The now flourishing relationship between Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), the acknowledged fastest growing private university in Africa and China, the fastest economy in the world, has hit the fast lane with the introduction of the study of Chinese language in the curriculum of the five year old university.
No sooner did the relationship/programme flag off than ABUAD students and some faculty members started benefitting both in scholarship and exchange programmes to China.
For example, in 2013, two International Relations and Diplomacy students of the university got Chinese Government scholarships to study for one year in two different Universities in China. The two lucky students are Miss Queen Ada Modestus and Miss Somiari Elizabeth Belema, who have since bagged their proficiency Certificates in Chinese language from Hangzhou Normal University China and Fujian Normal University China respectively thereby giving them an edge in the highly competitive global labour/employment market.
Just about a year after the duo of Modestus and Belema benefitted from this rare opportunity, 16 ABUAD students and staff of Afe Babalola University embarked on an educational/excursion tour to Beijing, China between September 19 and October 3, 2014.Taking off from Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos on September 18 and landing at Beijing Airport the following day, September 19, 2014 will forever be a memorable trip for the 16 ABUAD Students and their staff chaperons. The same way, their airport pick up to the already booked hotel [Yuhong Hotel, Beijing] will also forever be memorable to them.
The lectures in Chinese that followed from September 20 at Beijing language and Culture University added more colour to the entire experience. While attending their classes, they were also visiting some interesting places in Beijing like the Beijing zoo, Tiananmen Square, ancient towns and villages, Liamaqiao, Yashow, and KTV Show among many others.
Another significant part of the experience was that Africans in Beijing also celebrated the ABUAD ambassadors as they played hosts to the visitors on September 21, 2014 with a welcome party organized by African Outreach Ministry (AOM), Beijing.
During their stay, they were all engaged in learning of comprehensive Chinese and practical learning and Shopping among others. At the end of it all, Certificates of Participation were issued to all the participating students from the University. The experience was so worthwhile to both the students and staff that some of them expressed interest in pursuing their further studies in China.
Besides, while an impressed parent was expressing his gratitude to ABUAD and its founder & President Emeritus, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, he affirmed that travelling is really an essential part of education as he confessed that he had noticed a big positive change in his daughter’s reasoning capacity upon her return from China.
The excursion was put together by the Chinese Language Coordinator in ABUAD, Mr. Charles Ejemezu, and was accompanied by Mr. Gabriel Ifeanyi Obi of GST and 14 ABUAD students who have since returned to campus.