BA (Hons) Chinese and Management, graduated 2004

Current post: Client executive with Burson-Marsteller (a leading WPP-owned PR agency) in the Shanghai office, working on BenQ, eBay, Johnnie Walker.

Jonathan Axup graduated from the University of Leeds in 2004 with a FIRST in Chinese and Management. This degree program proved to be excellent in allowing him to develop unique language and management skills, which paved the way for his entry into a career in Public Relations in China's rapidly emerging economy.

"Since China's recent entry into the WTO all of the world's major corporations are in China or planning how to do it. This means there are a lot of opportunities for graduates who possess the rare skills of fluency in Mandarin, and business knowledge – both of which I learned at the University of Leeds."

As part of this degree, Jonathan took the opportunity to Study Mandarin Chinese at Capital Normal University in Beijing. This not only proved to be a great opportunity to rapidly improve his language skills, but also provided him with a chance to learn much more by traveling through China, teaching English to children, and making friends from 4 continents.

A leading member in the Chinese society, he worked as the Events Manager for the Chinese Society, organizing numerous events for its members. This experience then drove him to choose a career in Public Relations. Combined with transferable skills learned during his degree at Leeds, he was successful in securing a job as Client Executive with a leading WPP-owned PR agency, Burson-Marsteller in Shanghai. Now he uses his Mandarin language skills on a daily basis when dealing with multinational clients including, Accenture, Intel and Diageo.

"It's so exciting, being at the forefront of the recent surge of multinational activity in China. Big news is sometimes on my desk a month before we make it hit the headlines, such as our announcement of Accenture's deal on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Meetings are held in Chinese, and that's OK for me, I participate actively because of the language skills I learned at the University of Leeds."

Since joining the B-M team, he has worked on projects including producing a communications toolkit for 8 countries in support of BenQ's Senseye technology launch. He also worked on the media briefing for Accenture's announcement of it's work on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

"There are a lot of opportunities here in China for someone who has the right skills. You are given a lot more responsibility than you could expect back home. From living in Shanghai I've learned that speaking Mandarin really puts you head-and-shoulders above the competition."