Source: Lingnan College
Written by: Lingnan College
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

In January 2017, twenty-seven sophomores from Lingnan College of Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) visited either Yale University or Oxford University to participate in the “Global Strategic Leadership Symposium 2017”. From March 12th to 17th, Lingnan College hosted 4 students from Oxford’s St. Edmund Hall and 12 students from Yale University on SYSU’s Guangzhou South Campus. The theme of this year’s symposium was "Corporate Social Responsibilities in a Globalizing World". During this week, students from Oxford, Yale and Lingnan went sightseeing downtown, visited several companies in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and made excellent project presentations to close out the annual event.

Guangzhou: Beginning

On the morning of March 13th, Lingnan College held a welcome session for students from Oxford and Yale. During the session, Ms. Zhang Yanmei, Associate Dean of Lingnan College, made a welcome speech. Professor Lin Jiang delivered a short lecture on the theme of "China’s Economic Hot Issues.” Associate Professor Wu Jintao and Assistant Professor Zheng Xin also attended the session to share their opinions about China’s economy and to exchange ideas with students in a Q&A session. After the cordial welcome, our visitors, accompanied by their Lingnan teammates, took a tour of Guangzhou South Campus. In the afternoon, they paid a visit to the famous tourist attraction Chen Clan Academy to have a closer look into Cantonese culture and art.

On the second day, Assistant Professor Lin Daomi from Lingnan’s Management Department gave a lecture on “China’s Economic Models.” Students from Oxford and Yale were very attentive and had a lively discussion in order to understand more about China’s economic development from different aspects.

Later that day, the students attended the Chinese Folk Art Workshop to have a taste of Chinese culture and performing arts. The students enjoyed designing and creating their own paper-cuttings as well as making unique Beijing Opera masks.

Visit Enterprises and Experience Innovation

On March 15th, a big group of students and faculty from Lingnan, Oxford, and Yale traveled to Shenzhen to visit enterprises such as DJI, Tencent, and MAKEBLOCK. They learned about the cutting-edge technology of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), robots and the popular interpersonal communication applications QQ and WeChat. Students had the chance to observe different styles of corporate cultures and to share their insights on technology’s influence on life and corporate social responsibility with many corporate representatives. One Yale student concluded, “The three companies we visited are a microcosm of China’s high-tech industries.” From the trip to Shenzhen, the students obtained more first-hand knowledge about China’s high-tech and innovation industries.

The following day, students learned more about China’s local business management patterns and the principles and policies of its corporate social responsibility practice from the office of CVTE. Furthermore, the students sat in on a lecture delivered by Danone-China’s Sustainable Development Director, Ms. Gu Tao, who shared Danone’s efforts on corporate social responsibility practice. Mr. Bill Peng, the lead faculty member of the Yale group said, “The Global Leadership Program this year has made new and complimentary arrangements for us to visit local businesses and to have lectures on corporate social responsibility presented by executives from multinational enterprise, all based in Guangzhou.”

Presentation Contest and Farewell Dinner
On March 17th, the Final Project Presentation Contest of the Global Leadership Program was held in the Lingnan Hall. The nine groups consisted of students from Oxford and Yale and Lingnan all delivered inspiring and insightful presentations to close their team projects of this year’s theme. The panel of judges consisted of Prof. Robert Wilkins, Senior Tutor of St. Edmund Hall of Oxford University, Ms. Leslie Stone, Director of Yale-China Association, two Yale alumni, Mr. Anders Hsi and Mr. Nar Dao, and Ms. Zhang Yanmei, Associate Dean of Lingnan College. Lingnan’s foreign faculty, the four Yale Fellows also joined the audience of the program’s final presentations.
On the evening of March 17th, the last activity on the program’s schedule was a farewell dinner taking place in the Multi-functional Hall of MBA building. Apart from the 43 students from home and abroad, the judges, as well as Prof. Chen Honghui, Assistant Professor Canice Kwan, and participants of previous Global Leadership Program were also present. During the awards ceremony, Prof. Chen Honghui awarded the "Best Team Presentation” to the team analyzing IKEA; Huang Weiping, a Lingnan student and team leader received the award. The award "Best Individual Presentation” was presented to two winners, Chen Yuanfang, a student from Lingnan College and Alexander Posner, a student from Yale University.

After the awards ceremony, students from the three universities displayed their talents on stage. The performances included dancing, singing, martial arts, and a magic show. All attendees had a wonderful time at the farewell dinner and will remember the evening, the program, and new friendships for a long time.