YANG SHEN, an international student completing a level eight honors degree at UCD, shares his thoughts on studying horticulture at home and abroad

I am currently completing my studies at UCD where I am participating in what is referred to as a two plus two programme. This involves me completing my first two years at home in China and the latter two in Ireland.

At the end of my two study years in China, I had the option of choosing a major in either agricultural environmental science, forestry or horticulture. I chose horticulture because since my childhood I’ve had an interest in plants. I wanted to study horticulture as it is the subject which enables us to make better use of plant materials. I think it is good to study horticulture as it includes both food production and also landscape, helping us to get both environmental benefits and improve human well-being. Another reason for me to choose horticulture as a major came from undertaking modules such as botany and plant physiology during my first two years.

It has been a year and a half since I came to Ireland. Here let me give you a brief description of my life in Guangzhou, China and in Dublin.

I spent my first 18 years in Zhoushan, an island city in the East China Sea, 1,400 km from Guangzhou. Growing up in a coastal area is an interesting experience, as I enjoyed the seafood and natural scenery of my hometown. Just like most teenagers in China, my main focus at that time was preparing for the college entrance examination. I passed this exam and later in September 2013, I was admitted to the College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University (SCAU), in Guangzhou.

Unlike my hometown Zhoushan, a peaceful small city, Guangzhou gave me my first impression of a metropolis. The city has more than 13m people and is part of a 44m metropolis area referred to as the Pearl River Delta. The city lies northwest of Hong Kong. It was the first time I had studied in a place far from home and had to look after myself without the help of my parents.

Apart from economic scale and culture, the biggest difference between Zhoushan and Guangzhou is the climate. There seems to be no winter in Guangzhou, only hot humid summer weather all year around. It took me a few months to get used to those differences. Well, I guess all things are difficult before they are easy.

Another thing I would like to mention is the food in Guangzhou. There is a Chinese saying: “One should eat in Guangzhou”. This metropolis is in the Guang Dong Province which also has the jokey name “Eating Province”. For example, morning tea consists of a wide range of dishes such as shrimp dumplings, garlic pork ribs, and red rice roll, all of which are more than delicious. This is Cantonese food which people in this country will be familiar with from the many Chinese restaurants in Ireland.

SCAU is located within the center of Guangzhou city. I could never believe that the campus of one university could be that big in a city centre. The SCAU campus is nearly 300ha in total, more than double the size of the UCD Belfield campus. During my two year study period in Guangzhou, I met a number of friends and lecturers who were all nice people. Being a student of this Chinese/Ireland education programme, the best thing is that most of our modules are presented bilingually, which from my point of view helps a lot with my college life here in UCD, especially with the terminology in botany. I can still remember the stressed atmosphere when everyone in the dormitory in SCAU was busy preparing for the IELTS exam (English language proficiency test). Learning a foreign language is difficult but now I consider it totally worthy. My major in SCAU was biological science for the first two years of my degree, which not only gave me another point of view for studying horticulture but also helped me lay a solid foundation of natural science.

“I heard that potatoes are a favorite food of Irish people, but was still astonished by the vast array of chips and wedge products in the supermarkets”

SCAU is a very big university with 40,000 students. The general ambience in Guangzhou is like most other big cities in China, crowded and also in Guangzhou, it is very hot. With so many individuals at SCAU the campus is not always as quiet as it is here in UCD. Every time there is a college level or university level event, there are huge crowds of people milling about. I suppose the advantage of having so many people is that there are always enough students available for any large college activities for social or sports events, whenever and wherever. With so many students on campus, some of our common required courses have to be taken in a very large auditorium, which is quite different from here in UCD for my degree programme.

I had an excellent experience studying in Guangzhou, even if the weather was very hot. But generally, it helped me recognise a different style of life, fast-paced, competitive, and flourishing when compared with Zhoushan. On the other hand, the out of class activities was more colourful in Guangzhou when compared with my hometown, since there were so many different types of entertainment and with students from different regions in China.

In August 2015 I came to UCD to finish the final two years of my college studies. As soon as I arrived in Dublin I noticed the change in latitude, with cooler weather, and a longer daytime at that time of the year. For a few days, I found it hard to fall asleep before 10 pm with the sky remaining bright for so long.

My life here started with pre-sessional classes to help me integrate into UCD. I stayed with a host family with a kind lady and her four children. A family of that size is quite rare in China nowadays. As the single son of my family, I found a larger family really interesting. During this time I lived in a peaceful area in Dublin 24, and every day it took me about two hours to travel from UCD to home. I lost my way several times before I finally remembered the route, but I was moved by the friendliness and enthusiasm of local people, without whose help I would have been in great trouble. I am so grateful for the kindness of Irish people.

Before I came here I heard that potatoes are a favorite food of Irish people, but was still astonished by the vast array of chips and wedge products in the supermarkets. While in Ireland there are as many kinds of seafood as in my hometown, the range of such foods and the way they are cooked differs a lot.

Shortly after my arrival, I was told that weather is one of the favorite topics of Irish people, and I understand that now because a fine sunny day is so scarce here. I used to like to find shady areas when I was in Guangzhou but not after I came here, which is exactly why I got my skin burnt during my last summer vacation in China, under the bright sun and a temperature of 40°C.

It’s not easy to study in a second language. For almost a year, every time before tests and exams, my friends and I would say “Oh, if only these bullet points were in Chinese…”. It takes me twice as long to learn these topics, but hard work often comes with a greater sense of achievement and this thought has supported me during my studies. During my leisure time I go swimming and to the gym; the facilities in UCD are really good.

There is a difference in the teaching and assessment methods in SCAU and UCD. The size of my classes is smaller in Ireland compared to those in China. Considering the population in China is 1.3bn against 6.4m in Ireland, that is easy to understand. And then, from my point of view, teaching methods in Ireland seem to focus on more practical elements compared with China where the emphasis is more on theory. In UCD, I have more field trips and outdoor practical classes. During my field trip to a garden designed by UCD students in Beech Hill College in Co Monaghan, I could see that there were many practical classes including handicraft art, which is almost never seen in a Chinese secondary high school. In China, we have more theoretical classes to lay a solid foundation of science or liberal arts (these are two different subjects divided from the second year of senior high school onwards), and most importantly, in preparation for the high pressure of the college entrance examination.

Comparing assessment methods between SCAU and UCD, apart from the method of calculating a GPA (grade point average) result, I think the main difference is that, while in China our grade is decided by the final exams, in most of the modules in UCD it is determined by a series of assignments, preliminary exams, practicals, reports and the final exam. Also in UCD, we have more essay-type assignments. The style of the final exam is also different. In UCD there seems to be no fixed answer for some final exam questions, students need to combine their understanding of a subject with knowledge delivered through the semester to write our own answers.

Looking back over my last year and a half in UCD I feel that I have gained a lot during my time as a horticulture student, especially from the practical and industry field visits. It was a surprise to me that one day when I was shopping with one of my classmates, he said: ”You see the shelf there? Seems we have visited the production sites of most of them and now we know how to grow it!” And although hard to believe, I have traveled to about a half of the counties in Ireland during these field trips. I like the Irish scenery in rural and suburban areas as the green countryside gives me a sense of and connection with nature.

My studies in UCD are drawing to a close, with one semester left to complete. It will soon be time to say goodbye and start the next phase of my life. I want to continue my studies and focus more on business so I plan to study accountancy for my post-graduate education. I believe my experience here studying horticulture, with a strong pure and applied science base, will be very helpful as I look forward to my future life and career. ✽