This is a very special program because we have designed this with a particular career set in mind. And that career set is for people that want to work in the global marketplace. We’re gonna follow US trade policy from its beginning, 1789 when Congress marched in the United States, and the hottest issue today of course is Trade Promotion Authority, that is the authority from Congress to the President.
I hope to work in trade policy in D.C., there’s a lot of really interesting opportunities there and I love the program here. It really focuses on exactly what I want to do which is crafting international trade policy. So the United States has government sponsored entities, Australia has government business enterprise that New Zealand has the crown entities, so.
Right, I said NAFTA, right? One regional agreement, and that might be difficult for the US to accept.
I would like to work in trade compliance, either in-house with a company that does a lot of importing and exporting. And needs someone that’s familiar with the regional trade agreements and free trade agreements that the US is a part of, which is so much of what we do in the trade program.
We have put together a very carefully structured program intended to teach the knowledge, skills, and abilities that have been identified as what’s needed to succeed in this market.
The work that we’re doing in the classroom genuinely reflects the types of questions that are going on in the professional world. And I know that because having gone to D.C. and spoken with alumni and listened to the type of work that their doing, nothing sounded unfamiliar to me.
We have specially designed our program to be as relevant as possible. And to do that, we have designed a program where it will be conducted for two semesters here in Monterey. And then a final semester will be in Washington, D.C., where policy is being made.
The spring break trip to Washington, D.C., which I did just a few weeks ago, was really eye opening. Through that experience I was able to start a network in D.C. of people who are doing what I wanna do. And those people directly helped me get my internship this summer. When they go out into the market place they will have experience that others have only read about but ours have actually been implementing real life negotiations in the classroom.
Our methods of market access are focused on Canada, Mexico and Peru.
It gives me a great pleasure to represent a country Japan in the TPP negotiation. Now Japan’s facing a challenge.
One thing that I’ve really gained while here at MIIS is I really improved my public thinking and I think that’s a function of being in these really small classrooms where you’re often put on the spot. Your opinion is going to be asked and you’re speaking with someone that’s been in the field that’s been working in the position you want to be in, in a few years.
We have very active immersion programs where people are going overseas and meeting with government officials meeting with people in Washington, in New York and as well as in Tokyo and Beijing and Delhi.
I chose MIIS because the professional and career focus. Where it didn’t leave me in a room studying and doing research for hours on end for years on end. I’m learning practical skills every single day. And I know that I’m gonna use these skills.
My goal is to be able to provide for them the infrastructure both in scholarship, in skills, abilities and experience to be able to excel and thrive in their chosen field.