The Elite Graduate Program “Standards of Decision-Making Across Cultures” at the FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg requires students to spend their third semester in Beijing, where they have the unique opportunity to attend classes at the prestigious Beijing University. This significant part of their training in observing and analyzing sociocultural standards is made possible by a strong partnership with the European Centre for Chinese Studies.
As one of the special features of the study program, the students of the Elite Graduate Program “Standards of Decision-Making across Cultures” (SDAC) spend the third semester in Beijing. In the winter semester 2018/2019, for the first time students went for a semester to China in order to spend time at Beijing University with supervision of the "European Center for Chinese Studies". This center of the University of Tübingen coordinates the stay and course selection of German and international students on site in Beijing. Peking University itself was founded in 1898 as the country's first modern university and is now one of the most renowned universities in the People's Republic.
In the area surrounding the scenic campus of the Beida campus, the students attended the main courses within the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, which is only a few meters from Lake Weiming. The courses offered there include intensive language courses as well as interdisciplinary lectures.
The “European Center for Chinese Studies” not only enables students to enroll, but also offers a cultural program. In addition to the contact with Chinese culture in everyday life, the students also had the opportunity to get to know the country and its people through various excursions. The offer includes both seeing sights within Beijing such as the Imperial Academy or the Park of the Fragrance Mountains, but also making larger excursions into the country such as for example a trip to Inner Mongolia right at the beginning of the semester.
Students of the Elite Graduate Program “Standards of Decision-Making Across Cultures” regularly reflected on their experience, contributing greatly to their understanding of the significance of cultural context for decision-making processes. This was undoubtedly a most welcome application of the knowledge transmitted during the previous semesters.
