GOING GLOBAL | SISU students join “iSTEPs” program in Indiana University Bloomington

en students finished their five-week-long “iSTEPs”, which stands for “International Study, Training and Experiencing Program of Shanghai International Studies University (SISU)”.

During the program, with the cooperation of Indiana University Bloomington (IUB), students studied, had internships, and experienced the local culture. It’s the fourth year of the program, and the previous three were done with the University of Georgia in the United States.

Indiana University (IU) was the oldest research university founded in 1820. And IUB is the flagship campus of IU’s eight campuses statewide, which is excellent in economics, music, and communication. Innovation, creativity, and academic freedom are hallmarks of its world-class contributions in research and the arts.

Students had lessons given by IUB professors within the beginning week, which benefited their major learning a lot, including journalism & communication, organizational behavior, accounting, business communication, America education, and so on.

In the following three weeks, students had internship in IU’s news center and education center. Students learnt the news operation process, how to gather and deal with social network service data, and how to make a TV program. Students also visited many kinds of educational institutions in Indiana including Ivy Tech, IUPUI. They also acted as teacher assistants in Batesville Intermediate School and University Elementary School. In a high-fidelity North America professional atmosphere, students widened their horizon and improved their skills with better cross-cultural communication ability which was highly approved by IU professors

Apart from courses and internship, members also experienced local culture fully on weekends. They organized activities like visiting Chicago, CNN, Purdue University; watching baseball games; listening to jazz concerts, and communicating with IU student clubs.

When the program was coming to an end, IU held a closing ceremony and a buffet party for all the teachers and students. IU gave every SISU student a course-completion certificate. SISU teachers and students also sent every professor and assistant who supported this program their hand-made gifts, and cut a heartwarming review video. Professors of IU praised SISU students for their excellent English communicating, studying, and working abilities.