Twenty-five junior students from universities across the country attended JI’s second Graduate Students Recruitment Summer Camp on July 21-23 at the JI. The purpose of the camp is to build an interaction platform for outstanding students from all over China to learn more about the Joint Institute. Another important purpose is to recruit Master and PhD students for 2012.
The three-day program was very intensive. In the morning of July 21, Executive Director Pamela Byrnes and Associate Dean for Research Wansheng Zhao welcomed the attendees at the open ceremony while Chairman of Graduate Committee Olivier Bauchau gave an introduction of the JI. After, JI’s faculty members gave an overview of their research directions. In the afternoon, students were given a campus tour with side visits to JI’s research lab or were given face time with the professors who’s research work they are interested in.
July 22 was dedicated to Technical skills and Oral English Proficiency interviews. On July 23, students observed the Vg100 (Introduction to Engineering) Project Open House before attending a laboratory class and did an experiment on solar panel. Camp organizer Professor Mian Li says, “This experiment is chosen from JI’s junior course Ve395, so it is not difficult for juniors from other universities. Through this experiment, we can observe students’ hands-on capability, communication skills, and work ethic, which are also important in recruiting graduate students. These attributes are also important to us and the decision is not only based on grades and English.” Graduate program coordinator Anita Li says, “These 25 participants were screened and selected from applications received and based on their application forms, certificates, practical experience, and other supplementary material they were invited to attend the summer camp. JI is very careful in selecting graduate students. Compared to the recruiting interview in the fall, summer camp provides a more comprehensive way to screen candidates.”
Participants applied for the summer camp through different channels, such as posters, websites, advertisements on magazines, and faculty recruitment trips. A participant remarked that he is impressed by JI’s high English Proficiency level and how easy it is to talk to faculty members. He looks forward to being admitted to the JI.
