DU Yicong

Student of Beijing Institute of Technology, China
Exchange to The Australian National University, Australia

It was such an unforgettable experience for me to be sent on study exchange to another country. Luckily, I was given the chance to exchange from Beijing Institute of Technology to The Australian National University ("ANU"). It was the first time for me to step out of Asia, to study and do projects as an undergraduate student in another part of the world. Thanks to the Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Awards, my exchange experience was very exciting and meaningful.

Much to my delight, my exchange study turned out to be quite flexible. As a student majoring in engineering but was more interested in computer science, I was allowed to enrol in courses based on my own personal interests. I got the chance to take more computer programming courses and they really helped me when I applied for a master degree in computer science. The study life in Australia was so different from what I had experienced in China. Labs, tutorials, recordings of the lectures were all the things which made my study more efficient and effective. More practice makes better understanding. I think the two semesters I spent in Australia was the time when my study made the most progress.

Apart from the course study, I was completing my graduation project in ANU. I got help from so many people - my supervisor, the postdoc and PHD students from the lab, a biology professor for whom I was doing a cross-discipline research. Everyone showed passion and enthusiasm in the area they worked on. This had a profound impact on me. I started to realise where motivation comes from and what is a better attitude towards researching.

Life in Australia was beyond my expectations. In the multicultural environment, I made friends with people from all over the world. Gradually, I began to find a way to show respect and kindness to people from different cultural backgrounds. It was a valuable lesson that my exchange life had taught me.

In closing, I would like to thank the Australian Government, the Cheung Kong Group, my home university and ANU for providing me with such an amazing opportunity. I will definitely come back to Australia in the future!

© Copyright 2018 CK Group. All rights reserved.