With the aim to improve the skills of the current students of Xidian University on English communication, academic research and cross-cultural communication, the Division of International Cooperation and Exchanges, the Graduate School, and various schools of the university jointly launched the online "Academic English and Writing Skills" program in partnership with US International Education Association (USIEA) in 2021. Since then, three cohorts of 160 students from 11 schools have enrolled in the programs offered by the University of Pennsylvania (US) and the University of Adelaide University (Australia).
(Campus of the University of Pennsylvania)
In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the program, to enable each student to maximize their achievements as well as to keep the participating schools and overseas universities informed of the progress, the method of “Team Leader Coordination” was adopted. Thanks to the strict and standardized management and the active support from the students, 159 of them finally received the program certificates with excellent performance. In the end, each cohort also selected top-performing teams and members to grant certificates and prizes.
（Student Attendance Report）
（Certificate and Transcript）
A program opening ceremony was held for each cohort, where the officials from the administrative departments and the participating schools shared their high expectations on the students, required them to follow the schedules, study hard and help each other, as well as extended their wishes to the students for great achievements from the program.
（The Offline Opening Ceremony of the Program）
The program offered by the University of Adelaide lasted for 45 hours in 15 weeks. One 3-hour live session was scheduled on every Saturday from 9am to 12pm, including both instruction and the time for questions and feedback. The University of Adelaide also provided VPN service to ensure the stable internet connection and the recordings of all the sessions for review after the class. The program offered by the University of Pennsylvania was 65 hours in 13 weeks of synchronous instruction, with two live sessions per week.
Both programs were delivered lively on Zoom platform and in small classes. All of the students have received official accounts and the access to the online learning management systems of the overseas universities, such as MyUni of the University of Adelaide and Canvas of the University of Pennsylvania. The students have been able to manage their learning effectively in these systems, including checking pre-class orafter-class assignments, downloading course materials, completing and submitting homework, receiving feedback from the instructors, attending live discussions, watching recorded sessions and etc.
The “Talk Show” Competition and the Closing Ceremony after the programs were also great highlights as the improvements and the charm of the students were demonstrated. The post-program surveys show high satisfaction of the students on Xidian University, the University of Adelaide, the University of Pennsylvania and USIEA in terms of the program arrangements.
The excellent study reports from the students recorded every moment of their learning during the programs. All of the detailed notes and the sincere words of recognition represent the great achievements that the students have made. Thanks goes to the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Adelaide and USIEA for their contributions to the program.
During these program moments, international exchanges were not stopped but enhanced. Xidian University has actively supported students to participate in online learning, and the students have participated the programs diligently. The students have been becoming more and more enthusiastic, while the program implementation has been increasingly smooth. Xidian University will continue to introduce more high-quality programs from world famous universities, helping the students to participate more international exchange.
