Students at IE University are globally diverse individuals, all with their own personal backgrounds and international experience. For this reason, the IEU Exchange Program has been devised with our students in mind.
With over 160 partner universities, wherever you may want to study, IE University can send you there. In addition, our Exchange Program offices ensure you are able to make the most of your experience and enjoy this incredible opportunity to the fullest.
Let’s delve into these students’ experiences with the IE University Exchange Program…
Andrejs & Javier both wanted to share with the IE University community their incredible exchange experience at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Keep reading if you want to find out how much they enjoyed China.
We knew right of the bat that Shanghai would be the perfect place for us to academically and personally expand our horizons. This is why as soon as we were awarded our spots to head to Shanghai we reached out to an IE University student, who had been spent the previous semester at SUFE, to help us find accommodation. We wanted to experience China on our own terms so we rented a flat to share with another IE University student who was studying at Tongji University. This is not to say that we don’t recommend that students live on campus; the campus dorms are far more affordable and help exchange students to integrate in the community much faster.
SUFE is a very welcoming place and we received a lot of helpful information during our welcome session; however, we are most thankful for our assigned peer mentors because they went out of their way to help us integrate into student life, sharing important tips on how to move around Shanghai and where to find everything.
The teaching style was very similar to IE University in the sense that they were highly interactive and engaging. As law students, we were both interested in business courses such as “Marketing and Research Design,” but we also enrolled in Chinese language and culture classes, which we highly recommend to all exchange students. Learning just a little bit of Chinese goes a long way and you will impress the locals.
Culture shock was not significant because Shanghai is a very westernized city; however, the fact that not many people outside of the university spoke English was a bit challenging at times. Tip: Show the taxi drivers exactly where you are going. Don’t let them guess.
Andreea asked us what our favorite moment was and it was hard to pick just one. Sliding down the Great Wall of China from the top of a ski chair has to be on the top of the list because the view was breathtakingly beautiful!
Also, we are aware that this is not likely going to happen to other exchange students, but we were invited to a very traditional Chinese wedding in a small town on the outskirts of Shanghai. We cannot even begin to describe how unforgettable this experience was!
All in all, our time at SUFE was filled with great experiences and kindness; it was the perfect gateway to Asia.
