In order to promote culture construction of international campus, provide more cultural activities and experience for international students, and present compelling China stories, the Graduate School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University held “My Graduate Life @SJTU” International Student Short Video Competition Awards Ceremony and the SJTU "Bridge Builders" International Students Forum on March 29th, 2023. More than 50 international students from 26 countries including Italy, France, Brazil, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Costa Rica and so on participated in the event. Representatives from Graduate School, International Student Center, International Student Service Center and staff of International Student Affairs Office，as well as from different schools participated in the event.
In order to encourage international students to show their life of studying in China and SJTU from the first perspective and tell the story of studying in China, Graduate School launched “My Graduate Life @SJTU” International Student Short Video Competition to all international graduate students, which aims to demonstrate the internationalization of SJTU through multiple channels. International students from 15 countries, including Mozhorocco, Slovenia, Kenya, and Afghanistan and so on participated in the competition actively. The students shared their life in SJTU from different perspectives, describing their graduate life and learning experiences in China. After preliminary review and expert evaluation, 1 first prize, 2 second prizes, 3 third prizes, and 8 excellence awards were finally selected and the video works were published on domestic and foreign media platforms. Guests attending the event included Li Hourui, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department, Ge Yang, Deputy Director of Students’ Affairs Division, Ma Wei, Deputy Director of International Affairs Division and Director of the International Student Center, Li Chunmei, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Media and Communication, and Wang Qian, Director of the International Affairs Office of the Graduate School.
The first prize winner, Noah Andrea Namwamba, a Kenyan PhD student from the School of Media and Communication, gave the acceptance speech on behalf of the winning students. In his acceptance speech, Noah said “The most impressive thing in today’s event is our diversity. Through this wonderful event, our understanding of cross-culture communication comes to life from the paper to the practice. We bring all different fabulous stories together and try to understand and sympathize with each other, which is indeed the greatest example that shows the true value of cross-culture communication.”
As an important lecture for international students to cultivate their cross-cultural communication ability, with the theme “Let’s Talk!”, the first phase of the SJTU “Bridge Builders” International Student Salon invited Dr. Zhang Xiaoqiao from the School of Education to have a face-to-face conversation with international students. After mutual self-introduction, starting with the topic of “acculturation”, Dr. Zhang shared her personal experience in dealing with challenges that international students may face in their early stages of studying abroad, such as anxiety about the second language, identity recognition, and interpersonal relationships. Also, she shared the solving strategies and some public psychological counseling resources to help international students adapt to their life in China and promote cross-cultural communication. Her words full of humor sparked active discussion among the students and created a lively atsmosphere.
The Graduate School will cooperate with the International Student Center of International Affairs Division and the Students Affairs Steering Committee to organize more cultural salon activities for international students in various forms to enhance cross-cultural exchanges. At the same time, SJTU will provide broader stage for international students to tell their stories of studying in China and show the charm of studying in SJTU, helping international students to spread the voice of China and tell compelling Chinese stories to the world.
