Bridging the gap between Leicester students, staff and our friends at Dalian University of Technology.

Please introduce yourself.

I’m Yasmin Dar, an EAP (English for Academic Purposes) tutor and a Leicester International Institute, Dalian University of Technology coordinator (DLI). I’ve been at University of Leicester since July 2009 after successfully completing my Masters in Applied Linguistics and TESOL.

What is your role and how does it relate to current students at Leicester?

My main role within the Centre for International Training and Education (CITE) is to

teach English language to international students. I teach English for Academic Purposes, as well as General English on programmes run by CITE throughout the year, including the recent DLI Winter School programme.

This happens annually and is a two-week, English language short course for 48 DLI

students. They travel to campus specifically learn and use everyday English for conversations, experience British culture and do some sightseeing in London and Cambridge. We also take students to enjoy local cuisine, from a welcome meal at the Old Horse pub and a curry at Saffron Street, to a farewell meal at the Queen of Bradgate pub.

In addition to the social activities, the academic strand ensures that as a tutor, I support DLI students in preparing and delivering small group poster presentations on a specific area of their academic discipline; chemistry, maths or engineering.

What does a day in your life look like?

It depends on the courses I am working on during the year. In 2023, I’ve taken the opportunity to work two semesters each year at our partnership university, Dalian University of Technology (DUT), in Panjin, China. Since then, I travel and work twice a year between the Leicester campus and the DUT campus. When I’m in Leicester, I have teaching commitments on our DLI Winter and Summer programmes. I enjoy interacting with my students from DUT who visit Leicester and they’re always

excited about being here.

What is the DLI programme in Panjin?

The Dalian-Leicester International Institute (DLI) is a strategic partnership between the University of Leicester and Dalian University of Technology (DUT) in China. It was jointly established on 29 March 2017 by the two partner institutions as a Sinoforeign cooperative educational institution (CEI), with the approval of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China.

The Institute currently offers three undergraduate degree programmes: BSc Chemistry, BSc Mathematics, BEng Mechanical Engineering. The courses are taught in English by academic staff from Leicester and DUT, integrating an intensive English language course within the first year of each four-year degree for DLI enrolled students.

Upon graduation, the successful students will be awarded a Leicester bachelor's degree, a ‘Bachelor's Degree Certificate’ and ‘Undergraduate Graduation Diploma’ from Dalian University of Technology, giving them a real edge in the graduate labour market in China, the UK and the rest of the world.

How can Leicester students build relationships with their Dalian University of Technology counterparts both at a distance and when they visit Leicester?

The Dalian-Leicester International Institute (DLI) is a strategic partnership between the University of Leicester and Dalian University of Technology (DUT) in China. It was jointly established on 29 March 2017 by the two partner institutions as a Sinoforeign cooperative educational institution (CEI), with the approval of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China.

The Institute currently offers three undergraduate degree programmes: BSc Chemistry, BSc Mathematics, BEng Mechanical Engineering. The courses are taught in English by academic staff from Leicester and DUT, integrating an intensive English language course within the first year of each four-year degree for DLI enrolled students.

Upon graduation, the successful students will be awarded a Leicester bachelor's degree, a ‘Bachelor's Degree Certificate’ and ‘Undergraduate Graduation Diploma’ from Dalian University of Technology, giving them a real edge in the graduate labour market in China, the UK and the rest of the world.

There are a few ways we ensure DLI students can meet and interact with Leicester students and vice versa. We've hosted a games night and a ‘speed friending’ craft event to encourage DLI students to build connections with their Leicester counterparts. Additionally, some DLI students opt to attend our international quiz nights that take place in the Global Lounge. So, attending University events is a great way to meet DLI students and vice versa.

What have been some of the highlights of your role working with DLI students and colleagues?

I had an idea whilst teaching on the Winter DLI short course in 2024 that there must be a way I can help DLI students to meet and socialise with Leicester home students while they are visiting and studying here. With the support of the chemistry department, the Chemistry Student committee, the CITE International Student Experience team, the Internal Communications team (for students) at Leicester, well as my colleagues at CITE and senior management team, we finally made it happen through a games night this year. The event involved free pizza, drinks and board and console games to play.

