Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) has worked hard to create an environmental with global vision. With over 90% of our faculty having worked or studied outside of mainland China, SUSTech is infused with an international outlook that flows through to our students. With this in mind, SUSTech has worked hard to develop plenty of programs for students to go abroad to study. More than 60 undergraduate students were overseas when the call went out for information about their time in another country, and this is their story.
Liang Rong
Nuremburg, Germany – Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)
While many students opt for the United States, the United Kingdom or another English-speaking Western country, some students choose to head in a different direction. Several SUSTech students have chosen to travel to Nuremberg in Bavaria, southern Germany.
Liang Rong came to SUSTech from Hunan Province. She is majoring in Chemistry, and wanted to come to SUSTech as she wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted to study before arriving on campus. Liang Rong was happy about being able to study different subjects from a variety of majors before making her decision.
She wanted to study abroad to meet new people from different cultures and backgrounds. She also wanted to explore Europe, and found that this was an excellent way to spread her wings in Europe. Her parents supported his decision to go abroad, and Liang Rong received a scholarship from FAU reducing the costs substantially. SUSTech also assisted her with some of his living expenses in Germany.
Why FAU?
FAU is a public research university that is based in both the cities of Erlangen and Nuremberg. The name comes from its first founder and first benefactor. It is the second largest state university in Bavaria. It has nearly thirty nine thousand students in total, with nearly half being female and over five thousand students from overseas.
FAU has a long, storied history, having existed since 1743. It is particularly strong in engineering, technology, computer sciences, clinical medicine, pharmacological sciences, natural sciences and mathematics. FAU is consistently ranked as one of the top universities in Germany by all the top university ranking systems.
Liang Rong chose FAU because it has a strong chemistry program. She also noted that she has wanted to go to Germany for a long time because of its special place in the world. He also noted that German girls are uniquely beautiful and German boys are very handsome. Liang Rong has been studying in the FAU Computer Chemistry Center, and has struggled at times to adjust to the research life. However, she has now found her feet. Liang Rong noted that the research environment at FAU is not as intense as that as in China. She noted that researchers generally do not work late into the night or on weekends.
Liang Rong was conducting research on molecular dynamics simulations on the coordination of metal ions and hexadecylphosphonic acid layer. It is an area that she wants to research in the future, hence her decision to head down this path at FAU. The molecular dynamic simulation is a new area of research for Liang Rong, but her supportive supervisor taught her a huge amount. “I really appreciate the assistance that he gave me and helped me with my life at FAU.”
Her experience in Germany
Liang Rong admits that her time in Germany has not been the easiest. While her English studies at SUSTech helped her prepare for some of her interactions with her fellow researchers, she has not picked up much German. This has made it hard to make new friends and make real connections with people.
In terms of the differences between China and Germany, Liang Rong noted how much time German people like to relax in the sun, compared to the use of umbrellas by Chinese people to protect themselves from the sun. She also observed that many German people do not carry umbrellas during periods of rain, despite the rapid changes in weather. The weather tended to be much colder than Shenzhen – a new experience for Liang Rong, despite her background from Hunan Province.
Liang Rong tried to travel around as much as possible in her free time. She felt that the churches in Nuremburg were far more beautiful than the museums, as they were very tall with fantastical and colorful windows. The gothic churches, mostly in the Old Town, were built between the 13th and 15th centuries, providing a unique tourist attraction. There is a museum of particular note for many Western tourists, but it is also an active court room.
Obviously, food in Western countries is very different from food in mainland China. However, this is particularly the case for Germany, which has a unique food culture of its own. Liang Rong noted that most of the food in the different food halls was potato-based. The addition of different sorts of cheese to certain dishes also was an initial struggle, but she eventually adapted to the different cuisines on offer. Liang Rong nominated ice cream, schweinshaxe (pork knuckle) and wurst (sausage) and some of the unique German dishes she came to enjoy.
Why SUSTech students should go on exchange
It is a good opportunity for us to experience the different cultures and different people, and learn something from foreigners. For example, I found that most people in Germany are polite and friendly to others, even strangers. However, when I met some Chinese students, we said nothing and are indifferent to each other.
The most important thing I learned is that we should relax more when we are supposed to have a rest. That way, we can be energetic in our work, which is really important in my research life. I do not think it is better for us to work all day and stay up late. Although the researchers in FAU have a lot of time to relax (they have 30 vacation days on top of the legal holidays), they still do an excellent job in their work.
Finally, I think it is a good opportunity for us to find out whether we can be accustomed to the life in other countries. For me, it is relaxing to live and study in Germany, and I can have a good academic atmosphere. However, since I cannot speak German, I was lonely there. As a result, I wouldn’t choose a German university as my future graduate university, but it is still a good and unforgettable experience for me.
One of the basic missions of the Global Engagement Office (GEO) is to ‘internationalize’ the student experience through providing opportunities for students to immerse themselves in other cultures, develop their cross-cultural competencies, and raise awareness of the complexities of global issues. It is a principle of the university’s vision to be a global university; an element of this understanding is to provide SUSTech students with the opportunity to study abroad for a certain period (from several weeks – a summer program – to one year).
So far, the Global Engagement Office has established cooperation with major institutions from all over the world and provides nearly 50 different study abroad programs to our undergraduates, with a variety of program options, ranging from short-term programs such as summer schools and research internships, semester programs such as visiting student programs and exchange programs, to joint-degree programs such as “3+2”, “3+1+1” and more.
If students would like to learn more about current programs and info sessions managed by GEO, please visit our website (https://geo.sustc.edu.cn/) and are invited to follow the GEO WeChat public account (search “南科大国际合作部”). Students can also send emails to geo_students@sustech.edu.cn for any enquiries regarding studying abroad programs.
