School of Computer Science Welcomes Fall 2023 International Students

This year, the School of Computer Science welcomed 14 international graduate students from different countries and backgrounds to join the School of Computer Science family. On Friday, September 22, a welcoming event was held for them.

The event started with a campus tour, where student-led guides took the cohort to see some of the most significant landmarks around the campus, such as the Weiming Lake, and the Boya Pagoda and the West Gate of the university, all of which are extraordinary sights for all Peking University visitors and students.

(Weiming Lake and Boya Pagoda)

(West Gate of Peking University)

The formal welcoming event was held at the CS building, where Minghui Zhou, Vice Dean of School of Computer Science, Xudong Liu, Assistant Dean of School of Computer Science, Ming Zhang, Kaigui Bian and Baixin Shi, representatives of supervisors, Maoyuan Ye, Shu Yang, Wenbin He and Hao Huang from the general office of CS, Kan Ping from the International Students Office, some senior international students and a visiting student attended the event.

(Group photo)

To kick off, Prof. Minghui Zhou gave a welcoming speech to the students, along with some valuable advice on what they can do to make the best of their academic journey here.

(Minghui Zhou, Vice Dean of School of Computer Science)

Then each students shared their academic interests, research expectations, and first impression of Peking University and China and here are some of them:

Zichen (Kevin) Zhang from Canada, who said, “My first impression of the main campus was the hustle and bustle of student life here. It dawned on me that the students here are highly motivated individuals.”

(Zichen Zhang)

Hisham Barakat from Bahrain talked more about his experience with the School of Computer Science by saying, “I found CS has very supportive students and amazing facilities which creates the optimal environment to enable growth and development of professional and academic skills.”

(Hisham Barakat)

Yaroslav Ponomarenko from Russia shared his journey of getting his Bachelor's and Master’s degrees in Russia and then joining Peking University as a Master’s student. He also shared his experience and research interest by saying, “My research interests are focused on Robotics, Computer Vision, and Embodied Artificial Intelligence. This year, I had the privilege of collaborating with Professor Hao Dong and my peers from Peking University on various research projects. Specifically, I played a role in the development of two projects.”

(Yaroslav Ponomarenko)

Sanwoo Lee from South Korea talked about his first time coming to Peking University “When I first came to PKU, it seemed like a friendly place. If I had any issues with my studies, I could easily approach my supervisor, lab mates, or friends for help. This made me feel welcome and made starting my campus life at PKU a pleasant experience.”

(Sanwoo Lee)

To conclude the student introductions, Cailean Osborne, a visiting Ph.D. student from the University of Oxford extended his thanks to Prof. Minghui Zhou, for providing him opportunity to join her lab. “At my department at the University of Oxford, I am the only person who researches open-source software development, so it is exciting for me to be able to work with a group of highly motivated and curious researchers, from bachelor students to professors, who also specialize in open source research. I very much look forward to learning from Prof. Zhou and my lab colleagues and to collaborating on shared research interests this semester.”

(Cailean Osborne)

After all the students introduced themselves, Gaole (David) Dai, a current Ph.D. student, highly encouraged new students not to hesitate when it comes to asking for help both in research and everyday life.

(Gaole Dai)

Eugene Yu Jun Hao from Malaysia, a Master’s student who did his undergraduate at Peking University shared his experience in extracurricular, “Your University experience is what you make of it, so try your best in your studies and enjoy the fun activities available outside of class.”

(Eugene Yu Jun Hao)

To conclude the event, supervisors shared valuable advices with the students on how to take this experience not only as a means of getting a degree, but also to be a bridge between Peking University and their respective countries, to remember that rejection and failure are never the end of the road, and finally, to try and be involved with the people in their fields to leave a positive mark at Peking University.