School's in for summer for students of SCO member and observer states
A summer school program for university students from Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member and observer states opened on Tuesday at East China Normal University.
A summer school program for university students from Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member and observer states opened on Tuesday at East China Normal University in the city.
Since first being launched in 2010, the SCO summer school hosted by the Shanghai Education Commission and East China Normal University has played an active role in deepening multilateral and bilateral exchanges and cooperation, promoting good-neighbourliness and friendships, and facilitating dialogue among civilizations, in particular among young people.
This year, 40 university students from SCO members – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia, Uzbekistan – and Belarus, an observer state of the organization, are taking part in the monthlong summer school program.
With the theme of "Adhering to the 'Shanghai Spirit' and Building a Closer SCO Community of Shared Destiny," the program will feature special lectures by Chinese and foreign scholars, Chinese language learning, cultural experiences, creative competitions, and other educational and informative activities.
It is not the first visit to China for Russian participants Nastya and Alice, but they said the summer school program is important for them.
Nastya, who has studied Chinese for five years and is fluent in the language, spoke at the opening ceremony as a representative of the Russian students. She said she aspired to make more friends with Chinese people and practice her Chinese speaking skills.
She said the SCO has promoted cooperation between Russia and China in economic, cultural and technical fields.
"The world is developing very fast, countries have strong relationships, people are dependent on each other, and if young people from different countries can get along well, the development of relationships between countries will also develop," she said.
"So I think this summer school is very important for us to get to know each other and understand each other's cultures and so on, and that's why I'm very glad and honored to be here in Shanghai to take part in this summer school."
Nastya said she would like to learn more about the organization and share that knowledge with her family and friends later.
Alice, on the other hand, said she hoped to start learning Chinese from scratch through this opportunity and is looking forward to visiting exhibitions and museums in Shanghai and learning about Chinese culture.
A total of 40 students from six countries are participating in the summer school.
