From September 15 to September 16, 2018, the 6th "East Meets West" International Conference was held at the "most beautiful campus in Beijing" - Beijing Haidian Kaiwen School。With the theme of "Collaboration is the New Competition", the conference aims to better promote the development of guidance work in the field of international education by building Bridges between overseas universities and domestic high schools。

In the two-day conference, from the breakfast meeting of top universities, overseas university exhibitions, to more than a dozen rich and profound sub-forums, the content of the activities can be described as wonderful。Compared to last year's event，The number of attendees has doubled this year，It attracted admissions officers from more than 30 famous overseas schools such as Princeton University, Columbia University, Duke University, Northwest University, and principals and guidance officers from more than 80 well-known international high schools such as Tsinghua High School, Beijing No. 4 High School, Beijing No. 11 High School, Dingshi School, Shanghai High School, Vanke Meisha Academy, etc。We will exchange ideas and discuss the future development direction of international education。

At the opening ceremony of the conference, President Wang Dianjun of the High School Attached to Tsinghua University gave a keynote speech。In his speech, he briefly described the current development of international education in China and the development challenges that international schools may face in the future。

President Wang said: "In the future, in the process of vigorously developing international education, we must deal with the relationship between it and local education。To fully understand and pay attention to the content of domestic education, to integrate the content of international and domestic education, this is what Tsinghua Affiliated High School has always insisted on, and it is also the insistence of Haidian Kaiwen School。It is also the common responsibility of our educators to insist on the development of high-quality educational content, attach importance to mother tongue language education, and constantly upgrade and improve the shortcomings of local education by introducing excellent parts of international education, so as to promote the sound development of Chinese education。”

In order to enable participants to better participate in the thematic discussion, the conference not only set up a total of 12 sub-forums in high schools and universities, but also set up comprehensive topic groups and roundtables。The overseas University exhibition on the morning of the 15th attracted more than 600 people to come and have one-on-one exchanges with admissions officers of famous universities。

Highlight 1: Breakfast meeting of top schools - private meeting for recruitment and further education guidance

At the breakfast meeting，Princeton University, Columbia University, Duke University, Northwestern University, Georgetown University and Vanderbilt University were invited to conduct institutional information sharing sessions，And with the leaders of more than 30 international high schools attending the meeting, the person in charge of the guidance of the school's guidance work, the attention in the process of applying for overseas universities and so on。

Mr. Wang Shi, Executive Vice President of Haidian Kaiwen School, expressed his welcome to the participants at the breakfast meeting。He also said: "Like Haidian Kaiwen, there are many strong new schools in the country, how to show the advantages of our students to the recruitment officers is also our common concern.。This is exactly the original intention of our conference - to provide a professional platform, so that domestic college advisors have a more direct opportunity to establish close ties with overseas colleges and universities, and exchange and learn, so as to create better opportunities for Chinese students。”

Highlight 2: Overseas University Exhibition - brings together more than 30 famous overseas universities

In order to open a greater information exchange platform for more families studying abroad inside and outside the university, an overseas University exhibition was set up on the first day of the conference。More than 30 top universities in North America, Europe, Australia, Asia and other places were invited to come, and under the patient guidance of Kevin student volunteers, they had one-on-one exchanges with more than 300 groups of families present。

Many parents and students at the scene expressed their gratitude to Haidian Kaiwen for providing this exchange opportunity, so that they can get effective college enrollment information。"We are all very interested in the University of Cincinnati，Through today's communication，We understand that SAT scores are not a requirement for application，Different majors have different requirements for TOEFL scores，Seventy percent of accepted students receive scholarships of at least $9,000，This information is not easy to search and confirm on the Internet。”

The admissions officer of MCPHS University said: "MCPHS is the second oldest pharmaceutical university in the United States, and all the majors of the school are related to medicine, and provide a number of master's and doctoral programs.。But before, international students, especially Chinese students, knew little about MCPHS, and today's university exhibition also allowed more Chinese families to know more about us。”

Kevin student volunteers also said that their participation in this activity has been rewarding。Sun Shuoyu and Tan Shijia shared their feelings respectively。Mr. Sun shared, "As the first student Union President of Haidian Kaiwen School, I am proud to lead the student team to provide volunteer services for the conference。The activity not only improved our communication skills and self-confidence, but also inspired more people to participate in volunteer activities。Tan also shared: "The admissions officers are very kind, in the process of accompanying them, we also talked a lot.。I am very interested in Japanese universities, and through this opportunity, I learned a lot about the University from the admissions officer of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University。”

