Fudan University Delegation Visits HSE St.Petersburg

The meeting between the Fudan University delegation and Russian colleagues from HSE St.Petersburg was entitled ‘Student Governance at University: Experience in Russia and China’ and provided a valuable opportunity for both parties with different backgrounds and experience to present their visions, exchange and share their experiences and ideas, as well as discussing the practical challenges encountered and the solutions adopted.

Fudan University is one of the oldest and most respected institutions of higher education in China. It is a comprehensive research university, with Departments of Philosophy, Economics, Law, Education, Literature, History, Science, Engineering, Medicine, and Management. Today Fudan is home to 14,100 undergraduates and associate degree candidates, 14,800 graduates including 3000 foreign degree candidates, 2,700 staff and 3,100 full-time teaching faculty members. It has a great deal of experience in student governance at university.

On February 21th, 2017 HSE St. Petersburg hosted 25 representatives of Fudan University. The delegation was headed by Deputy Director for Student Affairs Zhao Qiang and included Chief of Student Affairs Xu Shanshan and 23 counselors from different departments. 

Olga Okulova, Head of the Centre for International Education of HSE St.Petersburg

‘HSE St.Petersburg and Fudan University started actively working together last year and this is the first joint event, clearly demonstrating the commitment of both parties. It is especially pleasant that this event is dedicated to student governance as one of the major tool towards student integration into university life. We were proud to host a group of Fudan University leadership programme members and we hope that this cooperation will build strong connections between HSE and Fudan students. Finally, I would like to thank the Student Council of HSE St.Petersburg for their active participation and enriching discussion with Chinese peers!’

Deputy Director for Student Affairs of Fudan University Zhao Qiang introduced the role of a teacher in relationships between students and teachers in China and explained why the Fudan delegation chose HSE for their visit in Russia.

Zhao Qiang, Deputy Director for Student Affairs of Fudan University

‘Relationships between student and teacher in western countries are more equal. In terms of Chinese traditions, students demonstrate more respect to the teacher. The teacher always dominates the class. In addition, we pay a lot of attention to moral education. Teachers provide knowledge not only in science but also help to guide students in the right way of life. It`s rather comprehensive work for teachers, and means they act as role models for young people.

We keep in touch with two of the oldest and most famous Universities in Mosow and Saint-Petersburg. They have long history and traditions, however we also know HSE as a modern, growing and developing university. Thus there are two types of universities. On the one hand we want to know educational traditions and on the other hand we want to learn about a modern type of Russian university, by which we mean the HSE.. We have a good partnership with your University, and this is the second visit of Fudan University to HSE in Saint-Petersburg and we hope to continue developing our partnership in the future’.