Hi my name is Liu Yuxi a student at the Jinan University -University of Birmingham Joint Institute. In my point of view, one of the significant characteristics of students in J-BJI is “Pioneer”. In academic training, we are encouraged to explore academic fields independently. As a student of Sino-foreign cooperative education studying in an emerging institute, we grow to maturity with J-BJI.
Explore the field independently
Having an outstanding academic performance is never an easy thing in university, especially when your dual degree are Applied Mathematics with Statistics and Statistics. Compared with simply learning the techniques to solve questions, with the help of lecturers, we are encouraged to cultivate the analytical thinking as well as critical thinking while exploring the relations between mathematical ideas.
I still remember that at the beginning I was reluctant to ask questions for fear that the questions I put forward may be stupid. However, soon I found lecturers are always willing to listen to my ideas, enlighten me on the question I proposed and encourage me to give conclusions by myself. As Dr. Leek, the lecturer of Algebra and Combinatorics, has emphasized, he does not view teaching as he is giving information. What he aims to do while teaching is getting students to build the knowledge for themselves. He said that: “I don’t explain from the viewpoint of someone who already know the ideas. I try to explain it as if we are doing it for the first time.”
Besides, the ability to raise interesting issues and explain them with academic theories is what we are guided to do. During the study of Microeconomics, our lecturer, Li Li, advocates using stories reflecting economic phenomenons to cultivate our intuition about independently discovering valuable research topic from daily life.
Our efforts make a difference
I am the one who is always willing to fight for group interests and make changes happen. However, the reality is that most of the time before I enter into university I can only be a rule taker making adjustment against the current situation. But things are different in J-BJI. Our voice matters.
In J-BJI, if you want to find a group of people of similar interests or concerning about certain fields, you will be suggested that “Why not go and build your own team to get somewhere?”
As a freshman in J-BJI, I desired to create a club which let students have fun and make friends in English environment, so I accepted the invitation from my classmates to set up the CIA Club (Communicative, Interactive, Always) together. We hold theme activities at regular intervals for students in J-BJI, playing games, enjoying live music shows and enjoying collision of thoughts.
What’s more, the other student organization I have to mention is Staff-Student Commission(SSC) where a group of ambitious students are devoted to guaranteeing students’ interests and assisting the development of J-BJI. Working in SSC stimulates me to challenge the current system with convincing evidence collected by acquiring suggestions from classmates or devising surveys. I give feedback about the current modules in regular meetings with the general office of J-BJI, discussing the career planning in informal meeting with the team of career center from UoB, attending the Forth Global Student Leadership Forum as a delegate of J-BJI— I gain self-improvement while making contribution to this institute I love.
The future is in our hands
In a more microscopic aspect, Sino-foreign Cooperative Education is actually a breakthrough in the current education system. Given that the mainstream in the world is using English to communicate and compete, the majority of best education resources are served in English, most of the academic articles are released in English, the universal language of international meetings is English. It seems that it’s crucial to learn English, but what truly matters is the way they think. It is quite a revolutionary measure that allow foreign educational methods as well as ideas to come into China. We, the students who choose to join in the Sino-foreign Cooperative Education are undoubtedly, pioneers. With undeniable indeterminacy, we are pioneers as we involve ourselves in finding the balance between Chinese and English education system. More importantly, we are endowed with the global vision as well as the ability to achieve cross-cultural communication.
J-BJI as a newborn institute, the staff and students are all playing their role as the pioneers. Teachers and students are making joint efforts to find a way for the localization of the western education system. Although there may be challenges, we are running towards brilliant prospects.