A week long programme of events in China saw the largest Bournemouth University (BU) Global Festival of Learning (GFOL) staged so far by the British University, with 45 staff and students from BU engaging with partner institutions in a wide programme featuring research work and discussion on issues that are significant for China and the UK.
Bournemouth University (BU)’s Global Festival of Learning China (GFOL) 2017 took place across three cities in China: Zhuhai (15 May), Guangzhou (16 May) and Beijing (18 and 19 May). The theme of ‘innovation’ was at the heart of GFOL 2017 and the week-long programme saw participants engage with peer educators, practitioners, entrepreneurs and innovation policy makers from China with a specific focus for each day: ‘Belt & Road’ regional economic strategy (Zhuhai); Inspiring Global Talent (Guangzhou); Developing Sports and Cultural Industries and Understanding China’s Innovation Model (Beijing).
GFOL also provided 14 BU students with a unique opportunity to work on events across China as part of BU’s ‘Developing Global Talent’ programme, which seeks to prepare students for global careers from whatever course they are studying. These opportunities in China illustrate how the programme develops global talent by providing international experience, global skillsets and an understanding of key global economic, environmental and societal themes.
At China's Capital University of Physical Education and Sports in Beijing, GFOL featured sports experts and players from the two countries, including Paralympic gold medallist Susannah Rogers and a panel discussion about Chinese soccer development, that featured six of the 60 Chinese football coaches who came to Bournemouth for three months last year for the BU China Football Study Programme 2016. They spoke of how their positive experiences at BU helped them improve their development work in China.
Earlier this year BU staged Global Festivals in Indonesia and Malaysia in March, then India in April, and along with China, a total of over 100 BU staff and students attended across all the GFOL 2017 events, engaging with over 2000 people at the different partner institutions hosting GFOL 2017.
GFOL is now heading home to Dorset for BU’s fifth annual Festival of Learning from July 8-12 and this year’s events will include a special celebration of BU’s global engagement on Wednesday July 12. For details of how to book free tickets for these events go to www.bournemouth.ac.uk/fol
Commenting on the Global Festival of Learning 2017 Dr Sonal Minocha, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Global Engagement at BU said: "Bournemouth University is committed to deepening its worldwide impact as part of its Global BU strategy and the Global Festival of Learning series in 2017 is an excellent example of how our staff and students are operating in a global context.
"It has been a tremendous experience working with international partner institutions to stage these events on relevant areas of interest and collaboration in the different host countries, with related expertise from BU academics featuring in all the programmes, alongside a tremendous opportunity for our students to work in an international environment.
"We now look forward to bringing the learnings from engaging and sharing thoughts in these global events to the BU Festival of Learning in Dorset in July”
