Renyuan Ouyang | IE School of Global and Public Affairs

Renyuan Ouyang

About me

I’m Renyuan Ouyang and I was born and raised in the Northeast of China. I later moved to Beijing to go to college. After four years studying International Politics, I decided to further my studies in the political sphereby approaching it from a different perspective. So, I went to Melbourne, Australia where I completed my first master's degree.

Now I'vehad the opportunity to study at IE University in Madrid, I’d consider myself a global citizen. In this respect, I have always wanted to build bridges between diverse cultural backgrounds, fostering mutual understanding between people with different ethnic identities. I would consider myself a good listener, a passionate negotiator, as well as an enthusiastic social justice and equality advocate. I believe that misunderstanding can be mitigated if we allow ourselves to listen to others, and that inequality can be minimized if we unify our voices.

Renyuan Ouyang
Master’s student, Media Officer (Chinese Association of Professionals and Scholars, Australia)
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Master in International Relations
Renyuan Ouyang | IE School of Global and Public Affairs

“I have always wanted to build bridges between diverse cultural backgrounds, fostering mutual understanding between people with different ethnic identities.”

Renyuan Ouyang

I completed my bachelor’s degree in International Politics at Beijing International Studies University, before going on to receive my first double master’s degree in International Relations and Journalism from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. During my time there, I was a journalist for Monash Online Journalism Magazine (MOJO), part of Monash University’s online news site, which is edited and written by journalism students. I covered a variety of topics including nuclear politics, youth mental health, the Australian ride-sharing market, and a feature on a social issue surrounding local traffic.

Besides writing articles, I also produced podcasts and TV packages.This experience allowed me to build connections with different people and get to know their opinions, needs and emotions, something I believe is essential to live up to your responsibility as a journalist. I continued to do some part-time reporting work for MOJO after graduation, but I was primarily working as a Higher Education Project Officer at a private education provider based in Melbourne. This position was a new challenge for me as it involved a lot of policy analysis and marketing.

Meanwhile, I’vecontinued to work for the Chinese Association of Professionals and Scholars in Australia, a position I’ve held for over two years. The association was organized by Chinese scholars and research professionals with a view to building an academic bridge between China and Australia. Theinitiative aims to promote collaboration, alongside encouraging young entrepreneurs to apply their skills to aid social development from medical, tourism, and industrial perspectives. In this role, my major responsibility was coordinating their marketing projects and producing media content. My experience there helped me realize that there are many different common bases we can use to facilitate mutual understanding.

I was ready for a change when I found IE University’s Master in International Relations program through the China Scholarship Council in late 2019. Just after I’dfinished the higher education project for my former employer, I began to reflect and adjust my career goals. For me, working in the field of policy-making was becoming more appealing, especially in international politics.

Although I had studied in Melbourne for four years where I’d observed and learned about the Western political discourse, I still felt that I lacked sufficient knowledge of European politics. I wanted to experience European politics from a first-hand perspective. By developing a profound understanding, I knew I would be more realistic and objective in future work surrounding international relations.

After I did some research on the program, the Master in International Relations seemed like the ideal choice to enhance my academic and professional abilities. While the courses primarily focuson Europe and the EU, the politics of other continents were also included in the curriculum. I have also always wanted to study and travel in Europe to experience the cultural atmosphere and enjoy the wonderful scenery. As a photographer,Europe has always been one of my dream destinations due to its unique landscape and architectural style.

Renyuan Ouyang | IE School of Global and Public Affairs
Renyuan Ouyang | IE School of Global and Public Affairs
Renyuan Ouyang | IE School of Global and Public Affairs

The variety of different nationalities in the program was another major attraction for me. I have always enjoyed learning about other cultures to build connections with people from other countries and listen to how we can learn from each other’s experiences. I believe that it is due to such interactions that we become better as individuals, and as a society.

To this end, I relished the opportunity to study in IE University’s highly international community. While international environments are nothing new for me, IE University managed to offer me a different feeling—it was closer to reality. Both inside and beyond the classroom, I can always feel the passion from my peers.

Unlike my previous experiences, the program drew a vast selection of talented individuals. Many students have impressive work experience across different industries and sectors, providingadded first-hand information on almost all the topics we discussed. The classeswere livelyenvironments where we got a unique opportunity tohear about different lives and stories from all over the world. Rather than learning from reports, news articles, movies or documentaries, we could hear about global experiences at close range, through the lens of the individual.

Apart from this enriching international experience, the overall academic aspect of the program was quite challenging. An intensive workload demanded a lot of time and concentration, but it was also very rewarding. I enjoyed the workgroup element of particular tasks and, in terms of advancing my interests, working with the International Fact-Checking Network for my capstone project gave me a chance to apply my journalism skills and IR knowledge in a real-world setting. At this historic moment in time, learning at IE University and engaging with the issues of today was even more unique.

In the short term, I’d like to apply for positions in the media offices of international organizations to fulfill my responsibility for our society. Personally, my major areas of interest are environmental issues and social issues, where I recognize the importance of starting projects from the national and local levels. I’m also planning on doing some independent journalism to get a head start in my dream career. I’d love to work in Europe in the coming years, but as someone who loves to discover new places, I’m certainly not ruling other continentsout!

Moving forward, I will continue to chase my dream of becoming a media professional with the objective of bridging the west and the east. During this pandemic, both the necessity and difficulty of achieving this goal have become clearer to me than ever before. As the world continues to throw new challenges in our paths, as human beings we must stand togetherin solidarity in order to solve global problems.

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