Students learned about Taiwan food culture during a virtual visit to Ximen Market in Taipei.

Interactive Site Visits in Taipei

During week one, students enjoyed a virtual tour of Ximen Market, one of the most well-known night markets in Taipei. During this sessions, students learned about Taiwan food culture and historical Japanese influence through the architecture and food stalls that get their flavor from Japan. During another session, students visited a Confucian temple that was built in the 19th century and learned about the origins of Confucianism.

During the second week, students learned about Dihua Street, one of Taipei’s oldest streets with sections in existence since the rule of Dutch Formosa from 1624 to 1661. Students learned about preservation and conservation efforts by the city to ensure future generations learn about Taipei’s unique history.

In the program’s final week, students visited the Chaing Kai Shek Memorial, and explored the unique architectural features that symbolism prosperity and good health in Chinese culture.

Language Exchange & Exchange with Indigenous Populations

To reinforce their classroom language learning, students were afforded the opportunity to develop authentic connections with their peers in Asia. During one module, students from Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University (XJTLU) in Suzhou, China joined Texas State University students as virtual language partners. With topics that aligned with those the Texas students had been covering in class, the pairs conversed about such things as their families, traveling, the weather, and giving directions.

Also, students had the unique opportunity to learn about and engage with indigenous minority communities from Taiwan. In collaboration with ATAYAL, a global organization with a mission to preserve indigenous peoples’ language and culture, Texas State students took part in a language and culture exchange through multiple small-group sessions.

The post The Asia Institute Supports Texas State University’s Integrated Chinese Language Program for Second Summer    appeared first on The Asia Institute.

Student teams present solutions to environmental impact challenges related to coffee byproduct waste for Indonesia-based Rinjani Coffee Co.

The projects featured companies from Turkey and Indonesia and included challenges such as market entry and diversification, sustainable farming, and renewable energy. Students assigned to work with FERLED, a Turkish LED light manufacturer, researched the energy markets in Germany to devise a market entry strategy that emphasized the company’s sustainability goals. Students assigned to Duru Bulgar, a food manufacturer in Turkey, focused on an international marketing campaign to help global food consumers, especially those in Asia, become more familiar with the nutritional benefits, history and heritage of bulgur wheat. Finally, students working with Rinjani Mountain Coffee Company in Indonesia worked on the environmental impact challenges related to coffee byproduct waste and designed a new product to re-use the waste material to benefit the local economy.

Student teams devise a market entry strategy for Ferled Lighting that emphasized the company’s sustainability goals.

Students that participated in the competition hailed from universities across four continents (North America, Africa, Europe and Asia), thus adding to the international diversity of the program. Aside from the competition, students enjoyed participating in cross-cultural communication workshops and small group mentor sessions, and lectures from international marketing experts. In the end, the multi-week project provided a terrific opportunity for students to learn from one another and develop key skills such as flexibility and complex problem solving, that will serve them in the future careers. In a post-event survey, participants commented that the competition was challenging, valuable and enjoyable. The Asia Institute looks forward to hosting another global business case competition in the near future!

Aside from the competition, students enjoyed participating in cross-cultural communication workshops and small group mentor sessions, and lectures from international marketing experts.

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Some ways that you could utilize these include sharing the logins with students preparing to go abroad to Japan or South Korea, sharing a login with a language faculty member and/or students studying the target languages or utilizing a login in your offices’ marketing and recruitment as a way to generate interest in Japan or South Korea. To view CulturaGo’s introduction video, click the link below.

If you and your students can benefit from these initial log ins at no cost, please contact Ann Hubbard at The Asia Institute ann.hubbard@asiainstitute.org.

The post The Asia Institute Partners with CulturaGo to Provide Students with Unique Pre-Departure Resources appeared first on The Asia Institute.

During the XJTLU – International Business School Suzhou Virtual Business Project Competition students will engage in a unique opportunity to work on real challenges faced by organizations in Asia. Included in this experience, students will:

• Work in diverse groups, collaborating on a projects focused on helping a business or organization to solve a current issue.
• Understand a specific issue or situation for an Asian business/organization while researching possible solutions
• Incorporate the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals into how the group’s proposal addresses solutions
• Examine transferable (“soft”) skills from working in a diverse group and understand how to articulate them to potential employers

Interested students should fill out the application form by June 15th. Following the form submission, we will be in touch with additional information to confirm your participation in the competition. If you have any questions, please contact us at ann.hubbard@asiainstitute.org.

The post The Asia Institute to Co-Host Virtual Business Project Competition this Summer! appeared first on The Asia Institute.

