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, the Global Engagement Office 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.

Cao Ruixin

Vancouver, Canada – University of British Columbia (UBC)

Cao Ruixin is a young man from Henan Province in the center of China. He opted to come to SUSTech because, as he told us, he found Shenzhen to be a highly attractive city to study in. Cao Ruixin was also keen to study at SUSTech because of its new ideas in education, as well as the great quality of life and study that it provided. He is studying mechanical engineering at SUSTech, and is a junior student.

He decided to go overseas and study abroad to experience different cultures. He opted to study in Vancouver, Canada at the University of British Columbia. He received plenty of support from the Global Engagement Office, and the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering has long had a relationship with UBC. With that in mind, Department Head Rong Yiming introduced Cao Ruixin to UBC, its laboratories and its professors. While at SUSTech, he was working in the Hybrid Micro/nanofabrication Laboratory, and spent time in the Advanced Manufacturing Processes (AMP) Laboratory at UBC.

Why UBC?

UBC is a global centre for teaching, learning and research, consistently ranked among the top 20 public universities in the world and recently recognized as North America’s most international university.

Since 1915, its motto, Tuum Est (It is Yours), has been a declaration of their commitment to attracting and supporting those who have the drive to shape a better world. As a result, UBC students, faculty and staff continue to embrace innovation and challenge the status quo, placing them at the forefront of discovery, learning and engagement. UBC encourages bold thinking, curiosity and initiative, so you can realize your greatest potential.

Cao Ruixin chose UBC and Vancouver because he believed that Vancouver would be a wonderful city, as well as because of the relationship between the Departments of Mechanical Engineering at SUSTech and UBC. He noted that his time at UBC saw an educational style that focused more on critical thinking than on exam outcomes, an approach that is similar to that of SUSTech. Cao Ruixin also acknowledged how the English educational environment at SUSTech had helped him prepare for life in an educational culture that is exclusively in English. He admitted that he was far more prepared for oral presentations, thanks to the efforts of SUSTech’s English language curriculum.

His experience in Canada

While it took Cao Ruixin some time to adjust to the culture shock, he enjoyed his time in Canada. It wasn’t hard for him to adjust to the different culture, as Cao Ruixin has a healthy respect for different cultures and was expecting to experience something different on going to Vancouver. He felt that the weather was more comfortable than in Shenzhen, in that it was warm in winter and cool in summer, at least compared to southern China.

One thing that Vancouver is known for is its large Chinese population. A census of Canada is due in 2021, but the 2011 census indicated that 27.7% of the population was born in China, with the ethnic Chinese population being higher than that. It is the second largest ethnic and racial group in Vancouver, after native European Canadians. As part of that, Cao Ruixin noted that his local Chinese supermarket was just like one here in Shenzhen, providing all sorts of supplies from mainland China. However, he felt that Vancouver still represented a typical Canadian city.

There were several cultural differences that Cao Ruixin noticed. The most prominent one was the sorting of garbage, particularly when it comes to recycling. Vancouver requires its residents to separate plastics, glass and papers out from general refuse, with most food and garden waste going into a separate bin. There are special collection periods for larger items, such as Christmas trees, furniture or other odd items. He commented that this sophisticated garbage system was impressive and that everybody in Vancouver follows these rules.

In his spare time, Cao Ruixin would regularly attend the gym and the supermarket to look after himself. He was able to get to a couple of museums around Vancouver, including the Beaty Biodiversity Museum and UBC’s Museum of Anthropology. He also took trips to Whistler, a well-known mountain range, and Joffre Lake.

Why people should go on exchange

Going on exchange can help our future academic careers. It’s a good chance for us to experience different cultures in different countries. The support of the Global Engagement Office is important, and students should take advantage of this unique opportunity.

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.