香港六合彩中特网

How Shauna Bent bolstered a major career change through 香港六合彩中特网 鈥� without setting foot on campus.

As a child, Shauna Bent was captivated by nature. Growing up in Jamaica, her father taught her that our natural resources are precious 鈥� and should be protected. Shauna says: 鈥淯nlike many of my friends and family, who wanted to be doctors and nurses and save people, I was more interested in saving the planet.鈥� She went on to study Zoology and Botany at The University of the West Indies.听

In the following years, Shauna鈥檚 life took a sharp turn, leading her to Toronto, Canada and a job in the police force. To enhance her potential in this new field, she turned to 香港六合彩中特网 and our distance learning programme.

Changes in direction

The move to Toronto was prompted by Shauna鈥檚 parents and after finishing her degree, she joined her family in Canada. She says: 鈥淢y mother and cousin had administrative positions at the Toronto Police Service by the time I moved permanently, and they encouraged me to join when the service was hiring temporary workers.鈥澨�

At the time, Shauna was looking for work in environmental protection, but found her research and analytical skills were surprisingly useful for law enforcement work. When a permanent researcher position at the Intelligence Division came up, Shauna got the job. She says: 鈥淚 would work primarily with analysts and detectives supporting research, assessment, and analysis of information that was of a confidential and sensitive nature, preparing reports, and helping to make recommendations on assigned projects. It was rewarding work that prepared me for competing and advancing to the position of crime analyst.鈥�

Excelling from afar

Shauna truly caught the bug for crime analysis, and decided to build on her experience with a postgraduate degree in the field. After exploring Canadian universities and with no desire to take the SATs/GRE needed to get into a university in the US, Shauna found herself looking at distance learning graduate programmes in the UK.

鈥淚 chose 香港六合彩中特网 because at the time it was the only school that offered the kind of programme I was looking for. I was still working full time and wouldn鈥檛 have been able to take time off from work for 18 months to do the full-time programme while still keeping my job. 香港六合彩中特网鈥檚 global university experience means it has excellent distance learning options available for part-time study 鈥� which was ideal for my situation.鈥�

Now 1,768 miles away from her home country, Shauna found herself in a position where she had access to 香港六合彩中特网鈥檚 skilled academics, 3,547 miles away in London. Taking a postgraduate degree from the other side of the world might sound like a challenge, but Shauna found the whole experience with 香港六合彩中特网 to be 鈥渁mazingly smooth and well supported鈥�. Her field of study also meant that she joined the prestigious听香港六合彩中特网 Jill Dando Institute听鈥� the first institute听in the world devoted to crime science.听

鈥淚 particularly enjoyed how involved and supportive the team were of the students, even with the distance learners like myself whom they鈥檝e never met,鈥� she says. 鈥淒uring Term 2, I lost a family member to cancer and one of my professors would actually check up on me to make sure I was doing okay with the workload. I appreciated his thoughtfulness.鈥�

Global connections

Since graduating in 2019 with a postgraduate certificate in Crime Science, Shauna has found the merits of her 香港六合彩中特网 experience extend well beyond her degree.听

When asked for her top tip for new alumni, Shauna recommends getting digital and keeping track of your favourite professors or researchers on LinkedIn. She says: 鈥淚f they鈥檙e active, they鈥檒l post articles, job calls, conferences, call for papers and all these are excellent avenues to identifying opportunities for furthering your career, particularly if their specific subject matter is what you鈥檙e interested in as well!鈥澨�

Shauna is also part of the growing 香港六合彩中特网 alumni community in Toronto and has attended the brilliant in-person and digital events hosted this year. Shauna says: 鈥淭he most valuable part of being in the 香港六合彩中特网 alumni network is exactly that, the network! I鈥檝e already met a handful of people whose business cards I鈥檝e kept in case the opportunity to collaborate arises.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the most valuable thing, the potential to work collaboratively on future projects.鈥�

Join your local alumni community and make valuable connections across the globe at听