Since the start of the Pandemic and the rise of virtual learning programs, The Asia Institute has put an emphasis on Project-Based Learning (PBL), whereby students work in small teams and collaborate with mission-driven NGOs and social enterprises, in real-time. The Asia Institute’s Social Impact Projects thus offer students an opportunity to design creative solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges.

Below, we have highlighted several recent projects and initiatives that The Asia Institute and our University partners have been hard at work on. Projects involving sustainable development and eco-tourism in Thailand, Coral Reef Conservation in Vietnam, Sustainable Farming in Indonesia and Tourism Promotion in Japan have provided a unique platform for students to design solutions that make a tangible difference in people’s lives.

If you are interested in exploring collaboration with The Asia Institute through our Social Impact Projects platform, please reach out here!

Thailand | Sustainable Development & Eco-Tourism

In partnership with Thailand-based NGO OurLand, a wildlife sanctuary based in the Western Forest Complex,  student teams conducted research and provided recommendations to sustainably develop its land into an eco-tourist destination while ensuring human-wildlife coexistence. Read More.

Vietnam | Coral Reef Conservation

Coral reefs in Vietnam are under relentless stress from myriad global and local issues, including climate change, declining water quality, overfishing, pollution, and unsustainable coastal development. In partnership with a local company that develops coral reef growth kits, student groups are researching solutions that both benefit the local population economically and help to rebuild reefs that are facing a 98% rate of damage. Read More.

Indonesia | Sustainable Coffee Farming & Market Feasibility

In collaboration with a family-run coffee farm in a remote region of Lombok, Indonesia, student teams researched ways to re-use the farm’s coffee bean husks in a way that is both sustainable and profit-generating. The group also provided creative business solutions and recommendations including whether the company should export internationally, and working on a full market analysis of the company’s ideal customer, Read More.

Japan | Rural Tourism & Entrepreneurship Project

Students worked in groups to advise Forum Tauri Development Co., a Minami, Japan-based NGO to devise a strategy to keep young people from leaving Japan’s rural regions for the big cities, by encouraging entrepreneurship. Read More.

UCONN International Business Case Challenge (IBCC)

The Asia Institute served as a host partner in conjunction with the 2021 UCONN International Business Case Challenge (IBCC), an annual competition that brings teams of undergrads from around the world to compete virtually by solving real-life business issues. Read a Q&A with faculty advisor Arminda Kamphausen here and read a summary of the competition here.

The post Immersive Learning Experiences in Asia: Project-Based Internships, at a Glance! appeared first on The Asia Institute.

Ann Hubbard (Middle) joined by Lisa Loberg, Director of Study Abroad at Loyola Marymount University and Gary Rhodes, Professor & Director, Center for Global Education at California State University, Dominguez Hills.

The event featured 50+ sessions, two of which featured The Asia Institute’s academic lead Ann Hubbard. Ann presented on March 22nd on a panel titled “Project-Based Virtual Program Design: Challenges and Successes Across Time Zones” and on a March 25th panel titled, “From Student Learning to Student Action Abroad: An Active Response to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals” These panels highlight opportunities for the field of Education Abroad to encourage action-oriented learning as part of program design. Ann was joined on this panel by Lisa Loberg, Director of Study Abroad at Loyola Marymount University and Gary Rhodes, Professor & Director, Center for Global Education at California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Leaders from The Global Learning Collective meet at Forum from March 21-25. From left to right: Bradley A. Feuling (The Asia Institute) Barry Rawlings (EDU Africa), Uli Leibrecht (CEPA) and Daniel Amgarten (Campus B)

The post The Asia Institute Participates at Forum on Education Abroad, the First In-person Conference since 2019 appeared first on The Asia Institute.

The Asia Institute Academic Lead Ann Hubbard will be presenting on the virtual panel “Project-Based Virtual Program Design: Challenges and Successes Across Time Zones” on Tuesday, March 22nd at 10:00 am CST. The session will examine best practices for the design and development of virtual project-based internship programs focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Additionally, Ann will be a panelist on the in-person session titled, “From Student Learning to Student Action Abroad: An Active Response to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals” on Friday, March 25th at 8:45 am CST. This panel will highlight opportunities for the field of Education Abroad to encourage action-oriented learning as part of program design to increase positive global impact in response to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

In addition, The Asia Institute will be exhibiting at the conference from March 23-25th alongside our colleagues at The Global Learning Collective. We look forward to sharing recent updates on short-term programs in Asia as well as project-based learning programs we are hosting with partners throughout the region. If you plan to be in Chicago, stop by booth 15!

