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INTRODUCTION TO IMUSE
Delegates of the IMUSE 2020 Winter Session in Boston
IMUSE (Initiating Mutual Understanding through Student Exchange) was founded in 2007 as a collaboration between students at Harvard University, Peking University, and Tsinghua University. Since 2017, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has also become part of the IMUSE team. IMUSE aims to build and provide a platform for open exchange between youths from China and the United States, by recruiting representatives from all over the world and gathering the top minds of both countries. By fostering deep and friendly interaction between outstanding college students, participants can together explore issues, solutions, trends regarding the future development of China, the US, and the rest of the world. In the process, participants also learn from different experiences, cultures, and mindsets, while also sharing their insights and engaging with the development of the century.
From 2008 through 2019, the IMUSE Forum was successfully held 12 times in total. From visiting world-renowned universities in the US to traveling to various places in Hong Kong, IMUSE delegates have visited and left their footprints in many parts of the world. IMUSE has also received wide recognition from society. Various leaders and brilliant minds such as the international superstar, Jet Li, the former President of Goldman Sachs Group, John Thornton, and the Senior Director of the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank, Calvin Quek, were once our invited guests who shared and discussed global issues with delegates.
After the many sessions conducted over the years, IMUSE has expanded its vision to include many topics such as scientific and technological developments, cross-cultural differences, and education as well as many other subjects. Over the last 13 years, IMUSE has always adhered to its original goal of “communication for comprehension”, and helping youths to pave a path towards understanding the world. Because of this, all of our outstanding delegates, organizing members, and fellow followers still continue to gather together year after year to continue writing the story of IMUSE.
This year will be the 13th session of IMUSE. With the world facing unprecedented challenges on multiple forefronts and a public health crisis resulting from COVID-19, there are many challenges faced in organizing such a regular activity aimed at facilitating interactional exchange and interaction. Due to the severe situation of COVID-19 around the world, IMUSE will make the best use of all our past experiences and accumulated resources, and the Internet to continue to effectively promote exchanges and interaction between youths from China, the US, and other countries of the world.
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INTRODUCTION TO THE THEME
This year, the IMUSE Forum will initiate discussions on a series of international issues revolving around economy, technology, education and culture during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Through the use of online meeting platforms, youths from both China, the US and other countries will stand together at the forefront to share our voices with people far away and into the future. With the help of rapid technological development of the Internet, we are able to utilize mainstream online communication platforms to provide all youths who are concerned about the development of both countries and the world an opportunity to participate in a thought-provoking and unique session.
The outbreak of COVID-19 began in 2019 and rapidly spread to all parts of the world in 2020, gradually becoming a global pandemic. Due to the pandemic, the rhythm of life for many people has been disrupted. In the field of international public opinion, fear and optimism coexisted simultaneously, with different voices emerging due to the diverse situations of different countries. COVID-19 is a disaster and a test for society, but also a turning point and an opportunity for all.
Having experienced this pandemic, we, the youth, will form the next generation of leaders and will need to derive our own insights from the changes that have occurred. This year, the IMUSE Forum will focus on three main issues – online education, scientific and technological development, and economic recovery, as well as other issues deeply intertwined with our lives and the epidemic. With the difficult situation of epidemic prevention as a background setting, we will look for possible consensus on issues and try to understand what the “Community of Shared Future for Mankind” means to each of us based on our personal experiences.
1）Online Education
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, universities all around the world have shifted to using online platforms for teaching in lieu of offline classes. Students from all around the world have experienced both offline and online teaching methods. Online education has created new ways of learning and teaching, while also posing challenges to the traditional way of offline teaching. With the advent of online platforms for education, there arise some questions and concerns:
What are some of the differences and similarities between both forms of education? How might this reshape trends for our future education? How might we maintain some of the core ethics of traditional offline education while raising the efficiency of teaching and learning? These are some of the questions and issues that merit our discussion, based on our own personal experiences.
2）Technological Development
Every time humanity is threatened by the outbreak of a certain infectious disease, science and technology have always proven to figure significantly in addressing the pandemic. The advancement of science and technology, whether it be biochemical research or data-tracking technology, has permeated all aspects of epidemic control and prevention, helping to save countless lives. Having experienced how scientific and technological advancement has reshaped our lives, we see not only its infinite possibilities but also its hidden risks. Currently, we, the youth, are in our golden age of learning and innovation and are also able to relate to such issues personally. Therefore, this session of IMUSE seeks to integrate the personal experiences of living with the general measures of epidemic prevention to discuss our understanding and attitudes towards scientific and technological developments.
