China Global Leadership

Location of Program: China, Hong Kong       Year: 2017
Program Director(s): Brent Nelson & Chia-Chi Teng
Participating Major(s): Mechanical Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, and Management. 20 Students

Summary:

The program helped students see the connections between China and the world. Students had the opportunity to visit many companies, such as ATL Technology, to better learn how engineering companies function globally. Students received technical instruction at Sun Yat-Sen University. Cultural tours to historic locations and important landmarks rounded out their experience. 

Recap of the Year:

Global Agility
Students worked side by side with Chinese students to create a film about leadership. Students were able to create friendships with Chinese students in their project groups to experience and discuss Chinese culture, ethics, and social customs. Students also learned about the process of how a start-up company from Utah expanded to China to see both sides of globalization.

 

Leadership Skills
Students developed stronger leadership skills through reading The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. While in China, students worked with Chinese students and focused on how to build team unity and become better future leaders. In various activities, students had team leadership lessons and practiced how to lead and give constructive feedback after each activity.  

 

Technical experience
Students were able to gain technical competence by visiting companies in China. For example, in a visit to Lenovo, students observed how the company assembled laptop motherboards. Students also toured factories and learned step by step the process of creating aluminum aerosol cans with machinery. 

 

Student experience
“The culture tour was a huge highlight of the trip…. and knowing the history behind [each landmark] made it even more memorable….We learned how to be better leaders and how to build teams, we learned how to further along globalization in [different] areas of the world.”        –Katherine Coombs