The 2023 International Higher Education Alliance for Mining, Energy, and Environment, along with the Jiangsu-UK World-Class University Consortium Summer School, concluded with great success in July this year at China University of Mining & Technology. This marks the 9th successful edition of the University’s summer school program since 2014.
The summer school lasted 12 days and attracted 168 Chinese and foreign students, the largest number ever, to participate in the program from 18 universities and colleges in 9 countries, namely Freiberg University of Mining and Technology (Germany), University of Wollongong (Australia), University of Liverpool (UK), Catholic University of Salta (Argentina), Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo (Ecuador), Hanoi University of Mining and Geology (Vietnam), etc, as well as CUMT, Jiangsu University, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications, Nantong University, Changzhou University, and other member universities of the Jiangsu-UK Consortium. During the two-week summer school program, Chinese and foreign students studied six specialized and cultural courses together, including Modern Mining and Safe Mining, Advanced Manufacturing Technology, New Energy and City, Contemporary Chinese Economy, China’s History, Art and Intercultural Communication, and Overview of Traditional Chinese and Western Architecture.
Opening Ceremony
Teachers and Students from Home and Abroad Found a Renewal of Their Acquaintance as Scheduled
On the afternoon of 27th June, teachers and students from home and aboard who participated in Summer School came to the grand gathering as promised in “online + on-site” ways, and participated in the Opening Ceremony which was hosted by Xu Lang, Deputy Director of International Office. In his opening speech, Zhang Zhenkang, director of the International Office, said the summer school, which is an international platform for Chinese and foreign students to learn from each other, has attracted more than 300 overseas students from more than 10 countries, including the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, Australia, Poland, Austria, Vietnam, Indonesia and other countries since it was held in 2014. The courses and cultural experiences arranged by the summer school enriched the overseas participants’ professional knowledge and deepened their understanding of Chinese culture, making it a wonderful memory. In order to facilitate overseas students to be able to study both polytechnic and cultural programs at the same time, the school has rationalized the start time of this year's summer school to meet the convenience of the majority of participants. Zhang expressed his hope that through the summer school platform, participants from different countries and with different cultural backgrounds can gain rich rewards and benefits.
At the opening ceremony, representatives of teachers and students from home and aboard spoke highly of the summer school activities organized by the university. Cynthia Yu Wang, Project Manager in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics of the University of Liverpool, a Jiangsu-UK Consortium member, expressed his gratitude to CUMT on behalf of the UK universities in Jiangsu-UK Consortium for the opportunity to take part in the summer school, which also provided students with a choice of courses that combine science and culture. The British students who have participated in the previous summer schools have highly praised the program, saying that it has effectively enhanced academic and cultural exchanges between China and the UK. Professor Zhang Lei of the School of Mining Engineering, a representative of the summer school lecturers, said that the school’s summer school has become an internationally renowned brand program after years of development. Over the years of his involvement in summer school teaching, he has nurtured plenty of outstanding classes and has developed a strong bond with the summer school and the students who participated. Covic Mutonkole, an international student from the School of Mining Engineering of the University and a representative of the participating students, said this is his second participation in the summer school program organized by the university, which is not only an avenue to broaden his professional knowledge but also an opportunity to explore new academic perspectives. He hoped to realize his college dream through this platform of international friendship.
Cynthia Yu Wang, Project Manager in the Department of Electrical
Engineering and Electronics of University of Liverpool,
a Jiangsu-UK Consortium university, giving his speech
Professor Zhang Lei of the School of Mining Engineering, a representative
of the summer school lecturers, giving his speech
Covic Mutonkole, an international student from the School of Mining
Engineering of the University, giving his speech as a
representative of the participating students
“Online + On-site” Organic Interactions Deepen Communication
The courses of this year’s summer school continued to adopt an “Online + On-site” model. On-site students included our undergraduate and postgraduate students (including international students), while online students included undergraduate and postgraduate students from our 8 overseas partner universities and 8 provincial member universities of the Jiangsu-UK Consortium. This year’s summer school achieved the largest statistics in its history: both in terms of the total number of participating universities and the total number of students.
With the idea of optimizing knowledge structure and expanding academic vision, the Summer School actively encouraged students majoring in science, technology and humanities to choose interdisciplinary courses. The places for the three science and engineering courses and three Chinese culture courses offered by the Summer School were all taken up before the deadline for selection. Some of the courses had to temporarily increase the maximum number of participants at the request of students. The Summer School lecturers were well versed in the “Online + On-site” model of teaching in English: they gave equal importance to the interaction and communication in the “Online + On-site” classroom, while at the same time teaching their specialized knowledge. Not only that, the discussion part took up nearly 50% of the time spent on Chinese culture lectures, and the classroom atmosphere was very active, adopting a teaching style close to that of the world’s leading universities. The interactive mode of communication adopted in the summer school not only helped students digest their professional knowledge, but also helped to cultivate their thinking and communication skills, while further enhancing the friendship between Chinese and foreign students.
