Engineering: Connecting Cosmos & Consciousness - Groep T

China Journey 2011
An open mind p
The twelfth edition of the now well-known
GROUP T – Leuven Engineering College classic
rallied 165 third-year students this year. They were
divided into four travel groups and traversed the
immense country that is China, each group visiting
four large cities. For Electromechanics students
there were two new destinations on the program
this year: Chengdu and Chongqing. There, they
were hosted by the same number of GROUP T’s
recent partner universities: University of Electronic
Science and Technology of China (UESTC) and
Chongqing University.
The ramified network of partner universities that GROUP T has
built up in China over the past 16 years has in the meantime
already led to various spin-offs. To name just a few: the Joint
Engineering Programs, in which Chinese students can finish
their training at GROUP T after one or two years at their home university;
the Hongzhi Scholarships for talented but less affluent Chinese
students; the China – GROUP T Academic Alumni Association; the International
Class at the Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU) that started up
this academic year; the doctorate and honorary doctorate of GROUP T’s
president Johan De Graeve at the Beijing Normal University and the
BJTU, respectively; the first China-Flanders Job Fair for Chinese students
at GROUP T, and so on. This list must also certainly include the China
Journey – the annual study trip of third-year Engineering bachelor students.
Over the past 12 years, about 2,000 engineering students and
professors have had the opportunity of a two-week immersion in what
is generally accepted to be the land and the economy of the future.
Learning experience par excellence
The China Journey has been considered the greatest and best learning
experience at GROUP T for years already. The concept was a success
from the very outset, this much has not changed fundamentally
over the years. Splitting up into travel groups according to discipline, a
separate travel itinerary for each group, visiting cities where GROUP T
has one or more partner universities, involving Chinese students in the
activities as much as possible, visiting companies, being introduced to
the great cultural and historical highlights but also to the everyday life
of the common Chinese Joe, to the local gastronomy and nature and
mixed in with it a good dose of R & R in which the participants not
only get to know the Chinese students but also each other. The ties of
friendship forged during the China Journey are almost legendary.
GROUP T - LEUVEN ENGINEERING COLLEGE
All travel groups have started their journey in Shanghai, the most Western
city of China, and this year was no exception. Not only the largest
metropolis but also the financial heart of China and the largest port
in the world. The futuristic Maglev (Magnetic Levitation) train, which
travels at 400 kph brought everybody from the airport to the city in a
matter of minutes. A couple of hours after arrival, every student was
already parading on the Bund promenade with a view of the mighty
Pudong skyline on the other side of the river. The next morning, there
was a visit to Pudong scheduled with the Financial Tower (492 m) as
the highlight. But also old Shanghai with its cluttered alleyways, typical
temples and the enchanting gardens from the Ming Dynasty were
not left out.
After Shanghai, the groups split up. The Chemistry and Biochemistry
engineering students went to charming Hangzhou first and then to
imperial Xi’an. The Electronics engineering students first trained to
the picturesque Suzhou and then to Hangzhou. The Electromechanical
engineering students, in turn, split up into two groups, one flying to
the interior to Chengdu and the other to Chongqing.
Appointment in Beijing
Highlights in Hangzhou were the famous West Lake, the century-old
Buddhist temple complex of LingYin, the plantations of China’s best tea
(the green Longjing) and, last but not least, the colorful KTV (karaoke)
evening with the Chinese students.
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jg. 20, nr. 3, 16 augustus 2011
03183_INGENIEURS_Interview_3_20.indd 10 11/07/11 17:02