NYU Shanghai’s first graduating class is experiencing great success, with a promising 94 percent of the 2017 class finding employment within a year of graduation.  

NYUSH is the university’s third and most recently opened degree-granting campus. The 290 students that make up the class of 2017 are now applying themselves in a variety of fields such as business, education and technology.

Jeffrey S. Lehman, vice chancellor of NYUSH, explained what the school has to offer for incoming students and the cosmopolitan perspective they gain from attending.

“At NYU Shanghai, I believe our students all become especially effective at working in inclusive, multicultural contexts, and at being able to ‘bridge people’ between China and the rest of the world,” Lehman said in an email. “Our students share a strong esprit de corps; there is a terrific sense that everyone is working hard to lift everyone up together.”

International students studying at NYUSH are placed with a Chinese roommate and gain proficiency in English and Chinese. Their core courses include comparative intellectual history and comparative humanities, where they reflect deeply on the relationship between China and the rest of the world across the millennia.

Tyler Rhorik, a member of NYUSH’s first graduating class, traveled to places such as Prague, Accra, Abu Dhabi, Paris, Taipei and New Delhi during his four years of study. Rhorick graduated with a bachelor’s in Interactive Media Arts and a minor in Global China Studies and was the first international student in China to ever receive a work permit with just a bachelor’s degree. He now works as an associate of New Student Programs.  

“What attracted me to NYU Shanghai is how I thought it would push me out of my comfort zone,” Rhorick said in an email. “Having grown up in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina without a passport and a great interest in social sciences, I always had a desire to understand what life was like for other people in the world.”

Krista Young — another one of NYUSH’s first graduating students — holds a B.A. in Business and Finance and was especially interested in mastering Mandarin and being exposed to a variety of cultures. Young has also interned and studied abroad in New York and Florence. After graduation, Young accepted a fellowship through Princeton in Asia and is now working with a social enterprise called Proximity Designs in Myanmar, where she’s a part of the investor relations team doing fundraising.  

“NYU Shanghai is quite a unique experience in that you are exposed to such a diverse student body and academic curriculum from day one,” Young said in an email. “This program attracts students who are eager to share a taste of their own culture and traditions with others and who want to learn in a cross-cultural setting.”

Along with a proficiency in Mandarin and experience living in cross-cultural environments, Shanghai graduates gain skills that are in high demand in international markets. Interactive Media Arts major Maggie Walsh for example spent six months after graduating helping a German paper manufacturing company implement Chinese business models and digital technology.   

“Designing new products and services is a totally different ballgame when you’re talking about Chinese products because their adoption of technology is at such a higher rate and their innovation is so quick,” she said. “Their entire use of technology is on a different level from a lot of countries. So I think [by attending NYU Shanghai] I gained a solid understanding of how people use technology in China along with Chinese language.”

Correction, Feb. 20: A previous version of this article said Krista Young accepted a fellowship through Princeton University in Asia, however, the fellowship was through Princeton in Asia — Princeton in Asia is an independent non-profit affiliated with Princeton University.

Email Alesha Bradford at [email protected].