With the blooming flowers, green trees and chirping cicadas, the June and July of the coast city are beautiful. A group of foreign faces, handsome and sunny, appeared on Neusoft campus in this summer vacation. They are from the University of Queensland, one of "eight famous universities" in the Australian Ivy League Union. They are here to participate in the first international practical project of innovation and entrepreneurship in this summer, which is a cooperative project between the University of Queensland and our university.
The educational cooperation and exchanges of the two sides aims to broaden students’ international perspective, cultivate their innovation and entrepreneurship awareness, thinking and ability to achieve their high-quality employment in the future. The project includes three modules: innovation and entrepreneurship project training, Chinese training and Chinese culture courses. 20 undergraduate students from Institute of Information Technology and Engineering of University of Queensland and some students form Computer Science and Technology Department and Software Engineering Department of our university are mixed into six project teams. Based on the "Internet +" theme and under the guidance of the teachers of our university, each team is required to select an innovative idea in the first place, then complete "makers’ triple jump", that means "innovative idea - product - goods", and finally setup a virtual company and hold a product launch to complete the credit assessment in four weeks.
The Group Photo of Opening Ceremony
The Photo of Representatives of Teachers of Our University and Professors of University of Queensland
On June 26, 2017 Neusoft campus warmly welcomed the students from afar. Summer Innovation and Entrepreneurship Practical Project was officially launched.
Fighting! We are teammates fighting side by side!
After the opening ceremony, project overview and ice-breaking activities, the main content - Innovation and Entrepreneurship Practical Project was kicked off.
"Honeycomb" Innovation Space
Chinese and Australian students were working in SOVO "honeycomb" innovation space by groups. When Premier Li Keqiang visited our university on June 28, the Australian students had the honor to shake hands with the Premier.
Premier Li Keqiang shook hands with Australian students.
Innovation and entrepreneurship project training covered the first and the last weeks, from coming up with the innovative idea to establish the business models. Yu Dan, Vice Dean of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Department of our university concisely introduced the approaches of creating the innovative idea, thought mapping tools and parallel thinking skills. In just a day, Custom Online Farm, Private Bus System, Big Data Online Shopping Assistant and a series of brilliant ideas have sprung up. After repeated thinking and discussions, the outline of each innovative idea has become clearer.
After all the ideas were set, the product prototypes were to be constructed next. The project teams immediately were transformed into development teams. They worked closely to build ideas into product prototypes step by step. In just ten days, the project team overcame language communication barriers, refining effective information in high-intensity training and completing one or more product iterations. In the mid-term assessment in the third week, the new products of each group were greatly praised by teachers.
Project Introduction
Listen to lectures
Show the results of the discussion
The Design Draft of Product Prototype
Final Assessment
In the last week, each team found a startup, trying to optimize their products from a commercial point of view and promote their products. The business plans were ultimately completed after students’ repeated discussion and collision in order to capture users’ pain points, make a marketing plan, improve the details of the product, combine with application scenarios and dig out the maximum value of the product.
In order to create an immersive innovation and entrepreneurship education environment and make Chinese and Australian students feel the vitality of the high-tech industry and Innovative and Entrepreneurial course in Dalian, in the spare time, students listened to the lectures on the development of Dalian High-tech Industrial Development Zone given by the leaders of Investment Promotion Bureau of High-Tech Zones, forming a macro understanding of high-tech industry, visited four high-tech enterprises and incubator, learning the advanced experience of corporate management and attended Summer Forum activities of 2017 China Overseas Students Venture Week and feeling the returned overseas students’ entrepreneurial enthusiasm.
The Group Photo of Visiting 2017 Overseas Chinese Students Entrepreneurship Week
There is a proverb in English, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". In addition to high-intensity teaching and training programs, our university also prepared vivid Chinese language training and Chinese culture courses for these students. Chinese and Australian students participated in cultural experience, technical seminars, business visits, and city tours, fully appreciating the charm of Chinese culture.
Visit Huawei
Visit the Dalian Museum
Chinese Course and Chinese Culture Course occupy two afternoons each week, which were the favorite classes for the students of the University of Queensland. From the daily communication of "Hello", "Have you eaten? " to understanding and memorizing Chinese radical, from learning the Chinese counting to giving themselves Chinese names, they were more Babble children than IT masters in the Chinese class. “Kung Fu”, “hotpot”, “panda”, “Taobao”......whenever a hot word was mentioned, the classroom burst out laughing. And Australian students marveled that even the performance of Tea Arts has been brought to the classroom. There were also "treasure hunt trip" in Dalian City. To complete the group photo task, the fastest will be rewarded. Tasks included taking photos with Dalian famous attractions, the famous snack "Menzi" (a local snack of Dalian, which is made of roughly sweet potato starch) as well as recording a video of asking the way to passers-by and so on. It’s full of fun to combine education with entertainment.
Watch the performance of Tea Arts
Give yourself a Chinese name
Write Chinese characters
Visit the Forbidden City of Shenyang
The Group Photo of the Forbidden City of Shenyang
In order to allow them to better understand China and feast their eyes, the project specifically arranged for Australian students to pay a visit to Shenyang on the weekend. They came together to Hunnan Software Park of Neusoft Group, the Imperial Palace of Shenyang and Commander Zhang's Mansion.
Farewell! We will meet again!
In Just 25 days, we lived, studied and practiced together with the students of the University of Queensland, sharing many joyful moments. We were deeply impressed by their solid technical skills, rigorous spirit of quest and open innovation thinking. The students of our university have made rapid progress in the process.
The Group Photo of Chinese and Australian teachers and students with Chairman of the Board of Our University Liu Jiren
Happy time is always so short. The flowering time of blue flowers is so long, but they will fade someday. The Chinese and Australian students were distressed at parting and could hardly tear themselves away from each other. Deep friendship, as these beautiful flowers, has been deeply rooted in the fertile soil of Neusoft campus, but also in the hearts of Neusoft teachers and students.