Glasgow College, UESTC students enjoy a Summer in Glasgow
Published: 4 October 2023
A fantastic programme of lectures, skills development sessions and social activities for students of Glasgow College, UESTC was on offer as our 5-week in-person Summer School made a welcome return.
Advanced Project Skills Summer School 2023
In July and August, our Glasgow College, UESTC Summer School programme was delivered in person for the first time since the Covid pandemic stopped us in our tracks back in 2019. Combining a stimulating and fun-filled programme of academic and social events, twenty students and support staff flew to Glasgow from Chengdu to meet teaching and support staff on campus at the University of Glasgow, to begin their 5-week adventure.
Each earning 15 academic credits, students accomplished the following aims:
- Take part in advanced engineering projects at a leading university.
- Develop independent processes of thought and ways of working.
- Learn new technical skills and gain understanding in a chosen speciality.
- Discover how to apply current knowledge to a new problem.
- Work in an exciting area of engineering technology.
- Develop presentation skills, both for a report and an oral presentation.
- Gain experience of project management.
This year, projects included “Emotion Recognition to Enhance Human-Robot Interaction”, “AI-driven design of microwave antennas: the next generation methodology” and “Safe and Trustworthy Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles”. Locally based Glasgow College academics – many now familiar to their students after recent trips to Chengdu for in-person teaching – were on hand to act as Supervisors.
Student Chaperone David Zhang noted with pleasure that:
“Professor Muhammad Imran, Dean of Transnational Engineering Education at the James Watt School of Engineering, sincerely wished the students not only to learn advanced project skills and professional knowledge in five weeks, but also to get closer to the teachers of the University of Glasgow, and to understand their professional interests faster. All the tutors and teaching assistants who participated in the project, and the teachers in charge of the summer camp expressed their sincere welcome to everyone.”
Third-year student Li Jingyuan, supervised by Senior Lecturer Dr Wasim Ahmad, immediately recognised the benefits of working on his project “Emotion Recognition to Enhance Human-Robot Interaction”. He noted that he rarely had the opportunity to complete a relatively complex project alone, and this learning experience is “of great help for the graduation project and future scientific discoveries”. He also felt that he had made great progress in reading literature on the topic, improving his English for academic purposes.
Special guest lectures included Executive Dean of Glasgow College, UESTC, Professor David Young on “Ethics in Publishing”, and Autonomous Systems and Connectivity Lecturer Dr Lina Mohjazi on her incredible journey to academic success in engineering – told from her personal perspective as a female engineer (and a mother).
There was even a chance to meet the visiting Presidential Delegation from UESTC, who happened to be visiting the campus while the Advanced Project Skills Summer School was running!
Students in three categories (Best Hardware Project, Best Software Project and Best Overall Project) won fashionable Lego Technics sets. The Winner of the Overall Best Project prize was Xu Yihe, a second-year student (picture below) whose project “Safe and Trustworthy Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles” was supervised by Dr Dezong Zhao and Dr Yao Sun, Coordinator of the Summer School. All Summer School students were presented with certificates of completion to document their 5-week journey of discovery in Glasgow.
Social events included day trips by coach to scenic tourist attractions, a traditional Scottish Ceilidh, and an Asian buffet and karaoke evening. By way of farewell, the students enjoyed a special 3-course dinner in the historic surroundings of the Glasgow University Union, alongside their mentors, peers, staff members from University of Glasgow and Glasgow College UESTC, and friends both old and new.
Special mention goes to Dr Yao Sun, APSSS Programme Coordinator, and to the International Summer School team at University of Glasgow who supported successful delivery of the Summer School. We look forward to announcing more projects for next Summer, and to making it even bigger and better!
First published: 4 October 2023