Two York students are winners of Export Development Canada’s 2007 International Business Scholarships worth $3,000 a piece.
Michael Shum and Dina Basevich, both in the International Bachelor of Business Administration Program (iBBA) at the Schulich School of Business, are two of 25 scholarship recipients recently announced by Export Development Canada (EDC). The scholarships were awarded to top undergraduate students in business or economics programs at universities across the country who are interested in pursuing a career or furthering their studies in international business. Recipients needed to demonstrate leadership and team-player skills, have international experience and an excellent academic record.
For Shum, the EDC scholarship couldn’t have come at a better time. "It means a lot to me to win this scholarship since Canada’s international competitiveness is an issue I’m particularly passionate about, and an area that the EDC strives to address," said Shum.
Right: Michael Shum in Laos
As part of the iBBA Program, Shum has taken business courses with an international focus and language courses, including Mandarin and Korean. He has also taken part in exchanges with partner schools in Shanghai and Singapore.
"This focus on business on an international stage prepared me well for this EDC scholarship, and as a student about to embark on a 15-country tour of Asia, the money was much appreciated as well," said Shum, who learned about the scholarship through an e-mail sent to everyone in the iBBA Program. Although there was an opportunity to complete a four-month internship at EDC as part of the scholarship, Shum was already doing an internship in Hong Kong at the time.
After graduating this spring, Shum says he’ll be working full time for a capital advisory firm in Vancouver. In the meantime, he will continue to run his investment partnership, Shalifay, an investment company he helped found with two of his peers at school.
Export Development Canada, a Crown corporation with a mandate to develop Canada’s capacity to engage in international trade, has helped Canadian exporters and investors succeed in global markets for over 60 years. It provides trade finance and risk management services along with foreign market expertise.
Basevich is currently fullfilling the international exchange portion of the iBBA Program and was not available for comment. Every student in the iBBA Program is required to spend at least one academic term abroad at one of Schulich’s exchange partners.
For more information about the EDC scholarships, click here.