From 24 Apr to 4 May 2014, the 8 China Lab participants from Fudan University visited MIT in Cambridge, USA, for the China Lab Week. Joining the participants from Fudan were the other Chinese universities also participating in the China Lab Week, including Yunnan University, Lingnan University, Jiaotong University and Tsinghua University. In this news, the 4 Fudan teams share their experience of the trip:
Team 1 – VIPABC/Tutor Group (Yang Yang & Kathy Pan Li)
It’s been 3 months in the waiting, every second filled with excitement. At 00:30 AM on Friday, 25 Apr 2014, we finally arrived at Boston Logan airport, after over 20 hours of flight. We couldn't wait to start our journey of exploring this dream city where 2 of the best universities in the world are located. The weather was cold and wet, but still we felt warmly welcomed.
On Monday noon, 28 Apr 2014, we attended a welcome lunch for the Action Learning Program of MIT, which included over 60 students from 5 universities in China, including Fudan, Tsinghua, Lingnan, Yunnan and Jiaotong. The welcome was sweet and detailed. We received delicate brochures, maps, introduction of MIT's history, snacks, water and the schedule for the week. We truly appreciated the opportunity to join the courses in MIT recommended by local students, to meet with project team mates and mentors from MIT, and to get to know more friends carrying similar principles, vision and goals.
(Fudan teams with Prof. Tzeng Cheng Hua, Fudan, and Prof. Yasheng Huang, MIT)
MIT Sloan's office also arranged a shopping trip to Wrentham outlet in Boston, to fulfill the shopping list requested on us by our families, friends and ourselves. We spent 4 hours in the outlet that day and left at 9pm. Some of the participants were still missing items on their shopping list despite the hours.
Thursday was the most memorable day for me, when we had a China Lab forum focused on entrepreneurial opportunities in developing countries and a celebration party afterwards. Coincidentally, we were right in time to join the C-Function, a biweekly party organized by the students to introduce different cultures from all over the world. The theme that night was USA! Games and performances of a great variety of themes were in place, including push-up competitions, street dancing, country music, army, muscle man, beers, burgers and different races of people. This is America; we deeply experienced the unique features of this country and of MIT.
(By VIPABC/Tutor Group Team)
Team 2 – Ascend Household Paper (Kathy Xie Yulin & Ashley Tao Sha)
From 24 Apr to 3 May 2014, the team members of Ascend Fudan-MIT China Lab project had a meaningful and amazing study trip in Cambridge, the town where MIT is located.
The schedule was well designed by MIT office, including a significant amount of work time for our project as well as numerous optional activities to expand our horizon.
On 28 Apr, after a 1-hour MIT campus tour, students from Fudan University, Tsinghua University, Jiaotong University, Lingnan School of Management and Yunnan University, who are participating in China Lab projects, were invited to a welcome lunch. We were delightful to see our MIT team members after over a month and to talk about the latest progress of our project. In order to better prepare for our final report, we had a meeting with Sloan faculty mentor and discussed completion of our project in details.
We were glad to have the opportunity to hear her suggestions from different perspectives. On 1 May, a poster session was held for all teams to present their achievements in the China Lab projects and to exchange their opinions. After that, Prof Tzeng from Fudan University and Prof Huang from MIT were invited to give their comments on the program and the economic potential of China’s market in a China Lab Class.
Besides these, we also spent a lot of time experiencing the culture of the States by visiting New York City, Boston City and Harvard University. We not only learnt plenty of professional knowledge from attending MIT classes, but were also deeply touched by the positive attitude, politeness and kindness of American people.
Although the trip to the United States had ended, the final evaluation of Ascend project is still to come. All the team members expressed willingness to devote their passion and effort to impress the client company with an excellent final report, due in the near future.
(By Ascend Household Paper Team)
Project 3 – Giansun Group (Chandler Liu Zelong & Marissa Ma Mimi)
The beautiful journey started from 28 April and finished on 4 May. We, 8 Fudan members, were glad to enjoy these 7 unforgettable days in Boston. This was also the first opportunity for all participating students from all 5 Chinese universities to gather together under one roof to share with and learn from each other.