Teacher interacting with students from China and abroad
Students actively asking questions
After the lecture, the teacher took a group photo with students from
China and abroad together, including online students
China-foreign Teaching Model creates Brand-name Courses
The solid quality of the program is the solid foundation for the international reach of a summer school brand. Through years of practical experience, the summer school lecturers’ English teaching ability has been significantly improved, with their teaching methods becoming increasingly rich, helping to cultivate and develop an all-English teaching team for the university. With the continuous optimization of the course structure, the Summer School has basically stabilized a balanced model of 1:1 between science & technology and culture courses, and has enabled a series of brand courses of high quality, professionalism, and rich teaching content in science & technology and Chinese culture.
The Modern Mining and Safe Mining course, which highlights the university’s mining and energy specialties, promotes outstanding scientific and technological achievements to the world and showcases the university’s scientific research strength through new teaching sections such as Smart Mining and Green Mining; moreover, in the context of the international era of Industry 4.0, we offer a course on “Advanced Manufacturing Technology”; Moreover, we have also introduced a course on “New Energy and City” under the new world themes of ecological protection, energy structure revolution and sustainable development. We have kept up with the trend for new content and courses, which has significantly stimulated interest in the Summer Schools from both domestic and international students, and further expanded the range of subject specializations available to the participants. Three courses, Contemporary Chinese Economy, China’s History, Art and Intercultural Communication, and Overview of Traditional Chinese and Western Architecture, visually and effectively promoted China’s gorgeous culture and demonstrated the remarkable achievements of China’s economic and social development.
Karolina Grabowska, a Polish student of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Liverpool in the UK, expressed his feelings after attending the course “Modern Mining and Safe Mining”:
My homeland is also a country with massive mining resources, so I chose this course with curiosity. I was impressed by the China’s advanced mining technology and equipment shown in the course, and the most impressive part was the smart mining technic. There is obvious that China is at the forefront of the world in this field. Thanks to CUMT for giving me this learning opportunity and I think I will probably come back next year.
Summer School’s courses in 2023 has been optimized and upgraded from the last time. Dr. Lorna Kiamba, Prof. Yupeng Wu and Dr. Florian Wiedmann from the University of Nottingham, UK, were invited to co-teach the course “New Energy and City” with Prof. Chen Ning. Professor Chen Ning was responsible for introducing the basic science and technology part of “New Energy evolved from Renewable Energy”, and then three professors from the UK introduced respectively: sustainable building design methodology, advanced building energy-saving technology and development of a sustainable city. In this way, the course has formed a progressive structure of “scientific foundation - design methodology - individual application - integrative construction”. Building on the original foundation, the new course’s content structure integrated Western and Chinese ways of thinking and design concepts, made it highly valued by students.
Pravash Tiwari, a PhD student at the School of Environmental and Surveying Engineering, said after completing this course:
I used to be engaged in basic experiments and data processing in the laboratory for a long time, but this time, the course “New Energy and City” has refreshed my professional vision. Something especially valuable is that the course content showed a regular and orderly path of scientific & technological development: High-end large-scale applications all come from the step-by-step evolution of key breakthroughs in basic science, this idea shocked my academic thinking like a beam of light. My scientific research ability has been significantly improved.
Prof. Chen Ning, CUMT’s lecturer, giving an in-site lecture on
the new energy (renewable energy) section of the course
Prof. Florian Wiedmann of the University of Nottingham, giving his
lecture on the “sustainable city” section of the course online
Building Bridges for International Research Cooperation
The model of co-teaching between Chinese and foreign lecturers demonstrated advanced teaching and research achievements in a collaborative manner, helped students understand the current situation and future development trend of the industry, and also provided opportunities for cooperation in research and academic exchanges among faculty of the member universities of the consortium. Professor Chen Ning, who has participated in summer school lectures for many years, has said that the summer school courses have built a platform for academic exchanges and collision of ideas between Chinese and foreign teachers and students. This year’s Summer School, with its joint teaching mode, provided ample opportunities for Chinese and British scholars to have in-depth exchanges. The Department of Engineering of the University of Nottingham planned to send a delegation to CUMT within this year to carry out further academic exchanges and research cooperation, and to discuss matters of cooperation for the next summer school.
See you again in 2024 in Xuzhou, China!
At the closing ceremony of the summer school, Zhang Zhenkang, Director of CUMT International Office, said in his speech that the summer school of China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT) aims to provide an interdisciplinary exchange platform for students from different countries and cultures to learn new knowledge and exchange new ideas. He hoped that everyone would make full use of this platform to explore the academic frontiers, promote innovative thinking and build deep friendships. In the future, in the context of the digital economy era, CUMT will further optimize the curriculum of the summer school with regard to the wishes of more students, introduce more courses in new engineering fields, such as artificial intelligence, big data, etc. Moreover, the university intends to resume in-site courses for international participants in the 2024 Summer School. Next year, we extend a warm welcome to teachers and students from universities and colleges worldwide to visit Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province. Come and join us at the CUMT campus to immerse yourselves in our courses, experience Chinese culture, and explore the stunning scenery of China firsthand.
This year’s summer school program has concluded successfully, and we eagerly anticipate your participation next year!
On the Closing Ceremony
