The graduation ceremony of Economics and Management School of Wuhan University was held on 18^thJune 2016. The first half of the day was the formal graduation ceremony with all the graduates of Economics and Management School, whereas the second half of the program was for foreign students from the international program of the school. Among others majors, there were twenty-one foreign students, coming from countries such as Madagascar, Ghana, Togo, Nepal, Equator, Ukraine, Malaysia and many more, have graduated with their Bachelor degree from Wuhan University with the major in International Economy and Trade.

Current students in the international program of the Economics and Management School have celebrated the graduation of the new batch of alumni, and a “Sharing and Farewell Ceremony” was held in the afternoon of the June 18^th, 2016 in a classroom of the teaching building in Feng Yuan (Garden of Maple, the district on campus where foreign students have spent the most of their time at Wuhan University). Three students are invited to give a speech and shared their experience during the program with current students.

Firstly, Aileen Gutierrez from Equator, a distinguished student to graduate, shared her experienced along with the application process for masters. From her experience, she suggested other students to prepare and take standardized tests before the beginning of senior year, if one wants to continue masters immediately after undergraduate. It is also important to have several options including safe options while applying for colleges. Most importantly, one should not wait for eleventh hour to apply. Aileen also talked about personal essay. It is said the personal essay is what students wants university to know about themselves. In additional, it should include how one fits in the program offered by the college as a personal story. Finally, she talked about the importance of research to the degree one is applying to. She had mentioned too the ways which helps the applicant to find his/her compatible program in the compatible university.

Secondly, Babrik Kushwaha from Nepal, the winner of the 2015 Outstanding International Student Award offered by the Ministry of Education of P.R. China, shared his ways to make best use of the resources in and out of the university. He also focused on the ways to make the time productive while staying in the university. His main message was that one should make the best use of the university’s resources. Apart from university’s compulsory coursework, one could take a lot of extra classes such as languages, mathematics, dance and sports. Despite being quite disadvantaged due to limited language fluency, while opting for extra credits one could be smart and take courses taught by foreign professors which are exclusively taught in English. There are also some international programs taught with English as a medium of instruction. He also suggests that one can have the autonomy to take classes where limited Chinese language is enough to succeed such as Pottery, Advance English, Western Civilization and Culture taught in English, basic language courses (German, French, Russian, Japanese), Current Affairs and Debate and many more, which serves as oasis to international students. Nevertheless, if one knows Chinese language, one could have hundreds of additional choices. The other resources in the university is the library and one could always take part in the competitions organized in the university. He also talked about the progress made by recent graduate in their choice of interest. Some students have already established successful businesses which is itself a noteworthy milestone.

Apart from the resources within the university, there are several online platforms one could make use of. He prefers Khan Academy, Coursera and Duolingo. He also likes watching videos from institutions such as Crashcourse, Peterson Institute, Ted-ed and The Austin Institute to name few. He suggested students to explore the world of internet and to find one’s own information sources to see the beauty of knowledge. Finally, in regard to the cultural shocks faced by foreign students, he concluded his speech with his belief that every problem has a solution; if a problem does not have a solution, then the problem is to be discarded as sometime constant (independent variable). Since independent variable cannot be change one should adapt to it and move forward.

Thirdly, Thibault Hardy-Abeloos from USA shared the process to be an exchange student and presented ways to choose classes outside the curriculum in Wuhan University. He also shared the ways to bolster the Chinese language learning experience. Thibault has been active in various clubs in the university, and according to him it is one of the ways to learn more about China, its culture and to practice Chinese. There are clubs such as “Chinese Bridge Club” which holds interaction programs and is a great resource for foreign students. He also suggests to read books such as Goosebumps in Chinese, and watch series such as “Three Men”and“Tiger Mom Cat Dad”to improve one’s Chinese language.

Thibault also talked about the extra classes and how to go online and register oneself. There are three main categories of classes: specialized courses – specific and related to major, common classes - usually easier and broader than specialized courses, and compulsory public classes (Sports classes) which one could choose from. He also talked about the exchange program. He had been on exchange in Hongkong for one semester. Mostly, one does not have to pay for tuition fees but one has to pay for living expenses during exchange programs. The office which is responsible to look for exchange program in Wuhan University is International exchange service center of Wuhan University which is next to the Alliance Française, near the main gate. One could have various options to choose from such as Hong Kong University, University of Oslo, Norway, Universiteit Gent, University of Madrid, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Waseda University and many more. The rule of thumb while applying for exchange out of China is to apply as early as possible which is at least, a semester in advance.

Representing the Economics and Management School, Associate Professor Lin GUO, the director of the international education office of Economics and Management School had sent her wishes to graduates. She also highlighted the important messages and rules for current students to get ready for next semester. She notified students regarding the registration of course, the course schedule, the date of arrival on campus in September, as well as the rules on attendance and regulations on the discipline of study in the program.

“The foreign students in the school has grown from ten students in 2011 to hundreds at present in a short span of time. This shows our determination to provide quality education and ambition.” Said Lin GUO. The “Sharing and Farewell” event was very informative to students from freshman, sophomore, juniors and seniors and was a memorial experience for the newest batch of alumni. Such event will be a tradition for the program in the future. Lastly, the graduating students were given token of memory followed by photography session.

(Babrik Kushwaha,Guo Lin)