The post The Asia Institute to Exhibit, Present at 18th Annual Forum on Education Abroad appeared first on The Asia Institute.

The Asia Institute’s Charman/CEO Bradley Feuling discussed the perspective from the ground in Asia, as we remain encouraged by recent news of quarantine-free travel and what it means for the resumption of faculty-led programming in 2022 and beyond. Key discussion points included how The Asia Institute is approaching travel on a country-by-country basis according to local policies and each institution’s unique requirements to keep students safe. To access the webinar materials, click below!

• Webinar PPT
• Webinar Recording
• Blog Post: Key Destinations in Asia Reopening to Quarantine-Free Travel

The post The Asia Institute & GLC Host Travel Updates Webinar appeared first on The Asia Institute.

“We are proud to partner with International Educators of Illinois to increase accessibility of study in Asia to students from across the State of Illinois, regardless of their academic study area or the campus they attend,” said Bradley A. Feuling, Chairman and CEO of The Asia Institute. “The Asia Institute’s joint-scholarship programs have awarded over $40,000 to students around the United States, whereby students are able to fulfill their study abroad dreams, and now access Asia both in-person or through virtual study experiences.”

“It’s an exciting opportunity for IEI to partner with The Asia Institute on this scholarship,” said Sara McGuinn, Chair of International Educators of Illinois. “The past year and a half have been difficult for international education as a field, so we are thrilled to encourage and support study abroad for students in Illinois in any way we can.”

Designed to increase the global awareness and competencies of students studying at universities and colleges in the State of Illinois, The Asia Institute-IEI Scholarship will award $2,000 in scholarship funding to students seeking to participate in global learning programs in 2022. Global learning experiences can be a short-term faculty-led program, semester or full-year study abroad program, international internship/research or a virtual learning program. All fields of study are encouraged to apply, and the program does not have to be hosted by The Asia Institute. The application deadline is March 15, 2022. For more information on eligibility and to apply, click here.

The post The Asia Institute and International Educators of Illinois (IEI) Announce New Joint-Scholarship Program appeared first on The Asia Institute.

Why did you choose to study in South Korea this past semester?

I was really excited when I learned of the opportunity to study abroad for a semester in South Korea and take business and engineering coursework. Prior to this past semester studying at Hanyang University, I had very little exposure to Asia. While I had studied abroad previously on a faculty-led program in Europe, I knew that studying in South Korea presented unique challenges such as the language, culture and business etiquette. My long-term goal is to work internationally, so having this opportunity to live and study in South Korea has been invaluable!

Could you describe what is what like to study in South Korea during the pandemic?

From a teaching and learning perspective, taking classes from local professors differed quite a bit. For example, their teaching style were more lecture and discussion-based with less focus on the actual textbook material. The one positive is that we were assigned to a local student through a “buddy”program, so I had the chance to learn what it’s like being a full-time student at Hanyang University and have a resource to ask questions and just practice my beginner language skills!

One of the program highlights for me was living in a dorm with 50+ other international students from around the world. It was especially gratifying to make many new friends hailing from countries across Europe, Latin America and other parts of Asia. Since each dorm unit was equipped with a kitchenette, we held regular group dinners in the dorm to celebrate our respective cultures by preparing “local” meals for the group!

What were your favorite excursions as part of the program?

I really enjoyed learning about Korean history and culture during my studies and visiting important sites that are relevant to the Korean people. We visited the National Museum of Korea, which was full of amazing artifacts. We also had a chance to visit the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which is the demarcation line between North Korea and South Korea. Visiting the DMZ really put into perspective the vast differences between the peoples of North and South Korea. On a lighter side, I also enjoyed traveling to the city of Busan as well as the Sokcho Beach located in Northeast corner of the country. There, we enjoyed water sports surfing and just relaxing by the ocean!

What advise would you give to students considering studying abroad in Asia?

Studying in South Korea offers an unparalleled experience to learn about the history, culture and business norms of a country that is very different from the one I grew up with in America and has been a fantastic learning experience! I would encourage other students to consider studying in Asia as the experience for many reasons, not the least of which include the food, culture and the warm people! This program has provided me with greater appreciation for how integrated the world really is and how Asia plays a vital role in the global economy. While it definitely does take some adjustments to living in South Korea if you are unfamiliar with the food and culture, my advice would be to do as much research up front and approach the experience with an open mind and an open heart!

The post Scholarship Spotlight: 2021 International Engineering Recipient Angela Kingsbury appeared first on The Asia Institute.