Highlight 3: Brainstorming - more than a dozen forum theme lectures

High school and university component forums were held at the same time, and on-site speakers and participants discussed warmly, exchanged information and exchanged experiences。

The high school forum focused on the topics of "Catching the eye of admissions officers - How to stand out from the numerous application resumes", "What characteristics of top overseas universities pay attention to applicants", "The latest information of universities in the UC (University of California) system", "How to improve the professional ability of domestic secondary school guidance" and so on。

Among them, "What qualities do top overseas universities pay attention to in applicants?，Isthier Chaudhury, admissions officer at the University of Rochester, says: "The Essay is a very important part of the application，It not only fully demonstrates the students' English language ability，It gives us a deeper understanding of a student's growth process, individual characteristics, reasons for applying to schools and specific majors，This is in addition to the standardized score，The display of students' comprehensive quality。Second, most American universities still use a Committee Based Evaluation method, and college counselors can regularly check college websites for detailed information and updated policies。Solomon Enos, an admissions officer at Duke University, also said that with the number of international applications increasing, performance in the interview process is becoming more and more important。Students' personalized characteristics, excellent quality, whether there is a clear life plan are the focus of investigation, and the students who are finally admitted must be a high comprehensive index。

Universities in the UC system have long been popular with international students, and UC Davis admissions officer San Lee also shared valuable information at the "What's New about Universities in the UC System" conference。She pointed out that schools in the UC system collaborate on many projects and share teaching and research resources, but each has its own strengths。UC Davis, for example, has an Undergraduate Services Center to support students' research projects, and programs such as UCDC give students the opportunity to participate in practical and research projects in Washington, DC。"Every school in the UC system can guarantee that every application is carefully reviewed, and we pay more attention to the overall qualities of the individual student," she stressed。”

In the topic "How to improve the professional ability of domestic high school guidance", Amy Zou from the International Department of Tsinghua High School shared with you how to grow into a mature guidance, and gave some suggestions based on her own experience。Percy Jiang from Dingshi School also gave a detailed introduction to the information of ChinaICAC, the High School Education Guidance Alliance。Principal Wang Shi pointed out that to improve the professionalism of domestic secondary school guidance, in addition to the continuous accumulation of personal professional knowledge and practical application, it is necessary to actively participate in various professional guidance groups and benefit from the community service mechanism。Emphasis on Learning by doing, doing by sharing。

The University forum discussed topics such as "The latest trends in studying abroad", "The latest information on studying abroad in China", and "transparency in the guidance of students in residence"。Li Tianhong, director of Haidian Kaiwen School, presided over the discussion topic of "How to let universities have a more comprehensive understanding of domestic high school guidance work" and shared his own views。 She pointed out that the strict and smooth connection of materials is the prerequisite for the smooth development of the application work, and now the guidance of senior high schools in China has tended to be mature and perfect, in addition to the specific application work in the final year, but also pay more attention to the early stage of students' admission planning work。

At the last roundtable of the conference, five guests, including the president of Houde College, admissions officers from Rice University and the College of Worcester, exchanged views on the theme of the conference - "Cooperation is the New Competition.。Reon Inses-Sheaff, admissions officer at the College of Worcester, said: "What we want most from the university is to train students from different regions, different educational backgrounds and different characteristics to work together on research projects and contribute to the development of humanity。Houde College President He Daoming also combined with the experience of managing Houde College explained: "We found in the process of observation, students' cooperation ability needs to be cultivated and trained.。We organize class meetings, group discussions, etc. to teach them the importance of cooperation."。This point proposed by Principal He also coincides with the educational philosophy of Tribes of Haidian Kaiwen School。

Highlight 4: International School Music Festival - a stage to show youth

In addition to the wonderful forum, the International School Outdoor Music Festival held on the evening of the 15th added an artistic bright color to the serious academic atmosphere of this conference。Students and teachers from Tsinghua International School, Beijing No. 4 Middle School, Beijing No. 11 School, Beijing No. 80 High School, Beijing Normal University No. 2 High School and Haidian Kaiwen brought together the youthful performance。The performance of Mr. Zhang Ling, the special guest of the event "the first person in China's blues", brought the whole concert to a climax, and everyone was intoxicated in the beautiful music and the beautiful moonlight for a long time。

The success of the conference cannot be separated from the efforts of every participant. The one-and-a-half day brainstorming allowed everyone to harvest rich information and establish closer contact and cooperation。As the organizer of the event, we would like to thank all the delegates for coming and thank you for your efforts in international education in China。Let's look forward to next year's East Meets West event, and look forward to this beautiful campus in Haidian Kaiwen。