Salient

Vic offering POLS summer study in China

By Jenna Powell | 28 May, 2007

Vic’s Political Science and International Relations is again offering a China Field Study in the third trimester this year, following a hugely successful study trip last summer.

This year’s trip will take 20-30 students to China for three weeks at the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) in Beijing, as well as visiting political and legal sites and national landmarks, including the Communist Party Headquarters, the National People’s Congress, the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square.

The cost of the trip is $4000 plus the normal course fee. The cost covers return airfares to Beijing, room and board at CUPL, course charges at CUPL and other on-site costs.

The course also includes two weeks of studying at Vic before the end of the third trimester.

Politics student Jackson Wood, who went on last year’s trip, says every student should consider the opportunity to go on the trip – what he describes as “so much stuff you wouldn’t see in textbooks.”

Wood says one of the most eye-opening parts of his learning was being taught by Communist Party members and visiting the national war museum, as it was “really interesting seeing things from that point of view and not just the Western version of what happened.”

Aside from studying and visiting landmark sites, Wood says the beer is a huge drawcard – at only 40 cents per 700mls - and wine for one dollar a bottle with a hefty 40-50 per cent alcohol.

Applications close June 29. More information is available at http://www.vuw.ac.nz/pols, and interested students should contact the trip administrator Jason Young, jason.young@vuw.ac.nz