In order to broaden students' international horizons and enrich their summer vacation, the School of Materials Science and Engineering (SMSE) organized 25 students for a 15-day summer exchange program in the UK from July 31 to August 14.
During the exchange, SMSE students successively experienced the culture and charm of London, Cambridge and Oxford, stayed in the student dormitories of Imperial College London, University of Cambridge and University of Oxford , and were exposed to the strong academic atmosphere of the three world-renowned institutions.
Prof. Neil Greenham at University of Cambridge guides the students around Cavendish Laboratory
Focusing on the theme of innovation and entrepreneurship, ISAM and the British team arranged a wealth of courses and activities for the students and invited a number of experts and scholars, including Professor John Hoffmire at University of Oxford and University of Wisconsin-Madison, a well recognized economic expert, British aerospace materials and innovation expert Alan Price, and Jane Brockhouse, a senior English skills trainer,for innovation and entrepreneurship related courses, such as Disruptive Innovation and China, Innovative Management and Strategy, Business Plan Writing, Communication Skills Training. Seated in the historic buildings of Cambridge and Oxford, the studnets got inspired by the lecturers’ unique insights on innovation and entrepreneurship and, under the guidance, carried out rounds of brainstorming with a lot of wonderful views and opinions emerging, such as how China conducts disruptive innovation, how companies operate and profit, and how businesses choose between product quality and production efficiency.
Group Presentation (Alan price, first from the right)
Group photo with Professor John Hoffmire after class
However, actions speak louder than words. All students participated in groups in Dragon’s Den business plan demonstration competition as a test on how well they could leverage what they had learned during class,. Each group was asked to design a creative product and develop a practical business plan that clarified in what ways it was innovative and how to start and keep a business with it. In order to stimulate the A game of every presenter, Angus Fraser, a senior English skills trainer from Cambridge University was invited to prepare the students for the content, by giving them some rules of thumb for presentation performance. Moreover, it was a privilege to have two famous names as judges: Professor Peter Dobson OBE at University of Oxford, former Director of Begbroke Science Park, Oxford,, and Professor Hoffmire. During the presentatoin, students in formal suits and leather shoes demonstrated their ideas with a determined voice and vigor, just like real young entrepreneurs. After two rounds of presentations - one preliminary and the other final, the project of Foldable and Portable Solar Power Bank targeting the African market won the first prize. After the award ceremony, the two judges gave detailed comments and pertinent suggestions for optimization for each group. The students listened carefully and modestly and further exchanged with the masters, saying that they would continue to improve the project.
Professor Peter Dobson awards the winning team certificates
For the business plans, students needed to look up at the starry sky - thinking out of the box - and, at the same time, have a down-to-earth attitude towards business ideas. This was a challenge beyond the familiar as it was the first time for the engineering students to carry out commercial projects, through which they had the opportunity to learn and exchange thoughts on innovation and entrepreneurship face to face with prestigious academics. It is hoped that under the guidance of the judges, students' creativity will truly go to the market in the future.
Professor Peter Dobson is making comments
Professor John Hoffmire is making comments
Well, nothing could stop the students who took a some 9,000-kilometer flight to the U.K. from exploring the fascinating British culture. Outside the course, they visited the Big Ben standing on the bank of the Thames, the British Museum with nearly eight million collections, and the London Eye to overlook spectacular views of 25 miles around, and they went punting on the River Cam, recalling poems by Xu Zhimo, a household name in China. For the post-1995 generation, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, a platform at King's Cross Station to the imaginary Hogwarts, and other fiction-branded sites were also a must. In addition, they attended a formal dinner in Oxford to taste the time-honored rituals. Work hard, play hard. Apart from studying, students could also learn by discovering something new and subtle around them. In fact, lots of the entrepreneurial ideas in the business plans stemmed from their daily discovery. That demonstrated that the students were able to tap innovative thinking in the ordinary and transform interesting ideas into business plans. Isn’t that what we hope to achieve in cultivating innovative, creative and entrepreneurial talents?
A formal dinner at University of Oxford
Francis Bacon once wrote: Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education. Although the trip to the U.K. is not long, it is believed that these 15 days will be truly memorable during the students’ four-year life in SCUT, inspiring them to continute to discover and innovate.
A group photo by River Cam
Impression of students
Year 4, Li Jianqing
"At Imperial College London, we toured aournd the laboratory accompanied by some staff members and listened to a lecture introducing the College and its CPE research team, where the solar cell with the highest conversion efficiency in the world developed by SCUT was mentioned. This made me realize that science knows no borders and also made me more determined to do my part in scientific research."
Year 3, Yi Zhentai
"This journey not only brought me an opportunity to experience closely the cultural charm of western universities, but also enriched my knowledge of economics and innovation. I would like to thank SCUT and ISAM for providing me, a student from a small mountain town in the country’s northwest, with such a precious opportunity to take a closer look at one of the top universities in the world and have a lifelong unforgettable learning experience."
Year 2, Xue Binghui
"In Cambridge, we not only learned new knowledge of innovation and entrepreneurship, but also went punting on the River Cam to experience the beauty and profound history of Cambridge. In the classroom, we communicated with professors and classmates and actively expressed our ideas and doubts, which improved our spoken English as well as psychological.skills."
Year 4, Zhong Xin
"At University of Cambridge, we took a five-day curriculum focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship. Once I was not very interested in this topic, but after the lectures I changed my mind. John told us that acquiring the basic knowledge in the area could prevent us from being blinded easily in the game with businessmen. All the teachers are very approachable and share with us many of their own unique insights as their equals, which has benefited me a lot!"
Year 3, Zhou Yue
"While studying in Cambridge, we visited the Cavendish Laboratory and listened to Professor Neil Greenham’s lecture on Materials Science in the lecture hall. In the laboratory, I encountered many experimental instruments mentioned in the textbooks. I was deeply impressed by the greatness of the scientists who had used these simple instruments to verify the great physics theorem in the age when science and technology were not very developed."
