The Review 2002

The University supports multiple learning opportunities to enrich students’ learning experiences. Hundreds of courses, lectures and societ ies are of fered outs ide of the cur r i cu l um and many are i n i t i ated by students. We especially encourage contact with the outside world and other cultures, through exchanges and mi x i ng wi th internat ional students and academics on campus. These interactions help students to mature and develop their thinking and social ski l ls – ski l ls that wi l l be useful to them throughout their lives. About ten per cent of our student population now goes overseas or to Mainland China each year for exchanges lasting from a few weeks to one year. These exchanges are organised both centrally by the University and by individual faculties and departments. Our largest overseas programme is a student exchange arrangement with more than 100 leading universities in the United States, Britain, Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Germany and elsewhere, signi fy ing internat ional recognition of the high quality of our teaching. Our undergraduates can study for up to one year at any of these institutions, earning credits towards their degree here. More than 200 of the University’s students participated in this exchange programme in 2001– 02, wi th scholarship support. Past participants have reported the overseas experience helped them to develop personally and academically, and made them more attractive to employers. The student exchange arrangement is reciprocal and students from 75 countries have been brought to the University’s campus to study. They are attracted by our use of English, high academic standards and proximity to China. This is also an attraction for overseas students from universities where there is no exchange agreement, and in 2001– 02 we admitted about 900 students in this category. On the Mainland, the University works closely with Chinese universities, such as Peking University, Tsinghua University and Fudan Uni versi ty, to offer a window for Mainland students and academics to the outside wor ld, and v ice versa. Mainland students can enter full-time undergraduate study on a scholarship at the University and the f i rst batch to do so graduated in 2002. Following a new policy of the Government, we also launched a fee-pay ing scheme for Mainland undergraduates in 2002. This attracted very positive coverage in the media and we received more than 1,000 applications for sixty places. Addi t ional l y, we began admitting undergraduate exchange students from the Mainland in 2001– 02 to study for one or two semesters and we continued to attract large numbers of outstanding Mainland post-graduate students to our research programmes. Summer study programmes are a l so of fered by the Un i vers i ty, i n addi t ion to exchanges during the academic year. More than 120 of our students went on cultural or language study trips to Russia, Korea and Europe in 2002. Another 450 students went to the Mainland, where we have of fered summer study t r ips s i nce 1995. They participated in fifteen programmes focusing on everyth i ng f rom cu l ture and l aw to management and music. Thirty other students joined the China Vactrain programme, which places students in Mainland companies for two months to he lp them understand business on the Mainland better. Sun Jiada was among the first ful l-time Mainland undergraduates admitted to the University. He graduated in 2002 and is pursuing a Master’s degree here. “Hall life was the most special aspect of my life here. I learnt how to live independently and how to get along with different kinds of people. I made many friends. “The credit system allowed me to choose courses according to my interests. Only half the courses I took were compulsory for my degree in physics. I treasure this freedom in choosing courses, which widened my horizons a lot. “I think this is a universi ty of t ruly international stature. I can be in touch with the most advanced technologies and scientific developments. Moreover, there is a communi ty of excel lent internat ional scient ists and students. I t is a great environment for study and research.” We employ some of the best academics in the world, who encourage students to be independent learners. 13