From Jun.26 to Aug. 4, 2012, the most sweltering period of Shanghai, SEM successfully hosted Shanghai International Summer School Program on the main campus of Tongji University. The program features courses related to business topics, inter-cultural communication and Chinese language through combining a series of company visits and cultural activities. The program provides the international students with a great opportunity to know Chinese culture, appreciate the charming metropolis of Shanghai and experience study life in Tongji University, a top Chinese university with a centennial history. In this short six-week period, over 30 students from around the world gain perceptual knowledge of Chinese culture and commercial environment in China.

In the Marketing course, students came to understand the law of finance through the survey on KFC planning management. In the Supply Chain Management course, although facing quite a few challenges of complicated mathematic problems, the Chinese and international students helped each other and finally conquered all the problems. In the Intercultural Communication course, Chinese students, acting as the cultural ambassadors, presented a lively China in front of the international students, with the help from the course teacher.  The most exciting moment for the students shall be the company visit. The program has arranged various kinds of company visits, including foreign-funded corporation, private enterprise, state-owned company and sino-foreign joint ventures, covering marketing consultation, foreign trade and industrial manufacture, etc. After the in-class fundamental knowledge accumulation, the after-class active learning process, accompanied with the vivid and detailed explanation by faculties as well as executives from companies, students all felt benefitted quite a lot.

After class, the Chinese and international students visited Shanghai together, they came to know this charming city in the sight-seeing bus tour, felt the blending of oriental and occidental cultures at the Bund, experienced the Chinese traditional culture via watching Beijing Opera, enjoyed the visual impact from the ERA show featuring Chinese acrobatics, appreciated the Chinese ancient gardens and tea fragrance in the excursion to Suzhou city, tasted the elegance of the southern China riverside town in the Zhujiajiao boat trip, and wandered the nature in the long corridor of the aquarium.

Just as what Fiona, one student from Belgium, said, “It is a challenge for me to come to a country where the language is beyond my mind, however this simple several weeks is the most remarkable and unforgettable experience in my life.”

Video of 2012 Shanghai Summer School Program: https://www.tudou.com/programs/view/nYBkB5WcRgI/

Please visit SSSP webiste: https://sem-international.tongji.edu.cn/events/2012summer.asp