Zhang Quan

Experience

Tell us what your greatest academic, professional or personal awards/achievements have been.

I am always looking to achieve more in life each and every day, thus I would say that my greatest achievement is yet to come!

Why did you decide to study your Summer School course and why specifically did you choose to study with Imperial College Business School?

I decided to study Entrepreneurship at Imperial College Business School because I have always been interested in learning how to start my own business, and studying the course in London would allow me to gain a global perspective in doing business outside Asia.  Besides that, I was also excited to experience the learning environment at one of the most prestigious schools in the world.

Programme

What makes your Summer School unique?

The people. Even though I signed up for the programme by myself, I’m glad that I managed to make many great friends from all around the world and shared unforgettable memories with them.

What aspects of the course did you most enjoy?

I find the guest speakers’ lectures the most enjoyable. Instead of explaining the theories, the guest speakers showed us how to apply the frameworks we have learnt into real life business situations and taught us from their own personal experiences which I find extremely inspiring and useful.

What was the most challenging part of the course?

The tight schedule for the project work was probably the most challenging part of the programme. As we learn more from the lectures every day, we had to continuously refine our ideas and pivot when necessary. This caused us to constantly fall back to the starting point and rethink our idea. Nonetheless, with great teamwork and guidance from the professor, we managed to overcome this challenge and worked towards our goal smoothly.

People

Imperial places a large emphasis on group work, what inspires you the most about working in this type of environment?

The group work environment gave us the opportunity to learn to be open about other people’s opinion, be active listeners and collaborate to achieve the best result for everyone. It also trained us to be more culturally sensitive as we had to work with people of different cultures and educational background.

How would you describe your Summer School class?

My summer school class had a diverse team of students from different backgrounds and professions. The variety of answers we hear from the students during lectures really opened up my eyes about how there is unlimited solutions for any question.

What parts of the social programme did you most enjoy?

The Boat Party was my favourite social programme. I got to make new friends from other courses and most importantly, the views of the city from the boat was amazing.

Opportunities

What has been the greatest opportunity during your summer at Imperial that you don’t think you would get anywhere else?

The learning experience at Imperial College- meeting the right people at the right place and right time.

What are your future career goals and how do you think your time at Imperial will help/has helped?

Ultimately, I hope to start my own business one day, and the Entrepreneurship programme I took during the summer programme definitely helped me gain more insights towards the complicated process and theories behind doing so.

Location

Whereabouts did you stay in London and why did you choose to stay there?

I stayed close to Earl’s Court station as the apartment was walking distance from the school.

What can a weekend in London look like for a Summer School student?

Going on a road trip to Stonehenge, shopping on Oxford Street, going to a music festival… and of course eating great food at the different markets.

In your opinion, tell us about the most exciting thing you’ve done in London.

Having unexpectedly great Chinese food that I’ve been missing very much.

Tips

What advice would you give someone who was thinking about applying for the Summer School?

Just do it!  You will definitely learn a lot of useful knowledge throughout the 3 weeks and have a lot of fun at the same time.

Share with us a handy hint or trick that made settling into Summer School that much easier!

Talk to people and get to know them! Everyone will have something amazing to share with you.