FUDAN UNIVERSITY CHAPTER

INTRODUCTION

FACES-Fudan, known to Fudan students as FISCA (Fudan International Student Communication Association), is a student society with more than ten years of history. Since its establishment, FISCA has been dedicated to promoting communication between Chinese and foreign students. In recent years, with an increasing number of foreign students coming to study at Fudan, FISCA is providing opportunities for a large number of students to know about each other and learn about different cultures.

Based on the idea of building a bridge between Chinese and foreign students in Fudan, we developed a project called Language Partner, which has lasted for years and gained great success. Furthermore, we have carried out other activities to maintain regular contact between language partners and encourage them to make friends with other project members.

OUR VISION

In an era of globalization, a deeper understanding of international affairs is necessary for undergraduates to enhance their competitiveness and pursue a fulfilling career. This is of great benefit in terms of shaping a more thorough global perspective.

With the development of globalization comes cultural collision and integration. Confronted with such reality, cross-cultural communication is more needed than ever before. The ability to understand and embrace different cultures is now playing an increasingly significant role.

OUR EFFORTS

With initiative, insight, and innovation as our core principles and passion as our fuel, we have made efforts to achieve our goal and we will continue to do so.

We have held a variety of cultural activities, including culture-oriented outings, culture salon events, and a buddy program, in an effort to bridge a closer connection between Chinese and foreign students.

In addition, we have held forums and contests like Student Ambassador Competition and Model APEC Competition Shanghai Area selection to provide a staging ground for students to voice their opinions about heated global issues. We have also invited many influential and authoritative figures to give lectures sharing their ideas on current affairs.

OUR ATTITUDE

We are creating more channels for cross-cultural communication and expanding the global perspective of students who may be the leaders of their fields in China and abroad, and who will come to shape global relations in the near future.

Faces-FDU has made it possible for students to participate in current day affairs and engage in cross-cultural interaction, and we are trying to do even more.

WHAT WE DO

Language partner

Many foreign students want to find Chinese friends to talk with to further understand Chinese culture. The demand is also there for Chinese students. FISCA meets such a demand. At the beginning of every semester, FISCA publicizes the language partner event and collects information from those who are interested. Then we pair up Chinese students and foreign students by giving language partner’s information to each other. It’s really an interesting process when we build language partners. Some students are very direct that they want to find a boyfriend or girlfriend in this project. The connection between language partners is not only language, but also cultural exchange and friendship building. A member of the Language Partner project said, “FISCA provides members a platform to find language partners, exchange language learning tips, and build their own language learning base. I always worried about the lack of opportunity to communicate with native speakers when I was learning a foreign language. I also wanted to find some guys with the same hobbies and interests to grow together in Fudan. Now FISCA is a dream bridge to connect my language partner and me. I am able to not only make friends with my language partner in the periodic interaction process, but also improve my language abilities in the perfect language environment. At the same time I can also participant in other theme activities and games with my language partner. It really does help me!”.

Culture Salon

Culture Salon is a program to build bridges between foreign and Chinese students at Fudan by inviting students to talk, share, and have fun. We host activities to bring students together and enjoy a relaxing afternoon; there’s no fixed theme and form for it. Sometimes we have a couple of guys talking with each other in the cafeteria. Other times, we go outdoor to eat pizza and play frisbee. This project was called Coffee Session in the past, but last year we changed it to Culture Salon, because it is not limited to indoor activities, and communication of culture is the theme. This year, we organized two culture salon events. We collaborated with Fudan Frisbee Club to hold a Culture Salon on April 11, 2015. The participants played Frisbee together and then had a picnic. We made friends and some of the students are still in touch. On November 24, 2015, we held Culture Salon in XiangChen Café and learned latte art together. We chatted over coffee and got to know each other. We watched the teacher demonstrate how to make coffee from coffee beans and tasted different kind of coffee. With the teacher’s direction, we then learned how to do latte art ourselves. Everyone made their own work and was excited by their first latte art. Culture Salon is not only a platform we build to provide opportunities for communication between language partners, but also a stage opened to all students in Fudan who would like to make friends with students from all around the world.

Culture Trip

Once every semester, FISCA organizes foreign student groups to go on a one-day tour to cultural tourism attractions in nearby cities with the goals of helping foreign students know more about Chinese traditional culture and developing friendship between students from around the world. Last semester, about 15 students went on a trip to Suzhou; this semester, we went to the old town Xitang, where we enjoyed traditional Chinese architecture, art, and food. Through the Culture Trip program, both Chinese and foreign students can know more about traditional culture of China through attractions with Chinese characteristics. With personal feelings instead of a description from books by others, the trip is full of multiple cultural references colliding and colluding, which is exactly the process that causes in-depth communication.

FISCA Forum

From May 15-17, 2015, we held the three-day FISCA Forum. Our main topic was innovation, based on the fact that innovative talent is now required in the development of industry. To further explore the theme, we divided the forum into three parts: innovation in diplomacy, a lecture on dialogue between China and the US; innovation in technology, a visit to a knowledgeable and innovative community in Shanghai; and innovation in public welfare, stories about NGOs. The forum was very successful and three parts all attracted a lot of participants.