From July 9 to 17, the 12th China International Civil Servants Capacity Building Programme was successfully held in Taicang, Jiangsu Province. The program was hosted by the United Nations Association of China (UNAOC), and supported by the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the PRC. This year, the event was organized by Northwestern Polytechnical University. Four students from RUC participated in the program: Ye Jian, Huang Han, Xie Hang and Lu Qingyu, among themXie Hang and Lu Qingyu were awarded as excellent students.

All of the four participants spoke highly of this event, praising it for giving a boost to their overall capacity. Their comments are as follows.

Ye Jian,2021 master student,Political Economy, School of Marxism

I am very honored to participate in the 12th China International Civil Servants Capacity Building Programme, and I am very grateful to the UNAOC, and all contributing parties for providing us with such a good learning opportunity and exchange platform.

In the future, I hope that the international community can work together to further optimize the global governance system and jointly seek solutions to global problems. On the other hand, I also hope that China will be able to cultivate more high-level talents with international competence, injecting Chinese wisdom and contributing Chinese solutions to global governance.

Huang Han, 2021undergraduate student, PPE program, School of Philosophy

I am very fortunate to be enrolled into the 12th China International Civil Servants Capacity Building Programme. During the lectures, I got to know the stories of many seniors who have worked either in the UN or on the front line of diplomacy, from which I gained a preliminary understanding of working in international organizations. I realized that working in an international organization is not about a fancy afternoon tea and exquisite life. Instead, it is no easy task working on the front line which was sometimes plagued by conflicts and wars. The quality of empathy, resilience and efficiency cultivated through such hardships do epitomizethe UN’svalue of honesty, integrity, professionalism and respect for differences. The one-week study has added up to my admiration for the staff working in international organizations, and I hope that I can go to the UN for internship or even employment.

Xie Hang, 2022undergraduate student, Applied Economics and Data Science, School of Applied Economics

I am very grateful for the opportunity to listen to the sharing of seniors who have made contributions to international organizations such as the UN and national diplomacy. I have benefited a lot from the program despite the short period of time.

Through participating in the training program, I am deeply aware of the seriousness and importance of Chinese young people joining international organizations and speaking out for developing countries so as to boost human rights and world peace and development.

As a young student, I was informed of the following guidelines for my future work from this program:

1. Acquire knowledge and skills through training and practice;

2. Do meaningful thingsthat requires relentless efforts;

3. Bear patriotism in mind;

4. Remain committed to multilateralism and peaceful development.

In the future, I hope to make contributions to amore peaceful, stable and prosperous world.

Lu Qingyu, 2022undergraduate student, PPE, School of Philosophy

For me, a perfect exchange program requires not only careful guidance from teachers, but also meaningful mutual learning among participants. This trip to Taicang was perfect in both aspects. I was most impressed by the lectures of Ambassador Wu Hongbo whose rich career includes the Director General of the General Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ambassador to Germany and the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. His lecture “Global Governance at the Crossroads”, in particular, proved to be highly rewarding.

In addition to the wonderful lectures given by the teachers, I also got to know many outstanding students. In the ice-breaking party and graduation ball, we sang for our friendship.In the no-leadership group discussion, students cooperated with each other and strived to find solutions to the global human rights issues and sustainable development issues with fluent English and rigorous logic. They inspired me with professional knowledge, different perspectives, rich experiences and broad-mindedness.