From Jan. 29th to Feb. 23th, 2018, undergraduate student Shen Renjia went to University of York in Britain to participate in a 26-day cultural exchange program.

The project mainly focused on the study of British culture and the contrast between Chinese and British culture. The project was mainly in the form of lectures and visits. Lectures included topics lectures, academic communication, communication with international students, theme research, seminars and employment ability training. Field visits included the campus and British cities.

In the lectures, the teachers guided the students of Zhejiang University to explore the differences between Chinese and British culture actively, from the perspectives of history, economic status and cultural environment. At the same time, the students were organized to communicate with students from University of York and they learned from each other.

In addition to classroom teaching, the students also visited the corresponding colleges on campus according to their majors. Shen Renjia visited the laboratories and greenhouses of the School of Biological Sciences in University of York, which gave him a certain understanding of the scientific research status of the college. What’s more, the teacher also led the students to visit several historical and cultural cities such as York, Leeds and Whitby, and the students knew more about the local cultural landscape of the cities.

At the end of the course, the students showed the results of the research with the theme Chinese and English Cultural Differences. The survey results were supported by questionnaire data, and the analysis of the reality status combining certain literature materials had certain innovation points and practical significance, which was well received by all the teachers.

The students benefited a lot. They not only broadened their horizon and had a deeper understanding of British culture through thinking about the difference between China and Britain, but also promoted the mutual understanding between the students of the York University and themselves. After the project, they will firmly advance towards the goal of Zhejiang University of becoming an international talent with a global perspective.