Sponsored by the University of Johannesburg

With so many options to choose from, deciding what to specialize in when you’re fresh out of law school can be a daunting process. Nonetheless, it may be one of the most important decisions of your career, especially since swapping specialties, even after only a few years of practice, is surprisingly challenging. To help you make up your mind, we teamed up with the University of Johannesburg who run a prestigious law department to give you an insider’s guide to careers in commercial law - a popular, lucrative and fast-paced area of law with amazing job prospects for graduates. 

What you’ll be working on 

Working in commercial law, you would be spending your time advising clients on various day-to-day legal issues that may arise as they manage a business. Depending on the law firm, you might specialize even further in a particular practice area like dispute resolution, capital markets or banking. 

What do commercial law firms look for? 

A sound knowledge of law and high-level writing and reading skills aside, many law firms will ask that you demonstrate “commercial awareness”. If you’ve not encountered the phrase already, it’s not just a hollow buzzword, but one of the biggest differentiators between applicants.   So, what does it mean exactly? Well, candidates with commercial awareness are able to demonstrate a general sense of the world’s political and economic landscape and the different factors moving markets and informing business leaders’ decisions.   A graduate recruiter would expect you to know the answers to the following questions: who are our clients? How are they doing financially? Where are our offices based? While you wouldn’t be expected to turn up to an interview with the in-depth expertise of an economist, you should be able to discuss business trends and the marketplace like someone who actually reads the business press and keeps up with the news.     

So, what would you earn as a commercial lawyer? 

If you can stand the long hours, a career in commercial law will see you handsomely rewarded. In fact, salaries tend to be high from the get-go, with graduate corporate lawyers in the US earning as much as US$57,600 in their first year and salaries may rise to up to US$252,100 later with seniority, according to PayScale. Salary packages tend to include bonuses ranging between US$1,300 and US$51,200 as well as profit-sharing proceeds of up to US$157,600 depending on the company. Obviously, salary will vary by country, but corporate lawyers tend to earn a lot of money around the world; including between US$31,600-157,400 in the UK, US$46,300-117,200 in Canada, and up to US$143,700 in Singapore.   

How to kickstart a career in commercial law

While there are many routes into commercial law, a number of students turn to LLMs (which is short for master of law) as a way to specialize. If you’re interested in finding out more about this course, we did a great piece on the perks of doing an LLM last year.   In terms of LLMs actually valued by commercial law firms, you might want to take a look at courses with an international edge that ground theory in practical applications, like the University in Johannesburg’s LLM in international commercial law. It’s ideal for anyone interested in working in commercial law at home or in South Africa and promises to train you in civil and commercial jurisdiction in a number of countries around the world, including India, the US, Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and Switzerland. 

Sounds great but can’t afford to pay for graduate school? 

Don’t give up! The University of Johannesburg offers a number of bursaries to students interested in their LLM in commercial law. Find out here how to apply and get the chance to be reimbursed in full for all of your tuition fees. To be eligible, you just have to register by 2018 and complete your master’s degree within two years.   

By Alexandra Jane

If you’re determined to be the best student you can possibly be, gaining a place at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge represents the pinnacle of achievement. Entry to these renowned UK institutions is viewed by many as the highest of accolades and is proven to have a life-changing impact on its students, from the incredible minds who have gone on to change the world, to the comics and entertainers who honed their talents in the drama and theater societies.

Unfortunately, there’s no special formula which you can crack that will definitely see you offered a place to study at either of these extremely competitive universities, but that doesn’t mean you need to leave it entirely to chance. Here are six simple things you can do to ensure your application impresses and you give yourself the best possible chance of being accepted into Oxbridge.

Read around and above the subject

Regardless of what course you want to study at university, it’s never enough simply to read your course books. This will, of course, give you a core understanding of certain topics, but will give you nothing exciting, unusual or new to talk about. Read around your subject, and explore in depth any areas that interest you.

