially in the UK system, many graduates will go on to jobs that are not related to their degrees, but have more to do with the extracurricular projects they were involved in at university.