[博客]An International Student’s feeling

How time flies! It has been a year since I was enrolled in the BI-Fudan MBA program. Friends, relatives and colleagues who knew about my participation in the program asked: “Why go to China? Aren’t there better universities in the U.S., U.K. or even Europe which you could attend?” Being a third generation immigrant from China (my grandparents migrated from Hainan to Singapore in the 1950s), I wanted to learn and experience the Chinese culture and at the same time make more friends.

 

The experience that I have acquired over the last one year in the program has been fruitful for me. Despite being a “foreign” Chinese participant from Singapore flying into Shanghai to attend every module, my peers have enabled me to assimilate quickly into the program. Instead of stereo-typing me as a foreigner and alienating me, they have treated me with respect, are willing to listen to my ideas and views and at the same time ask me to participate in their discussions.

 

The class discussions have given me opportunities to know my peers better. I began to understand that they are an industrious lot, willing to sacrifice both their work and private time in pursuit of their goals. A lot of my peers are working for MNCs or joint ventures and the active group discussions with them enable me to understand and gain invaluable first-hand experiences of the different perceptions of the Chinese managers working in the MNCs.

 

On a personal level, I have developed close relationships with my peers especially with the other “foreign” participants flying into Shanghai from other cities. Everyday, after class, we would go out to have dinner and we would share our thoughts on the classes, our work, families and the different cultures that we live in. The close interactions have enabled us to build a bond and share our expertise with each other. Some of my peers even paid a visit to Singapore and I had played host to them. I brought them around to understand Singapore better, the culture, the food and the places of interest. I am proud that I have become an “ambassador” of Singapore to my peers and I look forward to having more of them visit Singapore soon.   

 

At the end of the program, I can return home with pride having acquired invaluable first-hand experiences in discussing management issues with high-profile Chinese managers working in established MNCs on a regular basis. It is definitely more beneficial than reading and acquiring knowledge through reading business magazines or journals. These first-hand experiences and the networks of relationships that I have created will definitely remain close to my heart! 

  

BI-Fudan MBA Class Four

Lawrence Fu

ILOG（S）PTE LTD

Partner Program Manager