Even with the tight turnaround time of three days before our DLI students were due to arrive in the UK, surprisingly, everything happened seamlessly! I remember myself and Dr Kal Karim, Chemistry Programme Director, Dalian Leicester Institute; Associate Professor in Organic and Computational Chemistry standing together in amazement witnessing DLI students, home students and other international students mingling together over Mario Kart and refreshments. A special thanks to Kal for bringing pizzas, soft drinks and Walkers crisps for all our students. Another highlight working with my CITE colleagues is when CITE Assistant Director Louise Pullen organised the first CITE Partnership Conference 2024 in Beijing. It was hosted by FLTRP (Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing Co., Ltd, Beijing partner of CITE.

It was an opportunity for CITE and our staff from Chongqing Medical University to

showcase their teaching and learning within the scope of the conference theme ‘Engagement in the Transnational Classroom: Reflections and Directions.’ In the ‘Lightening Talks’ session, I did a slot on the use of AI (Copilot) for lesson planning in China. I shared how I stumbled across Copilot on SharePoint and started experimenting on ways to create scaffolding and extension activities to supplement my lesson plans and the challenges i.e., ethical considerations and internet restrictions in China. The audience and I shared our views and concerns. It was a useful session.

Why is this work so important and what impact does it have?

The CITE Partnership conference had a positive impact on me. I appreciated CITE

organising a social space away from my normal place of work to meet like-minded

colleagues who shared their research-based reflections and took away forward thinking ideas on how we promote further positive experiences for our students and enhance their engagement inside and outside the classroom.

The DLI Winter 2025 social events were impactful because I, my CITE colleagues,

DLI and Chemistry students, the Chemistry department, the Internal Communications team (students) at Leicester and the Dalian University of Technology could see the value in bringing DLI and Leicester students together socially to interact and build lasting relationships.

I am now a member of the CITE Student Experience Committee which means we

will together play a part in helping both home and DLI students to continue interacting with each other.

Are you/the team working on anything super exciting or interesting at the moment?

Yes, I am working alongside Dr Kal Karim and Skyla Zhao, DLI Admin Manager in

Dalian University of Technology, in helping DLI Chemistry students to create a Chemistry Association. As DLI doesn’t have a respective Chemistry student organisation that they are not thinking or organising, this would be a really good way for students staying connected in an organised way (rather than The DLI Chemistry students will form a committee and communicate with the University of Leicester’s Chemistry committee to put forward ideas about how they would like to build relationships. An idea that will be discussed is how online engagement could continue through e-games despite the 7-to-8-hour time difference. This project is exciting because it means DLI Chemistry and Leicester home students will find a way to meet, interact and socialise with each other during their current and future academic studies and maybe become lifelong friends.

Another exciting project taking place this summer is that 20 Leicester students from College of Science and Engineering are going to DUT for the very first Students Exchange Programme in June 2025 for four weeks in the form of a bespoke Summer School. This will help our Chemistry students to experience China for the first time and help build relationships, friendships and organise social events for the future. Thanks to Dr Kal Karim for sharing this update.

Finally, we have a few ideas for social events coming up including the organisation

of a social event with Maths and DLI students to take place for potentially this year and in 2026 for our DLI summer school. We’re also looking at joining up events which would see the Chemistry and Maths Societies host events. This will also hopefully extend to allow DLI Engineering students to meet Leicester home Engineering students. To ensure this goes ahead, the CITE Student Experience committee and I are currently working together.

What is your favourite part about working at Leicester?

Working at CITE is like being part of a large family. I appreciate and value the support I get from my CITE colleagues and the CITE senior management team. I find it rewarding when I use my training and experience at CITE to positively support the DLI course director Gary Marston, DLI staff and students at our DUT campus in Panjin.

One more thing, thank you to CITE director Phil Horspool for nominating me for a

‘Citizen Recognition Award’ at the start of this year (January 2025). Following the nomination, I was awarded a £50 gift voucher under the Citizen Recognition Scheme and a special thank you message for going above and beyond in my coordination role in Panjin, helping students have a great experience and ensuring our tutors were well supported. It really made me feel grateful, happy and valued.

I am also one of the CITE Communication Champion representatives alongside my colleague Pascale Roussel (CITE admin manager). This is an exciting role as I get to hear about a wide range of upcoming events or important news/information from the University’s Communication Champions’ Teams channel, which I then share with wider CITE colleagues.

60 seconds with Yasmin

What’s a fun fact about you people may not know?

Most of my CITE colleagues in Leicester know me very well but some of them won’t

know that I recently went to visit the beautiful Summer Palace in Beijing (November 2024). This was the day after the CITE partnership conference. Despite the cold temperature, I enjoyed walking around the Palace gardens on a bright sunny Sunday morning with my colleagues exploring the beautiful gardens and architecture before heading back to Panjin.