ALUMNI REUNION IN CHINA'S HIGH TECH CAPITAL

NIEUWS VAN ALUMNI

The annual recruitment missions of Group T Leuven Campus along the Chinese partner universities is an excellent opportunity to bring the alumni together on the spot. On Friday 1 November 2019, it was the turn of the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. The reason was the visit to the Southern campus of Harbin Institute of Technology, a high-ranked university in China and a new partner of KU Leuven.

Since Shenzhen was elected China’s Special Economic Zone, the small fishing village of 35 years ago has grown to be one of the largest cities in the world. Along the way, it also became the manufacturing heart of the global tech industry. Over the past decade, the city has become a world leader in technological innovation, rather than a place where one buys cheap electronics. It meant the move from ‘Made in China’ to ‘Designed in China’. Today, Shenzhen is home to some of the biggest high tech companies in the world, such as Internet and gaming giant Tencent, the telecom firm Huawei, smartphone maker ZTE as well as the world’s largest drone maker DJI and robot producer Makeblock. It is estimated that about 90% of all digital products worldwide contains one or more components from Shenzhen. Appel also has its iPhones manufactured in Shenzhen. Design City has become the gateway to Shenzhen for the rest of the world and vice versa.

At the first reunion in Shenzhen, ten alumni from Group T Leuven Campus were present. They are working at Huawei, 01NNT, Deacons, Foxconn and Melexis. They are already looking forward to the next edition and to the moment when a KU Leuven Alumni Chapter will be founded in their city.

Yves Persoons