This time yesterday I was on the 11½ hour British Airways through flight from Beijing to London. This had been my first visit to China since 2007, and my first to Hong Kong since 2006. There were several of us from the University involved in a wide variety of tasks. So what was I doing during the 9½ days of my travels? The menu reads as follows:
3 group dinners at which I sat next to representatives of organisations such as the British Council, the British Consulate, and the Chinese Ministry of Education. These were working dinners, drawing out aspects of our plans but also listening to local intelligence on the higher education (and wider political) landscape in China (in both parts of the ‘one country, two systems’ arrangement).
3 working meals with colleagues from the new operator of the University’s pathway provider college, and various of the agents they are working with in recruiting overseas students to come to Sheffield. These were 'getting-to-know-you' sessions involving lots of explaining Sheffield's approach to a multitude of issues around both undergraduate and postgraduate education.
2 private meals with significant alumni of the University who have in some way indicated an interest in assisting their alma mater.
2 meetings with current Sheffield students taking a year abroad in institutions in Hong Kong or Nanjing
2 major alumni events, for graduates of the University to get together for networking and to hear about developments back in Sheffield.
2 half-day visits to Chinese universities that we see as major partners. In both cases I was the leader of a Sheffield delegation, discussing a wide variety of connections and possible future plans. Such visits customarily involve an exchange of gifts between universities, with appropriate photo opportunities. I had brought our gifts from the UK and am now returning with others which will adorn my office.
2 graduation ceremonies for students who had studied in Sheffield but who now had the chance to be presented to the Vice-Chancellor in front of their parents and friends. At one of these I gave the oration for an honorary graduate.
2 post-graduation receptions for those presented, parents, VIP guests and friends. These also involved innumerable photos taken with graduates in their gowns. I had carried my own gown and cap from the UK.
One presentation to a symposium on global issues.
One visit to a joint Canadian – Chinese research facility.
One synchronous on-line discussion session delivered to my students back in Sheffield from my hotel room in Beijing, at the time when we normally meet in the UK – thus necessitating staying up until one in the morning Chinese time.
That adds up to 21 events in 9½ days, but it should be added that some days were taken up with a fair bit of travel. Two days were chiefly used up in flying from Hong Kong to Shanghai (especially as the flight was delayed) and from Shanghai to Beijing. And there was also rail travel to and from Nanjing on two mornings. There were events in my list above every evening
But although I was working every day, including the weekends, I wouldn’t want to suggest that there was no relaxation. Four of us went up the Peak by funicular in Hong Kong, and three of us explored the Hong Kong Park. I had two trips on the Star Ferry across from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon with three different colleagues. I paid two visits to old Shanghai, again with three different colleagues. I spent part of an afternoon in the Temple of Heaven Park in Beijing. And the leisure highlight was the day when three of us hired a driver and guide to take us out to visit the Great Wall at Mutianyu. Finally, on a complex visit like this, with various people involved, it was good to get together in the bar at the end of the day. Particularly memorable was an evening in the hotel in Beijing with a 5-piece group playing American standards to an international group of colleagues drawn from China, Mexico and the UK - the musical group having a superb female singer with a smoky voice, and a fantastic lead guitarist in the style of Eric Clapton or Jeff Beck in their heyday.
But now the most gruelling part begins – finalising the reports and action points that result from all the things we have done.
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