July 14, 2014

‘Doctoral Cotutelle Study’ enriches Chinese students’ experience

International students benefit from collaborative studies at two universities

The experiences of Haiyu Lan and You Li  — doctoral students from China who are doing research at the Schulich School of Engineering — offer a compelling glimpse into the benefits of studying at two universities.

While they arrived here along different paths, the students share their participation in a Doctoral Cotutelle Study, an opportunity within the Faculty of Graduate Studies that supports high-achieving students who study in collaboration with an international partner university.

Doctoral students Haiyu Lan and You Li first met through their work in the Department of Geomatics Engineering and have since become good friends.

Lan and Li both work with the Mobile Multi-Sensor Systems (MMSS) research group under the supervision of Prof. Naser El-Sheimy. MMSS research primarily looks into transferring high-precision navigation technology to low-cost sensors in consumer electronics such as smartphones, watches, and glasses. The sensors capture information such as location, speed, and orientation of the user.

Li completed his undergrad and master’s degree at Wuhan University in China where he studied global navigation satellite systems. While attending a conference, Li instantly recognized Prof. El-Sheimy, who is internationally known in the field of geomatics. They discussed current research at the University of Calgary and Li made the decision to attend as a visiting student.

Lan, on the other hand, studied at Harbin Engineering University and majored in automation, researching ship navigation systems. Wanting to switch his focus to navigational systems for the average consumer, Lan discovered Prof. El-Sheimy by reading the MMSS research team’s publications and contacted him via email. El-Sheimy invited Lan to Calgary, also as a visiting student.

Soon after arriving, the two students switched their program from a regular PhD to a doctoral degree with Cotutelle supervision. The students now benefit from the expertise of two supervisors and from the access to additional facilities and resources.

Li and Lan, who are both 2013 Chinese Scholarship Council award recipients, chose Cotutelle supervision because it will give them a degree jointly recognized by their home university and a Canadian university. Having a joint degree is more attractive for future placement in the job market. They also saw the requirement of completing a single thesis and thesis defence as an extra incentive in selecting Doctoral Cotutelle supervision.

Beyond their research, the students make good use of the University of Calgary’s squash and swimming facilities. Lan got his driver’s licence and plans on heading out to the mountains this summer.