Rongchang Scholars Training Seminars 2024

The Rongchang Scholars Training Seminars (hereinafter also referred to as “the Training Seminars”) are a tailor-made course designed in collaboration with and for the Rongchang Scholars Program of of Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

The Training Seminars equip a cohort of students selected and fully funded by Fudan University with the theoretical and practical tools to pursue careers in support of efforts aimed at achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly within the United Nations system – including the ILO –and other International Organizations.

This is achieved by relying on a combination of face-to-face plenary sessions and a study tour in Rome under the guidance of a core faculty of ITCILO, ILO and UN officials, diplomacy, mediation and negotiation experts.

OBJECTIVES

By the end of the course, participants have:

• Identified the main characteristics of the UN Reform process, the essence of UN Leadership, and have explored concrete leadership examples taken from the field (e.g., UNOWAS for Africa, UN RCOs for the Asia-Pacific region);

• Identified soft skills sought after for careers in international organizations and global governance structures (leadership and teambuilding; self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, social skills for multicultural spaces);

• Explored a variety of diplomacy, mediation and negotiation approaches and skills for the resolution of practical simulations created around multilateral negotiation scenarios taken from intergovernmental and the private sector contexts;

• Unpacked the notion of “global governance” with the support of academic experts and UN high-level officials working inter-disciplinarily and across international organizations, the United States, the European Union, and China;

• Completed a study tour to selected UN Agencies based in Geneva, Switzerland.

CONTENT

The Training Seminars have been structured around the needs of the Rongchang Scholars to hone their international competencies for a career as international civil servants of the United Nations System and other international organizations.

Over the course of two weeks, participants have joined plenary sessions and a study visit to Rome, Italy structured around the following macro-subjects:

(i) The UN System and Building an Impactful Career Therein;

(ii) Leadership Teambuilding;

(iii) International Law at the Crossroads;

(iv) Emotional Intelligence for Working in Multicultural Contexts;

(v) Diplomatic Skills Training;

(vi) AI for Global Governance;

(v) UN Study Visits to ILO Geneva;

(vi) Mediation Beyond the UN.