Four students from Ashesi were selected from Ashesi to join the IE Business School summer programme in Madrid this month. The IE Summer School is an intense three-week program, that offers undergraduate students and recent graduates the opportunity to follow courses across a wide range of disciplines. Classes are taught by faculty at IE, and participants in the programme get to study Spanish and enjoy the city of Madrid through different extracurricular activities and team-building events.
86 students from 29 countries around the world are attending this year’s programme, and the four Ashesi students, Kwesi Korboe ’19, Latifah Lamptey ’17, William Annoh ’16 and Makafui Amezah ’17, were the only African students selected. All four also received scholarships to attend the programme, as part of an arrangement between IE Business School and Ashesi.
Photo: Students at Google Offices in Madrid
“On my left sat Bernardo from Portugal, Priscilla from Columbia, Sigrid from China, Alessandro from Italy, Dennis from Russia, Manuel from Austria, Dishit from India, and Pauline from Greece,” writes Latifah from Madrid, two weeks into the programme. “Then suddenly I realized, IE has given me much more than just a couple more Facebook friends; it has given me eyes to the world, and is teaching me how to work my way through it. I couldn’t be more grateful.”
Alongside soft-skill workshops in teamwork, leadership, personal branding, among others, all students in the programme can also specialise in International Relations, International Business Law, Marketing and Communications, Entrepreneurship and International Finance. The students also get to spend time at international companies in Madrid.
“I love it!”, writes Makafui. “The lecturers have a friendly air about them, and our lessons are full of fun activities that that not only makes learning fun, but creates a stronger bond with my course mates as well. Moreover, working with opinions from over 20 nationalities is such a rich experience, that I could only have imagined the worth of this summer program.”
Photo: Students join classmates at the San Fermin Festival in Madrid
“I’m studying international finance here at IE, and the classroom experience has been very helpful,” writes William. “Studying finance with people from countries all over the world has given me a much broader perspective about the different kinds of international markets, etcetera. This finance diploma will be helpful in my career, and will greatly complement my Management Information Systems degree from Ashesi.”
“I got the opportunity to meet people from diverse cultures and have insightful conversations with them,” Kwesi also writes. “I learnt how to be more open to people, not to hide any talents I have and not to let fear prevent me from growing. I believe experiencing the entire program has helped improve my character in all manner of ways.”