Another year and another class of graduating students will say goodbye to their alma mater and start a new journey. The four years spent at UIC is some of the best years of their life. How many stories and sceneries have been treasured along the way? What does college mean to them? The following stories are by some Year 4 students.

There are over 1300 graduating students of UIC’s class of 2020. Those who choose to study outside Chinese Mainland have obtained admission letters from universities such as University College London, and University of Edinburgh (UK); Nanyang Technological University (Singapore); University of Pennsylvania, and Johns Hopkins University (US), University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong, China), and more. Students who choose to study in Chinese Mainland are accepted by Beijing Normal University, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Central Academy of Fine Arts and other instituions. Those who choose to begin their career are hired by well-known companies such as the Big Four Accounting Firms and ByteDance.

Graduating students with UIC President Prof Tang Tao

Looking back on the four years of college, students were surprised by how happy and fulfilled their journeys at UIC were. Some students said that UIC is a place to rediscover and define them, while others said that they may not be another four years that are as wonderful as those spent at UIC.

Interests and passions

Culture, Creativity and Management (CCM) Year 4 student Deng Chuqi comes from Chengdu. Before entering college, he never thought that his interest in cultural and creative industries could guide him into his profession. He has obtained admissions for master's programmes at several prestigious institutions, and he plans to study a master in Cultural and Creative Industries at King's College London.

Deng Chuqi participates in a charity event

Deng Chuqi said that during his four-year adventure at UIC, he learned a lot about himself and the world. Finding his unique self and developing interests as well as passions in his field are his biggest achievements.

Deng Chuqi found the curriculum of the CCM courses very pragmatic and interesting. He explains that they could learn the basic knowledge of business subjects in major required courses, such as entrepreneurship, macroeconomics, marketing management, etc, while elective courses provide a larger space to explore according to his hobbies, such as media aesthetics, space design, cultural sociology, etc. “I am very lucky to be a student of CCM,” Deng Chuqi said that the classes are often made up of students of different majors, and he made friends with some of them.

Deng Chuqi (left) and his classmate in the 2019 scholarship award ceremony

In addition to his studies, Deng Chuqi also explored the possibilities of doing business. In his sophomore year, he and his partners developed an online system for express collection business. When he was doing his Final Year Project (FYP) during his senior year, Deng Chuqi and his classmates created an app dedicated to cultural and creative industries to help creative people find cooperation and customer resources.

Deng Chuqi is grateful for the diversity, inclusivity that UIC has, and for the support that it provides the innovators. He is ready and confident to start the next chapter of his journey.

From MPRO

Reporter: Covee Wang

Editors: Samuel Burgess, Deen He