Chinanews, Shanghai, Oct. 18 – According to Xinmin Evening News, student exchanges between colleges in Shanghai and foreign universities have become frequent in recent years, including mutual provisions of short term training courses. Most of their teachers think students can better understand exotic life styles and improve the language skills through such activities.

 

Shanghai students have to spend 20-30 thousand yuan (US$2,500-3,700) during the activities in their ten-day session. Some of them reveal the truth that they just enjoy travelling instead of learning. Experts remind students to think about joining in such activities lest they develop the habit of living on extravagant life in the future.

 

Xiao Zhang, a senior high student from Shanghai has just finished his tour. Zhang speaks fluent English, and thus he was chosen as an exchange student by his school. He said that American students accompanied his group on a visit Harvard University, where they played basketball matches with American students. He had to bear all of his expenses for the activity. His plane tickets cost him $2,500.

 

"When we were about to leave, I thought we could learn a lot through such visits. But now I realize the visit was too short to see and learn things," he said, "I will not participate in such activities again."

 

Mr. Xie, headmaster of affiliated high school of Fudan University, believes such activity has little effects on the improvements of students' learning abilities, so secondary schools had better not to promote such exchanges.