On 28 April, with a most beautiful sky hanging above us, Boston welcomed us with its best weather. We were taken on a campus tour in groups, with each group led by a MIT student host. With the wonderful introduction given by her, we heard the stories and history behind every building, each uniquely designed. It is a beautiful campus filled with honor and glory.
In the following days, we had the chance to partake in courses that we are interested in, together with MIT students. Courses covered many fields from Finance, Economics and Marketing to Leadership and Consumer Behavior. We were very glad to have this opportunity to immerse ourselves into the world-class courses to feel and learn, even participate in a class discussion. The professionalism and dedication of Sloan’s faculty and students impressed us a lot. There were moments of pride when we found that in some courses, China and its economy had become the hot topic and were discussed widely.
On 1 May, we attended an Action Learning Program poster session in the main hall of MIT Sloan. It was a great platform on which we could present our project to all the professors and students. During the 2-hour session, we introduced our project to lots of students and professors, and also learnt a lot from other projects. It was a very fruitful morning.
The 7-days trip expanded our horizon and enlarged our knowledge base. It gave us the chance to actually immerse into the American Culture and experience the impact of cultural difference from the first-person perspective. It was a very valuable experience and we benefitted a lot from this trip.
(By Giansun Group Team)
Project 4 – Chia Tai Group (Ellie Chen Huizhu & Ng Xin Yao)
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
The main events of the trip were held from 28 Apr to 2 May in MIT, beginning with a tour around the main school campus and a welcome lunch. Attendees during the lunch included all participating students from the Chinese univerities and MIT, professors, and MIT staff who administers the Action Learning Program. During the lunch, we met our MIT teammates Discoro Gomes and Miguel Mickelberg for the first time since they visited Fudan University in Mar.
Over the next few days, we had further discussions among ourselves on the project, had a meeting with MIT faculty mentor Prof John Grant, attended MIT classes, and ate plenty of seafood (Boston is most well-known for lobster and clam chowder).
An aura of intensity fills the halls of MIT. Certainly, nothing less could have been expected of one of the world’s most highly-regarded institution for higher education. During classes, students were generally highly interactive and proactive in raising and answering questions. Motivated and driven, they share a common and genuine objective for knowledge furtherance which helped to construct a conducive learning environment. Every year’s MBA cohort in MIT is about 400-strong. The strength in number enabled MIT to provide courses in a wide variety of subjects, which had a further benefit of allowing students to opt for specialised track catered to their interests and career objectives. For example, our teammate Miguel is undertaking the finance track, therefore he takes mostly finance courses and is able to skip the general courses that might not benefit him as much.
Collaboration is one of the key values of MIT, according to our teammates. That was evidenced in a few ways. Primarily, almost every assignment is on a team basis, promoting collaboration among students. Also, a “Borrow Direct” program, resulting from a collaboration among many top American universities, allows students to search for an borrow books from participating universities if they are not found in the MIT library. Because of this program, it is almost impossible for students to be unable to find a book they desire.
We also found time to visit Harvard University, which is located within 30 mins walk from MIT. Taking the theme of collaboration further, students from MIT could attend classes in Harvard University and vice versa. This amazing partnership between the 2 premier universities of USA massively increased the value and worth of the tuition to the students.
(Harvard Business School)
The final event of the study trip was an Action Learning Program poster session, when posters for each project was put on display for the students and professors of MIT Sloan. All student participants, including us, were on hand to present our project to any interested party.
(Chia Tai team with Fudan mentor Prof Tzeng at poster day)
A final word on the theme of collaboration: China Lab program could not have happened without meaningful collaboration between MIT and Fudan University, and represents another great value enhancement to students from both institutions.
Overall, it was a fruitful trip which opened our eyes to the culture and ways of one of the best universities in the world. We learnt a lot from the experience and are truly grateful to Fudan for providing us this opportunity to be part of the incredibly rewarding China Lab.
(By Chia Tai Group Team)