It’s better to read in depth and become a real expert in certain areas than have a vague understanding of a range of topics. Pursue specific lines of enquiry within your subject and outside of your curriculum in order to impress. This will then give you something to discuss in detail on your personal statement and in interviews.

Know what you want to do, not what you ought to do

Tutors and academics will always know if you’re expressing a genuine interest in a subject, or whether you have been pushed towards the subject by those who feel it would be pertinent for you to study.

There are many places where you can facilitate the feeling you have that you ought to become a businessperson – but Oxbridge is not one of them. Genuine excitement and enthusiasm for what you’re about to study will be needed if you are to thrive in such a high-pressure environment.

Practice speaking passionately about your chosen subject

While you need to genuinely love your subject, you do also need to be aware that you’ll need to practice speaking passionately and competently about it in order to demonstrate a coherent grasp of your own sentiments.

Write yourself a list of why you love the subject, why you want to study it, what you want to pursue in your studies and where you think it might take you in the long-term. While you don’t want to sound like a robot with over-prepared answers, it’s foolish not to prepare and interrogate your own ideas before someone else picks them apart.

Be prepared to change your mind

Many people think that in order to impress you must argue your case to the death, winning every debate when your opponent doesn’t have a leg left to stand on. This is not what professors are looking for.  What will impress your interviewers is the ability to assimilate and process new information, showing a willingness to adapt and change your argument to accommodate this new information.

This will demonstrate a flexibility and openness to new ideas that’s crucial to being successful in every degree subject.

Don’t pin all your hopes on Oxbridge

This might seem like odd advice to offer in an article about boosting your chances of getting into Oxbridge, but pinning all your hopes on a single dream is likely to only be counter-productive.

If entry to Oxford and Cambridge is all you’ve dreamed about since you could first walk and talk, you need to take a step back and consider the situation realistically. Putting yourself under such immense pressure is likely to make you tense, nervous and unlikely to perform at your best. So take a deep breath, view this as one of several options and try to relax a little about the future.

Be prepared to work hard and make sacrifices

Perhaps the most important point of all is to remember that entry to a top university does require a huge amount of dedication and hard work. Be prepared to slog away for months on end in order to achieve top grades. This may well come at the expense of another hobby or interest, and you need to be prepared to prioritize your academic work.

Alexandra Jane writes for Inspiring Interns, which help career starters and interns succeed in the workplace. To browse their graduate jobs, including mobile jobs, visit their website.

Sponsored by Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University

Moving halfway across the world for university can feel quite daunting, especially when it’s your first ever experience of living on your own without your family. Figuring out how to actually cook a meal for yourself is hard enough without also having the navigate the minefield of a totally new set of values and practices. Take the Russian poker face, for example.  Depending on where you’re from, you might be used to the sight of strangers smiling or laughing in public. Well, not in Russia, where it’s actually considered a hostile act to smile at a stranger. Before moving here, you might want to bear in mind the very Russian saying: “a smile without a reason is the signature of a fool”.

But, of course, like most things, culture shock is a tad overplayed, and misconceptions about living in Russia are rife. To give you a more accurate picture of what studying in Russia is really like, we thought we’d clear up some of the confusion for you…   

Myth #1:  You’ll have to jump through many admissions hoops

Applying to university in Russia is a lot easier than you might think, and you’ll find that lots of universities in big Russian cities are actually pretty internationalized. Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU), for example, was home to about 6,000 international students in the 2016-17 academic year. In fact, from the moment you hit send on your application to your first day of campus, an admission manager at SPbPU will liaise with you at regular intervals to make sure you have all the necessary information you need.

Myth #2: Russian education leaves something to be desired

Obviously with the price of education being so affordable, it’s not hard to see why one might be led to think this, but - believe it or not - Russia features quite prominently in the QS university rankings, with 95 Russian universities in the QS EECA University Rankings 2018 and 24 in the QS World University Rankings 2018, an impressive feat. Of course, you’ll want to make sure the Russian university you’re applying to is internationally accredited.  SPbPU, for example, was one of the first technical universities in the country to hold mutual international accreditation for its international educational programs.

