“By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The non-existent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.”

Franz Kafka

Julian Leu

Job summary/responsibilities

Julian’s main responsibilities within Studyportals revolve around managing existing partnerships in the EMEA region, negotiating new agreements, and ensuring the success of the promotion campaigns.

 General introduction/background

Julian was born and raised in the region of Transylvania, within Romania. As a child and teenager, he often accompanied his parents on trips around the world, adventures which taught him that there is more to life than the country one happens to be born in. This is why, upon finishing high school, he decided to continue his life abroad. Over the next couple of years, he lived, studied and worked in the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Belgium and Taiwan.

Julian subsequently obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Management from the University of Glasgow, and an MSc in International Business from Maastricht University, while also undertaking a study exchange at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. In each of these cases, he was fascinated by the prospect of taking a leap into the unknown – boarding a plane bound towards a country he had never been to, and knowing anybody once landed. Each new corner of the world comes with its own set of idiosyncrasies – the particularities of local cuisines, the pace at which people walk on the street, what activities they engage in during their free time – and everything is an enchanting discovery waiting to happen.

 Key challenge

Julian regards his study abroad and international exchange decisions among the very best he has taken, and so he strives to convince others about the benefits of such experiences. Prior to joining Studyportals, such attempts were limited in scope, and had mostly been targeted at his friends. However, now he has the opportunity to give many others the opportunity to fulfil their ambitions of studying abroad.

 Personal Goal

Julian firmly believes that personal development is crucial regardless of age or stage of one’s career. Thus, a good day is a day during which he allocates some time to read a book, learns something new about a city that a client is based in, cooks a new meal, or further develops one of his skills. Learning is a process, and most processes are continuous.

Favourite activities

Julian has always enjoyed travelling and being in the middle of nature, so hiking, long walks and mountain biking rank among his favourite activities. He loves everything about books and films – in his spare time, he is a jury member for a Scottish film festival, and has also won a number of awards for his screenplays at film festivals in Italy, Russia, Venezuela and Israel. During his time in Asia, he became very interested in Eastern philosophy, which served as a nice addition to his mostly stoic collection. More recently, he has been working at developing two new skills: cooking and gardening.