WHU holds opening ceremony for third semester international course week

On July 4th, the opening ceremony of international course week in the third semester of Wuhan University (WHU) was held in a smart room in The Department of Engineering. The ceremony was jointly organized by the Office of International Affairs (OIA) and the Undergraduate College of WHU. Tang Qizhu, Vice President of WHU, Wu Dan, Vice Dean of the Undergraduate College of WHU, Li Xiaoshu, Director of the Office of International Affairs of WHU, Professor Wang Caiqiang, Associate Dean of the School of Design and Mechanics from the National University of Singapore, and Professor Timo Balz from the WHU State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, as well as visiting teachers and students from Duke Kunshan University attended the event either online or offline. The ceremony was moderated by Dr. Liu Xiaoli, Deputy Director of the OIA.

On behalf of WHU, Prof. Tang Qizhu offered congratulations on the opening of the international course week and gave a warm welcome to the students from all over the world. He pointed out that WHU has always attached great importance to the cultivation of top talents with a global vision, and that internationalizing the cultivation of students constitutes a fundamental basis for the international development of universities worldwide. “Wuhan University sincerely hopes that we can provide students with more international resources, as well as with many possibilities for cooperation and exchange with other universities,” Tang said at the ceremony.

Prof. Tang delivering a speech at the ceremony

Prof. Wu Dan introduced background information on international courses at WHU. She pointed out that the setting of the third semester was a reflection of the teaching philosophy of “solid foundation, cross-discipline, innovation and advancement encouragement,” and it offered an opportunity for international exchanges, thus broadening students’ horizons and benefiting their academic career. She emphasized that the international courses in the third semester met students’ demands for international learning, which was a significant step in the internationalization process of WHU.

Prof. Wu making a keynote speech

Prof. Heng Chye Kiang, a representative of the foreign faculty, gave an online speech, saying that he perceived WHU to be a profound and top university and expected students to benefit from the international course week academically. Besides, he hoped that the National University of Singapore and WHU could further strengthen communication, and continue the cooperation in teacher-student exchange and joint research.

Prof. Heng Chye Kiang giving an online speech

According to Prof. Timo Balz, the introduction of the international course week was a successful andindispensable way for students to develop their international vision and for internationalization atWHU. He hoped that WHU would continue to promote the development of international courses and enhance its internationalization level after maturing the all-English teaching method.

Professor Timo Balz speaking at the ceremony

It is reported that the OIA has made the international week a key work of 2022 in order to accelerate internationalization. In March, it set up the third semester English course funding program of WHUtogether with the Undergraduate College, in order to sponsor English-only courses on campus. In April, the OIA sent an announcement to overseas partner universities, attracting a large number of international students from 15 universities to sign up for the international week and attend international courses online. During May and June, WHU’s OIA, Undergraduate College, andPublicity Department as well as deans of relevant schools held a seminar on international courses. Under the coordination of several departments, 20 qualified international courses were successfullydeveloped for the third semester and 30 foreign teachers from 27 different overseas top universities like the University of Cambridge, Duke University, and the National University of Singapore, were invited. Students are enthusiastic about the international courses, and more than 2,300 students chose to attend these courses. Among all these courses, World Art Appreciation attracted more than 440 students.

An undergraduate called Japneet Tejpal Sachdev from Macquarie University chose to attend the international week online. He said, “I major in software engineering, so I want to learn knowledge about AI and big data. Besides, I’m really interested in robot manufacturing, and I expect to meet new friends during the semester.” Wang Xinran, an undergraduate at Duke Kunshan University who signed up for the classes online, said that as a student majoring in data science, she was looking forward to understanding the study of the combination of humanities and art. Nasong Dalai, an undergraduate from WHU, chose to attend the class offline. “As a student studying in the School of Resource and Environmental Sciences at WHU, I want to know more about the frontier knowledge about my major and improve my English,” she said.

Photo by Peng Zhuo

Edited by Zhang Jing, Li Jing, Liang Tong, Zhang Yilin, Sylvia, Xi Bingqing