LSE graduate Manuel Schüler
LSE graduate Manuel Schüler has been selected for one of the world’s most prestigious graduate fellowships, located at Schwarzman College in Tsinghua University, Beijing.
Manuel, age 22, is one of 151 candidates selected from a pool of nearly 3,000 applicants worldwide to be part of the Schwarzman Scholars Class of 2023-24, a one-year fully funded master’s programme.
Applicants are selected in recognition of their exceptional academic and personal achievements and work to be a positive force for change.
As part of the programme, Manuel will study for a year at Tsinghua University where the core curriculum will focus on leadership, China and global affairs. In addition, he will be provided with a variety of career development opportunities enabling him to establish a network of professional relationships through internships, mentorship programmes and high-profile speakers.
Having graduated this year with a master’s degree in the Political Economy of Europe from LSE’s European Institute, Manuel now works as a consultant at McKinsey & Company.
He has previously advised the European Central Bank on innovations in monetary policy and interned with Goldman Sachs, Deloitte, and Bloomberg, advancing digitalization and sustainability.
At age 16, he built up South Germany’s first LGBTQ+ youth centre and, at age 18, became Germany’s youngest national-state-theatre director before being elected Hult International Business School’s first black student government President.
Commenting on being selected for the fellowship, Manuel says: “I’m elated to join my classmates from all around the world in the class of 2023/2024 and am thankful for the opportunity to spend a year in Beijing.
“I’m very happy to be able to bring a queer and person of colour (POC) perspective to the scholarship as there are still too many barriers for youth from these backgrounds to get access to leading academic and professional institutions. In the end, this award is not for me, it’s for all the people who I have had the pleasure of working with and who have supported me along the way.”
Discussing the benefits of the scholarship, he adds: “With the current world in a polycrisis and with the re-balancing of power in global politics, we are facing the need for a new generation of mediators and diplomats who have a sound cultural understanding of one another to help the global community make steps towards shared prosperity.
“The Schwarzman Scholars programme with its goal to build cultural understanding between young leaders from all hemispheres is a key building bloc for such exchanges. 2022 has reiterated the urgency for economic co-operation and caution.”
Looking forwards, Manuel hopes to use the skills gained from the scholarship for a variety of future roles including working for the German diplomatic forces as an economic attaché or returning to McKinsey & Company to build a strategic outlook for the global community.
“Talking at large, I also sometimes daydream of becoming Germany’s first POC Chancellor”, he says. Watch this space!.
For more information about Schwarzman Scholars visit: https://www.schwarzmanscholars.org/