3）Economic Recovery
The epidemic has brought the economy to a complete halt. This has begotten the difficult question of balancing the needs of restarting work and economy with epidemic prevention measures. Upon restarting work and the economy, we will face a series of challenges: controlling crowd density, ensuring social distancing, formulating a reasonable production mode, etc. These are the challenges that will continue to exist in months to come. In the face of these trade-offs between economic development and social stability, what kind of perspectives and strategies should we adopt in order to perceive and tackle these issues effectively? These are some of the issues that are worthy of reflection.
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ACTIVITIES
Lectures/Dialogs
We will be inviting professors, diplomats and media workers with bountiful experiences to speak at online guest lectures or dialogs for all participants. The guest speakers will be sharing their insights and opinions about current trends and issues based on their own research foci and past experiences, and guiding students to contemplate the issues of future development in various fields in a rational and critical way.
Lecture by Professor Fravel at MIT▲
Panel Discussion
In order to create more opportunities for communication, we will hold a series of online panel discussions on different topics. In order to ensure the quality of the discussion and other forms of teamwork, we will invite some of our guest speakers to assume the role of academic supervisors throughout the session. Under the guidance of the academic supervisors, delegates will be divided into 6 to 8 groups, each of which will consist of around 5 students. Each group is required to choose any one of the aforementioned three issue areas to carry out in-depth discussions, and craft an issue-specific research report based on the discussions and online research. Moreover, each delegate is encouraged to conduct pre-session research on certain issues according to their personal interests and expertise before finalizing the research topic for their reports together with their teammates during the panel discussion.
Delegates in the middle of discussion▲
After two rounds of the panel discussion, each group is expected to present the framework of their research report, on which the guest speakers will give their instructions and advice. At the end of the session, each group is supposed to submit their own research report. Reports of great value will be selected and referred to relevant schools, enterprises, or governments. This is going to be a great manifestation of the true power of the youth in voicing their opinions and shaping the real world.
Group photo of delegates▲
To those of you who seek to envision the future technological development; who try to reflect upon the problems of online education; and who wish to give reviews and policy suggestions on post-pandemic economic recovery, the IMUSE 2020 Summer Session is looking forward to your participation!
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Session Information
Schedule of the upcoming session:
Time: 17 August 2020 to 23 August 2020 [Lecture/Dialog/Panel Discussion:
9:30am-11:30am or 9:30pm-11:30pm (GMT+8)]
(The schedule will be specified and adjusted according to the availability of guest speakers.)
Number of Delegates:
40 in total. 20 students studying in China, 20 students studying in the US or other foreign countries (to be managed by the US organizing team)
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Delegate Recruitment Details
1. Requirements for China-based Applicants:
a. Application is open merely to full-time enrolled university students who meet the following two criteria:
1) studying in the second year of college or a higher grade (including graduates this year);
2) studying at universities in China (including Macao, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) for no less than one year (exchange students excluded).
b. There is NO restriction on nationality.
c. Applicants are expected to be able to engage in academic discussions in fluent English and have a great interest in topics concerning Sino-US relationships and the aforementioned COVID-related issues.
2. Recruitment Process
a. Submission of Materials
1) Applicants are required to submit their CVs in both Chinese and English with their application forms filled in English to the following address: official@imuse.org.cn.
The deadline for submission is 2 August 2020.
2) Those who meet the requirements will be shortlisted for the interview.
3) Please download the registration form in the public mailbox or from the public Baidu Netdisk link:
--Email address: imuseform@163.com
Password: imuse2020form
--Baidu Netdisk link:
https://pan.baidu.com/s/1745ysOT-YYFo5MPCaT5l2A
Password: 830t
b. Interview
1) The interview starts one week after the closure of application material submission.
2) Successful applicants will be notified of their interview time and the Zoom ID for their interviews within two days.
3) The interview will be conducted online using Zoom. It will be a group interview. If an applicant is unable to attend the group interview, he or she may request a one-on-one interview and may choose to use either WeChat, Tencent Meeting, Skype, or Zoom as the interview platform.
c. Announcement of Results
1) Applicants will be notified of their application results individually by email.
2) A list of recruited delegates will be published on the IMUSE public platform on WeChat within three days after the interview.
3. Recruitment for Overseas Applicants:
Applicants who graduated (this year) from or currently enrolled in universities outside China are supposed to send their CVs and application forms to the same mail address as above. Application materials of those applicants will be referred to the organizing committee in the US.
4. Contacting Delegates
a. All the announcements for recruited delegates will be sent via email.
b. WeChat
1) Upon being recruited, please keep in close contact with the organizing committee via WeChat.
2) Delegates will also be added to a WeChat group set up for this session of IMUSE. They should also follow the IMUSE WeChat public platform to receive its latest updates.
Communication for Comprehension
For further information, please visit the official website: www.imuse.org.cn, or scan the QR code below to subscribe to the IMUSE official account:
