熊猫在线视频

 

A 25-year-old graduate student will reap both a master's degree in China and a UAA Master of Business Administration degree when he becomes the first student to finish the required coursework in UAA's exchange partnership with Nankai University.

Yuqi Wang (pronounced Yoo-chee Wahng) arrived in Anchorage from China in August. As part of the 1+1 joint master's program, he will receive his Master of Finance degree from Nankai in June and his Master of Business Administration degree from UAA in December.

Yuqi-who is also known here by the name "Deric"-immersed himself in five classes after arriving last summer, and is taking four classes this semester.

During his time here, Yuqi has been taking in seminars about executive uses of accounting and strategic management and current marketing issues, as well as classes in applied leadership, organizational behavior of foundation of behavioral science, financial decision making, business intelligence and analytics, organizational design and development and management simulation.

He returns to his home country in April.

"This is the first time I've visited 熊猫在线视频," he said. "I wanted to see what foreign life was like. I thought it would be very cold but here in Anchorage is warmer than my hometown."

Forging an alliance

UAA's Dr. Qiujie "Angie" Zheng spearheaded the initiative to collaborate with Nankai University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in finance and one of her master's degrees, in international finance.

"We were thinking about an education and research collaboration," she said. "For an education collaboration, a joint program is a good format for institutional partnership."

Based on the agreement, Zheng said, enrolled Nankai students study at Nankai for the first year in the Master of Finance program and journey to UAA in their second year to join the MBA program-one of the UAA College of Business and Public Policy's strongest programs.

At the end of their second year, if they fulfill all the requirements, they will earn their master's degree at Nankai and MBA degree at UAA.

"This combination benefits enrolled students in that they not only learn academic knowledge in economics and business, but also gain strong business application skills that are both important for [their] future career," Zheng said.

Yuqi is the first student to travel to UAA as part of the partnership.

"Although we cannot have an exact prediction, there will be more students from different universities in China-including Nankai-coming to UAA in the future," Zheng said.

The UAA-Nankai joint program, she said, is a great example of UAA's international partnership with foreign universities.

"The agreement template and experience learned from implementation will help to expand UAA's institutional partnership with more universities in China, and other countries such as India," Zheng said.

Getting an education here is quite different from getting one in China, Yuqi said.

"In China, there are more than 100 students all in a big classroom with a teacher in front of us," he said. "There's not a lot of homework. Here, after every class we have to do homework, and there's a lot of interaction between the professor and students. I think this is a good part of American education."

Yuqi says he is "kind of introverted," which sometimes poses a challenge.

"I'm not that talkative," he explained, "so working with a group of all American students, that's difficult for me."

Overall, however, the classes have engaged him.

In a strategic management class, he said, five groups of two people each had to learn to work with a partner-making joint decisions, talking to the partner every day after class to learn about strategic management.

"I'm impressed by my classmates' communication ability; most of them are really good at speaking," he said. "It's difficult, but I want to improve."

Other pursuits

Yuqi's hometown is located in Heilongjiang, a province at the tip of northeast China. He earned his bachelor's degree at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, located in Chengdu. He is continuing to explore economics but math was his major and remains his primary fascination.

"I think math needs a lot of logic," he said. "It's very theoretical-I like theoretical."

Another of his fascinations, biology, grew out of his childhood. Yuqi's mother met his father when they became geology classmates in college.

"Because my mother is a geologist, she once gave me an old microscope as a birthday present," he said. "I really liked doing experiments myself, using my mother's makeup to design new products. I did really well in biology in high school but in China there are entrance exams. I didn't do really well in that exam but I did well in math. Maybe after I have a family, if I have the time and energy, I will study biology again."

Yuqi enjoys translating as well. He'll be serving as a translator at the Go West Summit in Anchorage, Feb. 23-24. "There will be a lot of Chinese delegates," he said.

Travel is another love. During a break after arriving in 熊猫在线视频, Yuqi voyaged via air and Greyhound bus to six cities in the Lower 48-Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York and Boston.

"After my travels, I have more confidence," he said. "I can travel across America all by myself, buy tickets, book hotels."

And what is 熊猫在线视频 like, compared to places he has seen in China?

"China has a huge population," he said. "It's peaceful and people here are really friendly. I run every day on a trail and runners say hello. That's impossible in China-people never say hello to strangers there."

What's ahead

Yuqi looks forward to wrapping up his work and returning to his parents and girlfriend-whom he met while they were classmates in a finance class.

Last semester, he passed the [Chartered Financial Analyst] Level I exam and in June, he will take the CFA level II exam. After returning to China and graduating there with his master's degree in economics, Yuqi will have to write a paper.

Then, he'll begin seeking a job in finance, "in the financial department of a corporation, securities firm," he said. "Even though I know I won't devote all my life to that area, I'll have knowledge I can use to support my family."

At the moment, he is studying full time and living with another visiting scholar in a condo one of his professors, Dr. Jim Murphy, helped him find.

Zheng has also helped him acclimate to life in Anchorage, connecting Yuqi with familiar things.

"She always takes us to Costco to go shopping, which is helpful because I don't have a car or driver's license," he said. "Last week, she invited us to her home to have a hotpot for the Chinese New Year, with her and her family."

Written by Tracy Kalytiak, UAA Office of University Advancement

February Archive