From March 15 to 21, 2026, nearly 30 first-year representative students from the Accounting and Finance programs of Beijing City University (BCU) traveled to our partner institutions, the University of Essex and the University of Hull in the UK, to participate in the spring semester "China-UK City Finance Workshop". Through this exchange, the students gained firsthand experience of the academic atmosphere and educational philosophy of overseas universities, laying a solid foundation for their future participation in "2+2 and 3+1 credit transfer" programs. During the exchange, Prof. Carlos Carrillo Tudela, Dean of the School of Economics at the University of Essex, and Dr. Elif Kubilay, Head of the Postgraduate Department, as well as Peter Andrew, International and Deputy Dean of the Business School at the University of Hull, and Alison Price-Moirs, Deputy Dean for Education, held welcome ceremonies for our faculty and students. Both sides expressed strong willingness to deepen academic exchanges and strengthen cooperation in talent cultivation.
BCU students fully engaged in learning several high-quality specialized courses at the two universities, including Economics of Financial Markets and Intermediation, Methods of Economic Analysis, and Public Economics, either by attending regular classes or through small-group seminars, and they also had in-depth academic discussions with the course instructors. Meanwhile, they visited campus facilities such as libraries, student dormitories, specialized laboratories, and sports venues at both universities. They also explored the local old towns through city walks, experiencing the overseas campus environment and local culture from all angles. The students also had extensive exchanges with international students and local university students, broadening their cross-cultural perspectives.
At the end of the program, Prof. Simon Foster, International Vice-Chancellor of the University of Essex, and relevant faculty members from the University of Hull Business School presented completion certificates to the visiting students, highly commending their active participation, seriousness, and dedication, and expressing strong expectations for further deepening cooperation with BCU's School of International Culture and Communication (SICC) in the Accounting and Finance programs and expanding more exchange opportunities.
This dual-university exchange activity in the UK provided an excellent international learning and exchange platform for BCU's international program students, laying a solid foundation for their subsequent cross-cultural learning exploration. At the same time, it further deepened the friendly inter-institutional cooperation between BCU and the University of Essex and the University of Hull, and demonstrated BCU's educational philosophy of adhering to internationalized talent cultivation and fostering interdisciplinary talents with both global vision and professional competence.
In recent years, the SICC has continuously strengthened its distinctive features in student cultivation, emphasizing internationalization and digital intelligence. On one hand, the SICC has actively expanded cooperation with internationally renowned universities, connecting with international cooperative education through international programs to continuously enhance students' global outlook; on the other hand, in the training of majors such as Accounting, Communication, and Radio & Television, it has proactively adapted to the digital and intelligent changes in society and the industry, integrating more digital and intelligent content into the curriculum.
