Every April, the College of Continuing Education鈥檚 English as a Second Language (ESL) program offers students in its Academic Writing and Research Skills course the chance to showcase their research and language skills as part of an economics conference.
This year鈥檚 event, organized by the Department of Economics and the ESL Programs at the College of Continuing Education, brought third-year student from Dal鈥檚 joint 2+2 programs with Shandong University of Finance and Economics and Renmin University in China together to share their perspectives on the role of culture as a driving force in economic development globally.
Student Li Yusheng (Danny) kicked off the presentations during the opening ceremonies at the conference earlier this month with a talk on the influence of tourism on economic development in Hainan, China. The presentation touched on how factors such as economic growth, cultural exchange, and public policy impact tourism in such places.
鈥淐ulture conflicts are always accompanied with culture fusion,鈥� he said during the talk entitled Small Economies Dependence on International Tourism: Selling Culture. 鈥淚n China, there is a traditional aphorism that [we should be] 鈥榮eeking common ground while keeping differences.鈥� The solution to solve these culture conflicts is to create a new culture, including the local culture and foreign culture.鈥�
Other presentations covered topics ranging from Canada-China relations and the effects of cultural architecture on economies to the celebration of traditional Chinese festivals聽and their connection with China's economic strategy of attracting tourists for economic development.
A lasting impression
David Packer, director of ESL programs in the College of Continuing Education (CCE), delivered the opening remarks and introduced the conference鈥檚 guest speakers, which included Carolyn Watters (provost and vice-president, academic), Andrew Cochrane (dean of CCE), and Dal faculty members Iscan Talan (Department of Economics) and Anthony Rusinak (ENSL course instructor),聽and Shazia Awan (coordinator of ENSL courses).
Packer discussed the benefits of the program and its impact on the students as future academics.聽
鈥淲herever they end up, they will be a testament to the benefits of an international education, both for themselves and for the Dalhousie community that benefits from having them as an integral part of the community,鈥� said Packer.聽
Dr. Talan's speech touched on how impressed he was with the quality of the work from this year鈥檚 students.
Dr. Watters noted how fast the program developed the students鈥� English and academic-writing skills and saluted the combination of both English and economics classes.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 always fun to see how far you鈥檝e come in less than a year, it鈥檚 tremendous. I鈥檓 a big believer of being able to work in economics while you鈥檙e learning culture and language, and I think it鈥檚 really the only thing that makes sense,鈥� she said.