ACCOUNTING
(Cooperation Program with Curtin University, Australia)
Every year Curtin University and its affiliated student organizations set up a series of student activities on a regular basis in order to enhance students’ sense of participation, sense of belonging and competitiveness in the job market and enrich the students’ campus life. University-level student activities include as follows: “Curtin Volunteers Series” (improving student contact and enhancing practical skills), leadership program and practice activities of Curtin Leadership Center; “Social Sports Competition Series” organized by Curtin University Gymnasium in evenings throughout all the semesters (football, badminton, beach volleyball, men and women mixed basketball, etc). At the same time, the Student Guild, the official student organization, hosts events such as “Opening Party”, “End-semester Party” and various festive activities with different cultural features in multiple forms. Managed by the Student Guild, more than 70 student organizations fall into five categories (Academic/ International/ Issues-based/ Religious/ Special Interest), and they respectively launch unique activities according to their own characteristics and specialties.
Cooperation Program with Huron University College, University of Western Ontario, Canada
After a long flight of a dozen or so hours, students start to experience local life here. The University of Western Ontario organizes a team of volunteers to wait at the airport and welcome international students from all over the world. Drinking water and food are ready on pickup buses for exhausted students who have just finished the long-distance journey. After the buses arrive at the University of Western Ontario, a dormitory management team is also ready to guide students to their own dorms. Small gifts are placed in the dorms to give them a pleasant surprise.
On the basis of familiarity with the living environment, Huron University College and the University of Western Ontario organizes activities to help newly enrolled students better integrate into the collective. Subsequently, “O Week” will last for more than a week. Concerts attract thousands of students, celebrations are kicked off, park picnics are held in the downtown area, while a variety of parties let students get to know each other. Beginning with the helpful pickup at the airport, a series of college-level and university-level activities are planned so that students can become familiar with the local life, gain interpersonal contacts, and gradually eliminate the newcomers sense of fear and disorientation. The newcomers basically spend the first month participating in various activities, and they also have a little initial awareness of understanding local culture.
In addition to adaptive activities in the first month, the university offers various tours around the region over the course of the year for international students. A total of about eight activities are arranged throughout the academic year, which are aimed to help students appreciate the local culture and landscape, including travel to Niagara Falls, a field visit to maple syrup production factory and so on.
In terms of academics, based on courses imparted by foreign professors in China, students adapt to study faster than daily life. It is worth mentioning that there are a lot of assessment methods in the curricula of Huron University College, and credit points are obtained throughout the semester. Therefore, students are encouraged to understand what they study holistically rather than merely cope with the examinations in a perfunctory way. Such a teaching mode is different from that in China.
Cooperation Program with University of Ulster
(UK)
There is a “Chinese Students and Scholars Federation” in University of Ulster, which is a non-profit Chinese student community organization under the leadership and support of the Education Group of the Chinese Embassy in the UK and the Chinese Consulate General of Belfast. It is composed of the Chinese students of University of Ulster. Chinese Students and Scholars Federation organizes a variety of recreational activities from time to time so as to enrich Chinese students’ extra-curricular life. For example, tour for Belfast Zoo, “Night of Running Boys” and other activities are favored by students. In addition, “Spring Festival Evening” of the Chinese People(is this the title of the event? If yes, use quotation marks) is also an annual grand event with great influence on the local Chinese. It is jointly hosted by the Chinese Students and Scholars Federation and Students Federation of Queen’s University. In order to help overseas students become fully aware of the local life, the International Student Office also carries out a number of tours to Northern Ireland so that students can be fully immersed in the local life in their spare time.
