Approaching the other side of the world

On January, 23rd, a group of eight students and two professors from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST), located in Shanghai, China, was at Univates. The academics are from the postgraduate programs in Food Engineering and Biomedical Engineering and took part in a two-week course at the Institution.

The course is coordinated by the International Relations Office (DRI) in partnership with the Departments of the University. The students participated in visits to companies and hospitals, activities in laboratories, classes on Brazilian culture and economy, Portuguese class and culinary workshops. Still, they made a trip to the Gaucho Highlands.

According to the Chinese student Amy Cai, who studies Biomedical Engineering, the country is totally different from what she imagined. "Before coming here, I did not know anything about Brazil. Honestly, I was thinking that two weeks of course would be a long time, but now that I'm here I see that it is not enough, because there are many attractions", she says.

Amy points out how important it is for people to experience culture to actually form an opinion. The academy tells that she had heard about soccer, barbecue and how dangerous the country was and was surprised by what she saw here. "I was impressed by the forests, the amount of green, I feel like a little bird" she commented on what she saw.

This is the third action in conjunction with USST. According to DRI, the upcoming actions of the project include the going of a group from Univates to Shanghai next year to attend a similar course. In addition, Univates and the Chinese Institution are seeking areas for joint growth.