6th International Culture Festival and Opening Ceremony of 2013 International Summer School

The 6th International Culture Festival of Tianjin University (TJU) and the Opening Ceremony of 2013 International Summer School at TJU, jointly held by the School of International Education and the Office of International Cooperation, took place on May 25, 2013 at Liulitai Square.

Hundreds of TJU’s international students, who represent nearly 100 countries and regions with different cultures, gathered and displayed their native attributes through dozens of booths with pictures, delicious international foods, and artistic handcrafts. The Liulitai Square became a “mini World Expo”, in which people from different cultures gathered and created a platform for friendship and understanding between Chinese and international students. At the Festival, international students from different countries held charity sales for the Ya’an earthquake stricken area, in which part of their gains would be donated.

It is known that TJU is among the first batch of universities in China that enrolls foreign students. A total number of 606 international students representing 97 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas are now studying at TJU. Every year, summer exchange programs with the United States, South Korea, Russia, and other countries also bring students from different countries to TJU, creating a vibrant scenery on campus.

Assistant to the President of Tianjin University, Dr. Zhang Lixin addressed the opening ceremony, kicked off the event by pressing a crystal ball with directors from the School of International Education and the Office of International Cooperation.

As International Summer programs at TJU have been consistently developing both in quantity and scale, TJU officially launched an International Summer School this year. More than 300 students from 10 universities including the Georgia Institute of Technology, Case Western Reserve University, the University of Queensland, and universities in Hong Kong and Taiwan, China, successively participated in the International Summer School, where they will spend a memorable summer with TJU faculty and students.

The Georgia Institute of Technology started its one-month China Summer Program on May 19, 2013, a program done with TJU since 2009, during which professors from the Georgia Tech will teach their credit courses at TJU, where TJU students are allowed to audit, creating an opportunity for TJU students to attend courses of well known American universities. Meanwhile, TJU also prepared traditional Chinese Martial Arts, Tai Chi, and Chinese language courses for US students. After class, TJU student volunteers also participated in cultural and recreational activities such as basketball and football matches, cultural visits and so on. Georgia Tech students celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival at TJU students and professors’ homes where they tasted traditional Chinese culture with TJU students.