Chinese business and culture is increasingly accessible to University of Canterbury (UC) students through an annual
study tour to China, reciprocal exchange visits, and other on-campus initiatives.
No other university in New Zealand offers the same unique experience as UC’s School of Business and Economics MGMT228
Chinese Business Practices and Culture study tour. The four-week summer study tour to China gives students first-hand
insight into Chinese business practices and culture.
Following a week’s orientation at UC in November, which includes a workshop on biculturalism, this year’s select group
of 30 students will spend three weeks at Zhejiang Gongshang University attending lectures on Chinese culture and
business practices and participating in activities to help Chinese students hone their English language skills.
Experiences are recorded in reflective learning journals.
UC Senior Lecturer in Economics Dr Laura Meriluoto says students learn a great deal while they are away, reflecting on
what they are seeing and learning and beginning to understand how people’s values and norms can be different to theirs.
“In order to understand how to do business in China, you need to understand the basics of the culture and you need to
experience it,” she says.
Leading the Shanghai leg of the upcoming summer’s MGMT228 study tour will be Russell Wordsworth, UC Senior Lecturer in
Human Resource Management. Primary sector organisations – such as Zespri, Westland Milk Products and Fonterra – form the
bulk of companies students will visit. Also on the itinerary is an umbrella group set up by Primary Collaboration NZ Ltd
that includes Sealord, Synlait Milk and Villa Maria Estate.
“We also visit The Warehouse, to see how their goods are made, and New Zealand Central, part of New Zealand Trade and
Enterprise. Often, UC alumni are among those addressing the students. It is very encouraging for our students to see how
their degree can take them some way internationally,” he says.
In January, 15 students from Zhejiang Gongshang University visited the University of Canterbury for the first time on a
reciprocal exchange. MGMT228 student volunteers assisted and took part in many of the shared activities.
Dr Meriluoto, who started MGMT228 in 2010 when she was the director of UC’s International Business major, says the
exchange includes teaching the Chinese students about Aotearoa New Zealand’s history and our nation’s way of thinking.
“We go to Canterbury Museum and visit Akaroa, play backyard cricket and give them a taste of the Kiwi lifestyle.”
Also on campus is Global China Connection, a UC student-run, non-profit body that is further strengthening New
Zealand-China relations. It runs a China Talk Series, informal Mandarin language workshops (Lingoswap), and offers
internship opportunities in Shanghai (Shanghai Shout).
“At the University of Canterbury we encourage global awareness: it is phenomenally important – China is our biggest
export trading partner,” says Mr Wordsworth.
For the past two years, the MGMT228 study tour has been supported with funding from Education New Zealand through Prime
Minister’s Scholarships for Asia (PMSA). An application for funding has also been made for this year.
ENDS