Chinese Ambassador to Barbados, Wang Ke (left) presents the admission letter to Dario Jones.
Chinese Ambassador to Barbados, Wang Ke (left) presents the admission letter to Christian Charles.
Abigail Bryan (right) receives her admission letter from Chinese Ambassador to Barbados, Wang Ke.
Adanna Scott (right) accepts her admission letter from Chinese Ambassador to Barbados, Wang Ke.
One of the questions that many of the students who will be pursuing studies in China are asked is ‘Why China?’ and regardless of their area of study, their answer is usually the same – it is because of their rise on the
international stage in various sectors.
The 2017 scholars are no different. Christian Charles, a former student of the Barbados Community College (BCC) who will be studying at the Beijing Technology and Business University for a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Computer Science and Technology, told The Barbados Advocate exactly why.
“Why China? Why not? China is one of the one of the biggest economic capitals in the world and one of the major reasons that I am going is that there are some major
players in technology. I mean there is Tencent. There are major players in the Information and Communication world, as well as the fact that there are tons of other companies with roots and supply chains going in and out of China which makes a knowledge of Mandarin and knowledge of Chinese culture very valuable.”
He said that he decided not to go the usual Bajan route of studying overseas by heading off to the US, Canada or the UK because that is not unique.
“Well, for one the usual places do not stand out on a resume. Two, learning Mandarin is just interesting to me. How many people can say that they speak Chinese? It is one of the biggest languages in the world and like I said it ties right back into the technology field,”
He added, “As well as one of my personal reasons, it is one of the newer cities in China, Shenzhen – it is very technology- based, very new, lots of factories and computer technology – that is something that I want to see and get myself involved with while I am there.”
Moji-Sola Cherry, also a former BCC student, said that she has wanted to be an architect since she was a little girl and after seeing a picture of the Empire State Building she asked her mom who designed it. Her mom replied that it was an architect, and Moji-Sola Cherry stated that she wanted to be 'that person.'
She said that she will therefore be pursuing a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Architecture at Tongji University and she chose China because they have some of the best architectural buildings in the world and she plans to take the knowledge that she gains in China and bring it back to Barbados.
The baby of the group, Former Harrisonian, Abigail Bryan, 18, who will be pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in International Economics and Trade at the University of International Business and Economics, stated that she has always been interested in numbers, in Law and in problem solving and that her choice of degree combines all of those interests.
In addition, in this era of globalisation, the need for learning about trade has taken on even greater significance and she would like to specialise in Barbados-China relations given the advancement of this East Asian nation as a world power in recent decades.