Working together with students in China
This year, the minor ‘Doing business with China’ is working together with a partner university in China for the first time: Huang Shan. Saxion students have brainstorm sessions on a regular basis with six fellow students in China.
The students are exploring possibilities for a Dutch company, Globemilk. The company is a successful milk exporter but they want help with brand awareness and packaging for the Chinese market. The students of the partner university in China help the Saxion students of various programmes with the research. In addition, the Dutch students are learning Chinese in the Netherlands and they learn from each other, because the students come from various programmes.
Experiences and motivations
Thijs Keringveld, Small Business & Retail Management student, has already learned a lot since they started in February. "I can speak Chinese reasonably well. In addition to the language, we also learn a lot about the culture, history and political agenda of China. I find it interesting to learn so much about a specific country."
Matthijs Kuhlman is a Software Engineering student. "I am the only student from the School of Creative Technology in this group. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and I think I succeeded in doing so with this minor." Regien Meijer, Finance and Controlstudent, made the conscious choice to do the Doing Business with China minor because she wants to work for an international company in the future. "China is a more and more important player in the world market. By learning about the Chinese culture and how they do business, we gain a great advantage for the future."
For Katerina Yujiao Chu, an international Hotel Management student from China, it is an extraordinary experience to look at her home country this way. "This reminds me of how proud I am of my country. Moreover, a lot has happened that I have not even noticed. Also the marketing strategies that we discussed in this minor are very interesting."
For Pierre Gilles Dargaud -an exchange student- this is also a special experience. "I wanted to do research with people from various countries. The most peculiar about my situation is that I am a Frenchman learning Chinese in the Netherlands."
Travelling to China
In May, the minor-students are travelling to China. They will continue their research there and visit various companies. Bas Brummelhuis, also a Small Business & Retail Management student is interested in the companies abroad. "I really wanted to learn more about that, so this is why this minor suited me best. I did not know beforehand that we would actually go abroad but this is a nice bonus."
Staff member of Saxion
It is also special that one of the participants to the minor is a staff member of Saxion: Klaudyna Renkel of the School of Health. "The popularity of the minor reaches further than the students", she explains while laughing. "My specialisation relates to internationalisation and this minor drew my attention. In the past, I had already followed the Asia Track programme an I noticed that the knowledge I gain can be put to practice right away." Furthermore, it is interesting to find myself among student for a chance."
More information
Read more about the minor Doing Business with China. Interested in an exchange programme? View our exchange programmesor read more about the exchange programme Doing Business with China, which is open to students from any partner institution of any Saxion school.