"We Made It" 2014 – Destination Shanghai

On June 23, 10 Chinese families of Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell employees had their first meeting with their "children": 10 students from France selected by Passeport Avenir to participate in the "We Made It" Program.

The "We Made It" program was created in 2009 with the purpose of helping promising students coming from low-income and working-class surroundings discover a new culture, develop their understanding of business and gaining an enriching international experience. Alcatel-Lucent and Passeport Avenir have a strong belief: for these young men and women, this first experience abroad will help them to gain self-confidence, develop their skills and, finally, lead them to success.

The Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell program organizers planned a series of fruitful activities:

• The students had the opportunity to visit UBIFRANCE and learn about China’s economic development and about French companies development in the region;
• They visited the world’s Top 500 companies in Shanghai such as Coca Cola and HP;
• They had a one day tour of Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell, learning about the innovative products and cutting edge technologies of Alcatel-Lucent via visiting the Demo Center, the R&D lab, the plant and Alcatel-Lucent University.
• Since this year is the 30th Anniversary of the company, they also visited the 30th Anniversary Retrospective Exhibition learning about the company’s development footprint.

Besides the company’s visit, they had interactive communication sessions with professionals and students from various backgrounds (i.e. seminar with students of Fudan University), as well as discovered the Chinese and local Shanghai customs and culture, (i.e. learning Taiji, Chinese zither, experiencing tea ceremony, etc.). Their host families also arranged wonderful traditional activities after work from making wonton, playing Yoga, tasting traditional snacks to strolling around the night markets, etc.

“« We made it! » was an incredible experience on a professional level but also on a more personal one. Before our stay, it never occurred to me that I could live such a wonderful experience abroad, mainly because I thought this kind of opportunity was out of reach. Afterthought, it seems much easier to build a career abroad. I’m deeply motivated and I’m sure that I can succeed in a new country.“  said Monika, one of the participants.

Read the full story here.

*video source: ICS Shanghai