On October 18, ASEAN-China Centre, in cooperation with Tianjin Municipal Education Commission (TMEC), held the 6th ACC Lecture for promoting the Double 100,000 Student Mobility Goals in Tianjin. Seven officers from the embassies of Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam, together with officers from Education, Culture and Tourism Division of ACC, attended the lecture.
Mr. Zhang Jianqing, Director for International Exchanges of TMEC made a presentation introducing the overview of Tianjin, the development of education in Tianjin, and policies and services for international students, especially the scholarships that Tianjin could provide for ASEAN countries. Mr. Zhang said, to better enable international students to adapt their academic learning in Tianjin's universities or vocational colleges, TMEC established Tianjin Foreign Student Foundation College to provide preparatory language learning for all students going to Tianjin's universities and vocational colleges. The Foundation College can also help international students to apply for admission to Tianjin universities or vocational colleges, and even provide them internships and employment opportunities in Tianjin Economic and Development Area after graduation.
The President and Vice President of Tianjin Foreign Student Foundation College made an brief introduction of the college and its advanced method of teaching Chinese. They expressed their wish of cooperating with ACC and ASEAN Embassies in jointly establishing ASEAN scholarships to attract more ASEAN students to study in Tianjin. In the Q & A session, officers from TMEC and ASEAN embassies had fruitful interaction and more understanding of the requests and services from each side.
In the afternoon, the officers from ASEAN embassies visited Tianjin Foreign Student Foundation College, and had interaction with some ASEAN students studying in the college. They went into their classes while they were learning Chinese language and culture from paper cutting and dumplings making, and enjoyed the delicious dumplings made by students.
Officers from TMEC and ASEAN embassies expressed their appreciation to ACC, and their hope of keeping close cooperation and exchanges with ACC to facilitate more ASEAN students to study in Tianjin. Officers from ASEAN embassies were pleased to know Tianjin's efforts of attracting ASEAN students, and welcomed the initiative of establishing ASEAN scholarships.
