The opening ceremony of the thirteenth LSE-PKU Summer School was held on August 7, 2016. Attended by Li Yansong, Vice-President of Peking University, as well as a number of distinguished professors from both PKU and LSE, the ceremony marked the official opening of the program, which is jointly organized and managed by the two universities.

The students first listened to an orientation presentation, welcoming them to Peking University and providing information about life as an international student in Beijing. Fiona Conlan, the LSE program coordinator, gave some insights based on her experience with not only this program, but also another cooperative program run by LSE and the University of Cape Town. 

▲ Fiona Conlan of LSE addresses the audience

Following the orientation presentation, Dr. Brendan Smith, Head of LSE China and Northeast Asia, introduced the distinguished guests: Li Yansong, Vice-President of PKU; Wu Changqi, Professor of Strategic Management at PKU’s Guanghua School of Management; and Professor Michael Cox, Professor of International Relations at LSE and the Academic Director of the Summer School. Dr. Smith also welcomed the Summer School faculty members, a distinguished group of experts from both PKU and LSE. 

▲ Li Yansong, Vice President of Peking University

Vice-President Li Yansong was then invited to offer some remarks. He welcomed the guests, faculty and students to Peking University and thanked the management team for their hard work in creating the program, wishing the students well as they embark upon a busy two weeks of classes, extra-curricular activities, and cultural events. Following Vice-President Li’s speech, the Peking University student representative, Mao Anzhuo, gave a short speech in which he talked about the diversity of the program and his own perspectives, having studied in the US prior to attending PKU. 

▲ Professor Michael Cox of LSE

In closing the ceremony, Dr. Smith and Tan Pek Nan John gave some final words of welcome and encouragement to the students before handing over to some of the course assistants, who led the students on short tours of campus, showing such useful locations as the library and teaching buildings, as well as some of the recreational facilities offered by PKU. 

Along with the coursework are a number of extra-curricular activities that are made available to the students. The first of these is a roundtable discussion which will be hosted in the lecture hall of PKU’s Number 2 Gymnasium building on Tuesday, August 9, 2016. This panel is open to the public and is a chance to hear leading experts in economics and political science discuss some of the most important issues in current affairs, including the implications of the UK’s potential departure from the European Union and the US Presidential Election. 

This will be followed by a movie night later in the week, at which the movie “中国合伙人“ (“The American Dream in China”) will be shown. Other events will include a happy hour on Friday to welcome students to PKU, and a trip to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall on Saturday. At the end of the second week, after the final exams, there will also be a Gala dinner to mark the end of the program and celebrate the students’ achievements.