January 4^th, 2016 witnessed the beginning of winter semester in UCSD, where the CUEB overseas training program students will become more confident as they get more familiar with the surroundings and school institutions, yet there are still new challenges to take. The six CUEB students will engage themselves in some more difficult upper-division courses. Besides, they will face up to an English-only debate with native students in the course POLI12 Introduction to International Relations.

UCSD has a more mature teaching system for upper-division courses. For instance, the detailed teaching videos for ECON100 Intermediate Microeconomics on the university website by the Department of Economics supplement the classroom teaching perfectly, with each knowledge point marked on the video timeline, supporting self-study and knowledge-consolidation. In addition, the Department of Economics set up ECON Lab where outstanding upper-classmates were invited to share experience on problem solving.

Introduction to International Relations lectured by professors is brilliant in which international wars were analyzed from the perspective of Game Theory in vivid language and with abundant examples; the seminars organized by doctoral assistants divided students into two groups for mock war decision makings.

The seminar also featured the students’ riveting debates. At the beginning of the semester, CUEB students teamed up with native or other overseas students for the preparation of the debates. Being great helpers, the assistants reviewed necessary materials and provided detailed remarks midway through the preparation. Each of the debates was captivating. Not hindered by language, the well-performed CUEB students served frequently as major players in free debate sessions and were spoken highly of by assistants and other students.

Some students chose the course Introduction to Program Fundamentals and Computer Science, at which Professor Papadopoulos, CTO of San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), explained Merge Sort with vivid analog videos.

Teachers in charge of overseas training program in UCSD GLI, who offered great help to the students from CUEB School of Economics, organized a gathering on the Spring Festival at an indigenous Chinese restaurant in San Diego. The six students achieved great results in the final in late March.