UEF - MCUT International Exchange Program: Connections and meaningful experiences

With a modern and multicultural environment for education, UEF constantly welcomes international students to study and exchange. In the academic year 2022-2023, the “International Summer Camp in Vietnam” exchange program officially kicked off on June 26, welcoming the student delegation from the Ming Chi University of Technology - Taiwan (MCUT). The program facilitated the understanding of Vietnamese culture, history, and people for students from both schools and enhanced academic exchanges.
 

In order to let MCUT students get used to UEF’s environment on the first day, the Organizer let them introduce themselves and join the game with UEF students.
 

“International Summer Camp in Vietnam” exchange program was kicked off on June 26

On the second day of the program, MCUT students approached Vietnamese culture through many features of traditional costumes, dishes, and holidays; namely conical hats (non la), ao dai, banh mi, pho, Traditional Lunar New Year’s Day, Hung Kings Commemoration, etc.

Besides, MCUT students also learnt basic Vietnamese, such as the alphabet, tone marks, and simple self-introduction sentences. After being guided, they practiced drawing conical hats and speaking Vietnamese with the support of UEF students.
 

MCUT students learned to draw conical hats and speak basic Vietnamese

The focus of the program was the visits to historic monuments and traditional cultural locations of Vietnam. MCUT students paid their visits to Saigon Central Post Office, Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral, Independence Palace, etc.; especially the visit to Tien Giang and Ben Tre province in the Mekong Delta and to Cu Chi Tunnels historical sites.

Through the trip, MCUT students could understand more about different types of typical culture in the Southwest region, such as southern amateur music (known as Don ca tai tu) “don ca tai tu” or traditional coconut candy making. They had experienced the rustic and peaceful life of the people in each destination as well as listened to the heroic history of the Vietnamese at the Cu Chi Tunnels.

In the last practical activity of the program, they had a trip around Sheng Bang Metal Co., Ltd, a Taiwanese enterprise in Vietnam, and listened to start-up experiences from members of The Council Of Taiwanese Chamber Of Commerce In Vietnam – Dong Nai Branch. 
 

Excursions with full of interesting experiences 

Through the journey, an MCUT student Wang Yi-Chi shared: "We did have a great time here. During the trip, I had the opportunity to understand more about Vietnam's history, culture, and special language features. I am very grateful to the Board of Directors, faculty members, and students of UEF for enthusiastically guiding me throughout this journey. If you have a chance, I hope you will visit Taiwan."

Another MCUT student Ho Jia-Xuan expressed her impression: “Everyone warmly welcomed us as well as carefully prepared everything for us. I also had the opportunity to try delicious food in Vietnam and experienced a lot of new and interesting things along the way. Your friendliness has helped me not feel lost and scared. I also got “tips” from teachers for Vietnamese-style greetings, which helped me communicate confidently with other Vietnamese students. I want to send a sincere thanks to everyone.”
 

UEFers and MCUT students have many networking opportunities during their journey

Accompanying international students throughout the program, the UEFers also learned many valuable things and gained unforgettable memories.

“Although I was only able to accompany my MCUT friends for a short time, I feel very fortunate. What excites me most is probably being able to exchange cultures and learn about the lifestyles of Vietnam and Taiwan as well as learn languages from them. Because not only are they proficient in Chinese, they also excel in English. We tried our best to integrate both languages for practice as well as helped them to present Vietnam history and culture,” said Nguyen Tran Gia Man, an International Business student.

Meanwhile, Cao Nguyen Dinh Dinh, a Hospitality Management student, thinks that the act of connecting students can contribute to developing the relationship between Vietnam and Taiwan: “In my opinion, organized trips like these can promote close relationships between the two nations and create many new connections. Both sides can support each other in economic development, tourism, and culture, thereby reinforcing a strong partnership.”

At the Closing Ceremony and Awarding Certificates on July 1, the MCUT student delegation reported each of their visits. During the Ceremony, stories and memories were reminded through the interesting perspective of Taiwanese students.
 

The Closing Ceremony of the program took place on July 1, wrapping up the memorable journey of Taiwanese students in Vietnam

The "International Summer Camp in Vietnam 2023" program has already ended. Hopefully, the experiential activities in the past few days left MCUT students with many memorable moments and helped them understand more about Vietnamese culture and people in general, as well as the learning environment and students at UEF in particular. With UEFers, exchange activities help expand relationships with international friends, practice foreign languages, and learn many new things for the journey of development and integration.
 

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