What can a student truly gain from a humanities education in an era shaped by artificial intelligence? For Ruan Yuzhi, an English Language and Literature graduate from BNBU, studying literature offers not only knowledge, but a way of thinking grounded in empathy, critical inquiry, and intellectual independence. This autumn, she starts her postgraduate journey at the University of Cambridge.
Ruan Yuzhi
Class of 2025, Department of Languages and Cultures
Offer: MPhil in Education (Critical Approach to Children’s Literature)
and MPhil in Digital Humanities, University of Cambridge
Ruan’s passion for literary studies was not without moments of doubt. After receiving an unsatisfactory grade in a Year 2 course, she questioned whether she truly belonged in the English Literature concentration. It was in Dr Zhang Ruixue’s classroom that her confidence and enthusiasm were revived. Ruan was drawn to Dr Zhang’s structured yet engaging teaching style, interdisciplinary approach, and the open, encouraging environment.
Gradually, she became more confident in expressing her ideas, learning to read texts with greater depth and imagination. Her work later earned recognition at Duke Kunshan University’s Undergraduate Humanities Research Conference.
Ruan at the conference
Ruan’s academic growth was nurtured by a network of supportive professors at BNBU, whose guidance, patience, and equal-footed mentorship shaped her most treasured university memories.
In her daily studies, writing papers became a rigorous intellectual exercise she embraced: identifying original critical angles, constructing arguments, and gathering textual evidence through meticulous close reading. Many of these “internal debates” took place in the Learning Resource Centre, her favourite study spot.
Looking ahead to Cambridge, Ruan aims to deepen her expertise, clarify her career direction, and connect with like-minded peers. She believes that the critical and creative capacities nurtured by literature will remain her enduring strengths, allowing her to stay curious, think freely, and remain, in her own words, “a clear-minded romantic in a complex world.”
From MPRO
Reporter: Cecilia Yu
Photos provided by the interviewee
