Current Affairs Interview

[beenee]

I've been called for an interview at a uni as I've applied for an MA in International Studies. I'm quite sure they'll ask me about current affairs and I do know my stuff. However I do not want to rant on about common public knowledge. Any tips on how I can make particularly intelligent conversation? Any special current / historic political global subject(s) I should know about? Any/all help would be greatly appreciated!

[RCP]

I don't know if this is of any use but there is a programme called something like From our Correspondent on radio 4 where different correspondents highlight stories that are happening where they are based. These would be big stories nationally but not internationally and they go into reasonable detail (which could be followed up with a bit of research if one story caught your attention).Best of luck.

[Quizmonster]

It occurs to me that - if you go for depth - it might not matter that the topic is 'common public knowledge'. One such area that occurs to me immediately is the hoo-haa about the euro-decision. Everybody knows Gordon Brown has reached a decision against and that the Cabinet are to study all his information and offer their opinions on it. However, how many people have the slightest idea what exactly the 'Five Tests' he applied were? Why were they chosen? What are their implications? What will they mean for jobs, prices and so on, if they ever are met?

Another area...Iraq...everyone has views on, but do you know why Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims often fail to see eye to eye?

There are just two current situations that you could try to gather more profound information about. Good luck on the day!

[beenee]

Thank you: Rcp, I regulary read international news correspondents' travel logs and autobiographies. I'll definitely tune into radio 4 from now.

Quizmonster, thank you for suggesting the two areas. The Europe idea didn't even occur to me. Can you or anyone else think of any other areas that could be brought up in the interview?

[Quizmonster]

I mentioned the euro earlier, which is just about the currency, but there is an upcoming European summit where a whole 'Constitution' for Europe is to be discussed. This might involve the UK in far more than just monetary union with our neighbours. What are the pros and cons of that?

Does the USA have any right to act as the world's policeman?

What future - if any - for the United Nations now?

There are three more 'international' ideas which are on the go at the moment. I hope they may be of some use to you.

[woodpam]

It might be an idea to look at newspapers that have totally different viewpoints so that you can compare and contrast. Try The Times and The Guardian for a start, and if you are fluent in another language try and get one for that country to see how reporting priorities differ. Try looking at the Open University website to see what they consider to be the important aspects of International Studies and identify some resources. Globalisation seems to be a huge issue atr the moment and a search on Google will point you in the direction of a variety of opinions on the issue. Good luck. let us know how it goes.