Myth #3: You have to speak Russian to survive in Russia

Many universities like SPbPU have been catering for international students for many years now, thanks to a new generation of brilliant undergraduate and postgraduate programs taught exclusively in English. Of course, if you’re moving to Russia to pick up the language, you can always do a foundation program (but if you don’t fancy the extra year and effort, don’t sweat it).

In terms of your day to day life, whether you’re asking for directions or trying to make new friends, most Peterburgians and Muscovites should be able to speak English well enough to hold up their end of the conversation. And if, in the most extraordinary of circumstances, you find someone who doesn’t know a single word of English, the Google Translate app on your smartphone will get you pretty far…

Myth #4: You’ll be on your own without a safety net

Obviously, without your family living nearby, it can feel quite disconcerting to have to resolve problems on your own, especially if you’ve never travelled abroad and have always lived at home, but your university will have experience in supporting international students.

So, if you’re studying at SPbPU, the university will be your safety net. In fact, SPbPU actually runs a program called Tutor Forces, which is a network of Russian students who volunteer to help international students acclimate. Your tutor might take you to the cinema, see the sights of St Petersburg or help you with any issue you might have. In addition to this, there’s a wide range of student societies, including dance, design, photography,  guitar and poetry.

Myth #5: You won’t actually get to see much of Russia

If you’re hoping to see more of Russia beyond the walls of your university campus, you can always get some travelling done on the weekends and holidays. From Moscow to Vladivostok, there’ll be many opportunities to visit incredible places with groups of students.

The Republic of Karelia in the northwest of Russia, for instance, is a stunning touristic hot spot, and for the heritage geeks among you, the petroglyphs, Kizhi Island and Valaam monastery are fairly close to St Petersburg. Other popular landmarks include the magnificent Pushkin palaces and the lovely ancient village of Staraya Ladoga and its stone fortress.

Myth #6: You’ll find it hard to actually make any friends

The Russian poker face problem aside, St Petersburg’s a fairly cosmopolitan city, with students from all over the world, with their own culture, languages and points of view. In fact, even if you’re a semi-sociable introvert, there are a few things you can do to bridge the gap between you and other students, like registering for a class or joining a sport team. Also, student unions in Russia will try their best to make new international recruits feel welcome through ice breaker nights and on-campus events.

Myth #7: It’ll be more expensive than going to uni in your home country

Studying abroad can actually work out cheaper than paying for tuition fees back home and living at your parents. Tuition fees rank among the most affordable in the world, with undergraduate fees for international students ranging between US$2,100-2,400 a year and postgraduate fees of usually no more than US$3,000 a year. Other costs are quite low: a student living in Russia can get by on just US$500 a month, including food, accommodation, transportation, house bills and going out. A dormitory at SPbPU campus costs between US$130 and US$180 per month.

Following on the heels of the other QS World University Rankings by Region which were published in October, the QS BRICS University Rankings 2018 is nearly here. Featuring the top universities in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, this ranking provides greater insight into the state of higher education in some of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

Now featuring 300 universities, this year’s ranking is the biggest and most comprehensive yet. Developed in collaboration with Russian news agency Interfax in 2013, the BRICS ranking measures universities across eight different metrics, including academic and employer reputation, the proportion of international students and the number of academic staff qualified to PhD level.

What to expect from this year’s ranking

The previous edition of the BRICS ranking saw Chinese universities dominate. All of the top five universities were Chinese, with six more institutions from the Asian behemoth ranking inside the top 20. Will we see a similarly strong showing this year? Three of those five all climbed in the latest QS World University Rankings®, which suggests they’re likely to impress again this year, but Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Tsinghua University may be looking over their shoulders after a slight decline globally. The world rankings are compiled using different metrics to the BRICS ranking though, so it’s hard to say how much of an impact this will have.

