The impact of study tours on Generation Z and the BRI

Dr Chong Shyue Chuan

STUDY tours give students direct experience and familiarity with the subject matter concerned.

The educational value of such tours is enhanced by the fact that their effects are long-lasting, particularly for Generation Z students aged 11 to 26.

The purpose of field trips in which students participate, led by their schoolteachers or university professors, is to give them an engaging learning experience, foster the development of meaningful relationships with their classmates, and cultivate excellent international networking opportunities as well as a comprehensive understanding of the world among Gen Z.

In addition, the conceptual framework of study tours is consistent with the philosophy of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which aims to connect Asia with Africa and Europe via land and maritime networks to improve regional integration, increase trade and stimulate economic growth; as well as to connect people in order to achieve a win-win situation.

These study tours can promote the BRI by facilitating knowledge sharing, capacity building, policy development and international cooperation. They can help BRI projects succeed and remain sustainable by encouraging collaboration with and learning from other countries.

The purpose of a typical study trip is for instructors or professors to take students to real-world locations that are related to classroom topics.

Students from universities in China and Malaysia stand to gain a great deal from participating in international study tours. A group of INTI International University students, for instance, organised a study tour to Shanghai and Hangzhou, China in 2019 to observe how China is embracing Industry 4.0.

In addition, Xiamen University Malaysia organised a study tour for MBA students to Xiamen University in China.

MBA study tours to China are regularly organised by Nottingham University Business School Malaysia, including tours to Shanghai in 2015, Beijing in 2017, Shanghai-Ningbo-Hangzhou in 2018, and Shanghai-Wuxi-Nanjing-Suzhou in 2019.

Moreover, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) has a similar tradition of regularly sending students to China, for instance, in 2017 and 2018 to Guilin University of Technology and in 2019 to Haikou College of Economics.

Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, when there was no inbound or outbound travel, UTAR and Guizhou University in China organised a virtual cultural exchange titled "China-Malaysia Humanities Exchange International Study Tour".

Based on these activities, Malaysian universities, students and professors are eager to establish a positive relationship and international networking with China.

It may be due to the Malaysians' perception of China. China's land is absolutely breathtaking and it ranks third in the world in terms of land area.

Besides, China has 23 provinces and 56 official ethnic groups, making it the world's most populous country.

The Han people make up the vast majority of the population, accounting for more than 90%, with a culture that dates back thousands of years.

Over 3,600 years of China's cultural history have been documented in written form, according to its academics.

Culture and traditions are what make up a nation's identity as a whole, and Chinese culture encompasses an astonishingly wide range of subcultures.

Even though China's culture, population and influence are known in every region of the world, the West continues to find it baffling and mysterious.

A multicultural and multilingual population makes Malaysia one of South-East Asia's most culturally diverse countries.

Many languages are spoken in Malaysia, and our architecture is a mix of styles and influences from around the world.

Also, the diverse population has shaped its cuisine.

Many visitors from abroad choose Malaysia as a destination for its ethnic diversity, multiculturalism and multilingualism.

The tourism industry here earned RM3.6bil from 1.2 million Chinese tourists in 2019.

Overall, tourism contributed nearly 16% of the country's gross domestic product that year.

Post-pandemic recovery and Chinese citizens' resumption of outbound travel is expected to boost Malaysia's GDP by 1% this year.

Both Malaysia and China are gaining global higher education status. The QS World University Rankings 2024 placed Peking University 17th among the top 100 universities worldwide.

Others include Tsinghua University (25th), Zhejiang University (44th), Fudan University (50th), and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (51st). In addition, the overall rankings list 66 more Chinese institutions.

Malaysia has a world-class education system too, with the University of Malaya ranking 65th in the QS World University Rankings 2024, which includes 28 Malaysian universities.

In short, study trips allow Gen Z to grow in academic, personal and cultural aspects.

Malaysia and China can discover new vistas, forge lifelong relationships, gain a competitive edge in a more interconnected world, and find better opportunities.

In summary, study tours can help the BRI plan and implement projects and promote cultural exchanges and people-to-people connections, aligning with its mission to promote mutual understanding and cooperation.

Participants can promote the BRI after returning home with new perspectives and networks.

Dr Chong Shyue Chuan is a Professor cum Director of SME Centre at Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT). The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.

The SEARCH Scholar Series is a social responsibility programme jointly organised by the South-East Asia Research Centre for Humanities (SEARCH) and Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT), in conjunction with the 10-year anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative.