Huong Nguyen was a student in the MA in Professional Languages and Intercultural Studies (MAPLIS) program at the University of Leeds from 2015-2016. The letter writer, Dr. Haynes Collins, was impressed with how quickly Huong adapted to the British higher education system and was actively involved in the university and surrounding community through volunteer work and an internship. Huong engaged well in class discussions, drew other students in, and demonstrated curiosity about social issues. Her academic work was strong and she is expected to graduate with merit. Dr. Collins highly recommends Huong.

1. 24 October 2016
October 24, 2016
To whom it may concern,
Reference for Huong Nguyen
Huong Nguyen was a student on our MA in Professional Languages and Intercultural Studies (MAPLIS) in the 2015-2016
academic year. This programme is designed to help students develop a broad understanding of the nature of
contemporary relations between different cultural groups, as well as the cultural sensitivity and high-level communication
skills needed for use in international settings. This is a relatively small taught postgraduate programme which gives the
staff the opportunity to learn a great deal about our students. I can say, without reservation, that Huong has demonstrated
an excellent command of the attitude, knowledge and skills which MAPLIS emphasises and she has been a truly
dedicated student who has a clear global outlook. I was particularly impressed with how quickly Huong adapted to the
demands of the British Higher Education (HE) system and to how active she was within the University of Leeds and
surrounding community.
Throughout my years at Leeds I have sometimes found it necessary to encourage students to be active and to participate
in extra-curricular activities which contribute to their overall student experience. For Huong, this encouragement was
unnecessary as she was very pro-active in taking opportunities to make contributions both within the University and wider
community. Huong actively engaged with life as a student as evidenced by her volunteer work with the Leeds
International Film Festival and through her intern work as research assistant on a School project entitled ‘Finding a
Common Thread.’ Huong was very successful in these roles due to her ability to work well with people from a range of
diverse backgrounds and her ability to work well in teams. Within the programme itself, Huong engaged in lectures and
seminars and had no hesitation in expressing very thoughtful views. At the same time, she retained a clear sensitivity to
the group and was able to help draw other students into the discussion. This was also always achieved in a very friendly
and open manner, and one which retained a sense of professionalism.
Huong’s academic work was also very good and her degree classification is likely to be in the merit range once this is
confirmed in the November exam boards. What stands out perhaps the most about Huong’s work on the programme
was that she demonstrated a curiosity about a broad range of social issues and was keen to investigate and engage in
the practical day-to-day application of academic theory. This included consistently questioning and exploring how theory
relates to the world outside of academia. A perfect example of this was in her final dissertation where she explored the
linguistic landscape of several multilingual families and their attitudes towards multilingualism. Another clear strength that
was noted was her ability to draw on her prior work experience in Vietnam to great use in the ‘Managing Business across
Cultures’ module.
In sum, Huong was an absolute pleasure to teach and I would recommend her to you most highly. Please do not hesitate
to contact me if you need any further information.
Yours faithfully,
Haynes Collins
Dr. Haynes Collins
Senior English Teaching Fellow
MA Professional Language and Intercultural Studies Programme Manager
Email : h.collins@leeds.ac.uk
MA in Professional Language and
Intercultural Studies
SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES, CULTURES AND SOCIETIES

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