Apart from China, the next-highest country to be represented in last year’s ranking was India, but Russian universities have been making great strides so the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore’s reputation as the best BRICS university outside of China might be under threat.

With 300 universities being ranked this year, there’s also the opportunity for new institutions to break into the rankings. While it’s unlikely any new university will get close to the top 20, it will be interesting to see how many new faces make the top 150.

Check back on November 23 for the complete QS BRICS University Rankings 2018.

按说作为一名艺术家、设计师，应该能够轻松应付那些关于作品和个人志向方面的基本问题，但实际发生可能比空想要困难得多。参加艺术学校的招生面试中一起讨论自己的作品集时，有些学生会被压力压垮，所以做点面试准备是非常必要的。招生官往往会问许多相同的问题，因此面试的成功，往往就源于你在镜子前面的反复练习，以及面试当天的自信发挥。为了帮助你做好准备，我们与伦敦的英国皇家艺术学院建筑分院院长Adrian Lahoud博士讨论了一些常见的面试问题以及作答技巧。 

能介绍两三个你已经完成的重要项目吗？

回答这个问题时，你应该在衡量自己作品时表现出批判意识（也就是时刻问自己：这有什么好的？）以及它在更广泛的语境下如何定位，即它与世界、艺术理论和他人作品之间的关系。切记面试那天带上你的作品集，因为面试官肯定想看你作品的实物。如果不确定应该在作品集中放哪些内容，请点击此处看看这篇《卫报》的文章。

能告诉我们这些项目对你来说有什么重要意义吗？

即使你的作品集有不言自明的特点，你也要好好利用面试这个机会，充分地解读一下它。剖析作品的各个层面，传递出技术性和创造性进步的方面。讲一讲你如何尝试了不同的材料、风格和技法？你的兴趣和技术如何从一个项目过渡到另一个项目？为什么？你的灵感来自哪里？你想通过每个项目实现什么？成功了吗？

说一说目前为止你艺术生涯的发展轨迹。

展现你对这个世界的好奇心，说说自己有趣的经历或兴趣爱好。如果你觉得自己的生活只不过是在做一件又一件无聊的事情，那也不用太过担心（实际上大多数人都是这种想法）。说实话就好，但也要提前稍加润色一下。 

你为什么要选择来这所大学？

在回答这个问题时，你要表现出自己对这所大学进行了足够的了解，包括学校为艺术学生提供的各种资源。你可以提一下有哪位教员的作品自己很欣赏，想要利用学校的哪些设施条件，然后说下原因（例如，3D建模或动画开发工具、免费画廊空间等）。切记要说一下想学这门课程的原因：这门课程对你有什么吸引力，以及它能怎样帮助你实现自己的理想。你给出的答案要有更深层次的内容，而不是简单地说因为看了最近的QS排名，知道这里是世界上最好的艺术学校，所以才想来这学习。

你能为学校的文化做出什么贡献？

诚然，这是个棘手的问题。Lahoud博士说，入校新生的回答一般都是“可以把自己当成是建设集体文化的一部分，或者说自己性格慷慨大方，具有团队奉献精神（其实具体怎么说并不重要）”。

关于[XX学科]，你读过的最重要/最具相关性/最有影响力/最新的书是什么？

Lahoud博士说：“这个问题目的是衡量申请者对某学科的喜爱程度，以及他独立思考的能力。通常答案都很贫瘠。”如果你没能做到博览群书，这个问题可能便会很难回答，但是这里不要把自己的思维都局限在某本没有看过的书上。面试官只是想了解你是否真的足够关注自己求学的领域，所以才想知道除了课本之外，你还读过哪些关于那个领域的书籍。当谈论你读过的书时，需要弄清楚书籍创作的背景（也就是说为什么它在当时有如此重要的意义），但是也要大胆地表达出自己的想法和情感。

想要改善自己在艺术和设计领域的职业前景吗？不要错过我们这一主题的相关文章。