Honghzi Students

Hongzhi, Chinese for Great Ideal, is a scholarship system intended for talented but less wealthy students. Liu Chao (3rd year bachelor student in Electronics Engineering), Luo Cheng (master student in Electronics Engineering), Zhou Kang (3rd year bachelor student in Electromechanical Engineering) and Zhou Xiaohua (master student in Biochemical Engineering) completed their first year at various Chinese universities and, just like all other Hongzhi students, first went through a rigorous selection procedure.

­Liu Chao, Luo Cheng, Zhou Kang, and Zhou Xiaohua

Compared to their large home universities and cities, Group T operates on a much smaller scale and Leuven seems a village. But that has its advantages: the contact with the professors is much more direct because you are taught in smaller groups. For Zhou Xiaohua, the individual student room was the greatest adaptation of them all. “Here in Belgium there is of course more privacy but Chinese students enjoy each other’s company.”

The Hongzhi students prefer to cook themselves and buy Chinese products when possible. They also find it striking that the shops are closed here on Sundays while in China it is the busiest shopping day.

Although one tends to remain in familiar surroundings, all students find it important to make use of this opportunity to learn about the culture of Belgian and other international students. They believe it to be a good thing for the teachers to insist that ‘mixed’ international teams are formed for implementing projects or to stimulate cooperation on master’s theses.

The expectations they had when they came to Belgium have so far all been met. Studying abroad has been a positive experience, especially because you are introduced to different views, opinions, customs.

With their Group T degree, their international experience and their practical command of English, they hope to have developed greater opportunities on the Chinese employment market. Because there, too, the competition is stiff. Furthermore, if possible, they want to earn an extra diploma: an additional master or a doctorate.
 

• Read the Hongzhi students' full story in Interview, Group T's newsmagazine.
   

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