On the evening of December 1, 2022, in order to promote communication and exchange with international students and strengthen care for them under the COVID-19 epidemic, CQU's Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning held an online meeting for international students. The meeting was presided over by Xie Hui, Vice Dean of Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning. In addition, Du Chunlan, Dean of Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chu Dongzhu, General Manager and Chief Architect of Chongqing Architecture Design Institute, also acting as Doctoral Supervisor in Chongqing University, Chen Ying, Deputy Director of CQU's Centre of International Students Mobility Service, international student supervisors and lecturers from Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning and staff from International Liaison Office, Offices of Academic Affairs for undergraduate and postgraduate and 24 international students both here and abroad attended this meeting. This meeting is composed of introduction to the progress of the Faculty in the study of international students in China, sharing of learning and living conditions by international students, Q&A session for international students and free discussions.
▲Online exchange site
First of all, Vice Dean Xie Hui expressed his sincere greetings to international students and briefly introduced the recent progress of the Faculty in the study of international students in China. The Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning is one of the earliest schools in Chongqing University to recruit international students. At present, it has set up 6 master's and doctoral programs in English, and cultivated more than 400 international students from over 70 countries. Recently, it has jointly established international student practice base with 3 well-known construction enterprises to build a platform for high-level and high-quality international talents.
In the sharing session, many overseas students both here and abroad talked about their recent learning and living conditions. Elsa Nalita Wongso from Indonesia shared the experience of returning to school from abroad and the later school life, Kong Soben from Cambodia and Kelechi Ogbuagu Uchamma from Nigeria shared their time management experience of online learning, and Mohsen Ali Alawi, an international student from Yemen, shared the experience of persisting in research during the epidemic.
▲Highlights in sharing session
In the Q&A session, CQU's Centre of International Students Mobility Service， supervisors and lecturers from Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, and Offices of Academic Affairs respectively answered the questions of international students about scholarship granting, returning process from abroad to school, periodical paper writing, thesis defense, etc. All the international students had a warm exchange and interaction with the participating teachers. Teachers such as Zhou Tiejun, Chu Dongzhu, Zeng Wei, Gu Hongnan, Han Guifeng, Jiang Jialong, Peng Lin, etc., suggested that all students should take the initiative to adapt to changes in special periods and keep a good learning state and encouraged students to make new thinking on architectural design and urban development under the epidemic, and look forward to meeting with these students on campuses of Chongqing University after the epidemic.
Subsequently, Chen Ying, Deputy Director of CQU's Centre of International Students Mobility Service expressed the love and blessing for international students, praised their attitude towards studying hard despite the difficulties of time difference and network, and encouraged them to keep their motivation and confidence in learning. All these international students said that they had benefited a lot and they would continue to support and cooperate with various arrangements of their schools and the Faculty, and strive to accomplish their academic and scientific research goals. At last, the meeting ended successfully.
This international student meeting has fully reflected the concern and love of the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning for international students, and further strengthened the connection between the Faculty and international students. After the meeting, the Faculty will implement the suggestions of teachers and students on the work of study of international students successively, further optimize the training and management mode of international students, and also continue to carry out online and offline exchange activities of rich themes and various forms for international students.
