To better learn about the overall educationsituation and the life and study of Xiamen University’s international studentsand further improve the international level of XMU’s postgraduate education, onOct. 19th, the Graduate School invited 19 international Master’s and doctoralstudents from 9 colleges such as College of Humanities, School of Journalism &Communication, School of Law, School of Economics, School of Management,College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, School of Information Science &Engineering, Institute for Financial & Accounting Studies and ResearchSchool for Southeast Asian Studies, etc. to have a coffee talk with leaders ofthe Graduate School. The 19 students come from 13 countries such as Columbia,Mexico, Spain, Korea, the Philippines, Pakistan and Ghana, etc. Dr. Taotao,executive dean of the Graduate School hosted the talks in English. Dr. XueChenglong, vice director of Office of Academic Affairs and Ms. Fan Lijuan, vicedirector of Office of Postgraduate Degrees and Program also attended themeeting.
The student attendees participated activelyand talked about their own study and life at Xiamen University one afteranother. They spoke highly of the scenic landscape and well-equippedenvironment of Xiamen University and they all cherished the preciousopportunities to study here. At the same time, students are very active to givesuggestions about how to promote the internationalization of universityeducation. Song Eunyeong, Korean doctoral student from the College of Chemistry& Chemical Engineering suggested that the places of different courses canbe closer because commuting between Siming Campus and Xiang’an campus on thesame day was not very convenient. Constantin James Go, Philippine doctoralstudents from the Research School for Southeast Asian Studies said that heobtained both his bachelor’s and Master’s degree at Xiamen University and isright now pursuing his PhD. degree. He is very much attached to Xiamen Universityand hopes that supervisors can better guide students through the dissertationwriting and help them graduate on time while ensuring the qualities ofdissertations.
Mohammad Maruf Has, Bangladesh doctoralstudent from the School of Economics said that the number of required coursesevery semester should be better arranged and teaching progress better managedso that international students can better master the knowledge. Shaila Akter Saky,Bangladesh Master's student from the College of Chemistry & ChemicalEngineering spoke about the lack of communication with his Chinese classmatesbecause of the language barrier. He hoped to communicate more with Chinesestudents to promote mutual progress. International students at the meeting allexpressed the wish to have more Chinese classes to improve their Chineseproficiency. They also expected more translation of university documents andinformation. Such kinds of talks from the Graduate School have received good responsefrom international students as they provide a platform for the exchange betweenstudents and the university.
The atmosphere over the coffee talks waswarm and friendly. Leaders from the Graduate School listened to students’suggestions carefully, answered their questions patiently and encouraged themto communicate more with their supervisors and classmates. They hoped thatinternational students can adjust to the study and life in the new culturalenvironment as soon as possible.
Currently, there are 644 internationalpostgraduates from 98 countries studying 108 majors at Xiamen University,accounting for 4.1% of the total postgraduate student population.
(Source: Graduate School; Translation:OSAO)
