Study Tours in China

Our study tours give students from the UAE direct access to Chinese universities, research institutes and industry. Programmes range from one-day campus visits in Shanghai to seven-day youth science camps and two-week university summer schools, all run on the same principle: teacher-guided, student-centred and hands-on. Highway New Time handles the academic partner, the itinerary, halal meals, suitable hotels, transport and Chinese/English/Arabic guides, so that schools and families can focus on the learning.

Why a study tour in China

The purpose of these programmes is to open the door to Chinese education for young people in the UAE and to build understanding between the two countries. Seeing a laboratory, a campus or a factory in person, and talking with Chinese students of the same age, teaches things that cannot be picked up at home or through media. Activities are designed as interactive experiences led by accompanying teachers, with students doing rather than watching.

Tsinghua University, Beijing

Tsinghua, founded in 1911, is one of China's leading research universities, with particular strength in artificial intelligence, engineering and computer science. Through our partner programmes, older students can join Tsinghua's summer offerings, which in recent years have included:

• Summer camp of the Institute for AI Industry Research (AIR): project-based work on embodied intelligence and AI for life science, for graduate and senior undergraduate students
• "Generative AI" International Summer School (Department of Computer Science): large-scale pre-training, cross-modal learning and AI for Science, taught in English
• "AI Theory and Applications" summer school at the Yau Mathematical Sciences Center (June): optimisation theory, large-model algorithms and deep generative models
• "MAKE IT SHENZHEN" international study camp at Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School (June): AI commercialisation seminars and visits to Shenzhen technology companies
• Tsinghua x-lab one-day programme: AI start-up roadshows and a visit to an AI-chip and smart-city company

Fudan University, Shanghai

The Fudan youth science camp, run under the theme "Science Dream, Youth Dream", introduces secondary-school students to a university founded in 1905. A typical programme includes:

• Campus orientation: a clue-based trail across the campus with check-in tasks
• Youth roundtable: face-to-face sessions with Fudan senior students about university life and research
• Hands-on workshop: each student builds a small scientific device with student volunteers
• "One Source, Six Halls": the university history and archive halls
• Institute of Modern Physics: a guided visit to the laboratory, including the electron-beam ion trap and particle-accelerator facilities
• AI Education Innovation Centre: a look at current AI teaching and application scenarios

Shanghai Jiao Tong University

SJTU offers two formats. The youth science camp combines campus culture, lectures and practical work; the university-level summer schools are two-week academic programmes.

Youth science camp highlights

• Xuhui campus (three centuries of buildings) and the Qian Xuesen Library; Minhang campus national key laboratories and Student Innovation Centre
• Lectures by SJTU professors on computing, materials science, quantum computing and carbon neutrality, plus an academician masterclass on DNA at the Shanghai Science Hall
• Practical sessions: VEX robotics, collaborative-robot programming, drone flying, radio soldering and 3D-printing
• Life-sciences laboratory visit, peer-sharing sessions with SJTU students, and a closing evening
• Shanghai in context: Shanghai Tower (the tuned-mass damper), the Bund and a Huangpu River night cruise

One-day campus programme (up to 30 students)

Campus walk with a history briefing, senior-student exchange, the Qian Xuesen Library, the C.Y. Tung Maritime Museum, and a ship-and-ocean mini-class where students build an amphibious model.

University summer schools (two weeks, taught in English)

• Summer On-site Research Programme: research groups led by visiting professors from international universities across biomedicine, data science, financial engineering, engineering and humanities; online preparation, two weeks on campus, then online revision towards a research paper
• International Summer School on Generative AI and the Creative Industries (School of Cultural and Creative Industry): script-writing with AI, text-to-image and image-to-video production, company visits
• Summer Programme on Chinese Law (KoGuan School of Law): nine English-taught courses including international arbitration, constitutional, maritime, financial and competition law, with visits to the Shanghai International Arbitration Center and a law firm

Tongji University, Shanghai

Tongji's camp, "A Summer of Science and Innovation", is built around engineering and design:

• Ocean and Earth Science: deep-sea exploration and underwater wireless optical communication
• College of Transportation: the past, present and future of rail, from road construction to maglev
• Environmental Science and Engineering national key laboratory: a water-treatment experiment competition where students run coagulation and sedimentation processes themselves
• College of Design and Innovation workshop: 3D printers and laser cutters
• Civil Engineering "smart civil" demonstration with robots; Electronics and Information lecture; Architecture and Urban Planning digital-future exhibition; life-sciences laboratory
• Evening peer-sharing sessions with Tongji students

One-day campus programme (up to 30 students): campus walk, Tongji museum, an architecture salon, building a model of the Oriental Pearl Tower, and an exchange with Tongji students.

East China Normal University (ECNU), Shanghai

ECNU runs a seven-day science-exploration camp drawing on its strengths in education, ecology and statistics. Students attend lectures (for example an economist's view of everyday life, and brain intelligence versus artificial intelligence) and then choose one of four research tracks:

• Geography: measuring ground-object spectra and processing remote-sensing data
• Chemistry: designing a "chemical oscillation" experiment and controlling colour-change rhythms
• Environmental science: an urban river water-quality survey
• Life sciences: measuring human physiological indicators

Each track follows the full cycle of question, design, testing and presentation, and the best projects are recognised with camp awards. Campus visits cover the university history museum, the Institute of AI Education, the psychology laboratory and the biomedical research institute, with group ice-breakers and peer exchange built in.

Beyond the campus: Shanghai learning sites

Where a school wants a broader programme, we combine university days with half-day or full-day learning sites in Shanghai, each with a guided, age-appropriate briefing:

• Shanghai Aerospace study base: rockets, satellites and spacecraft; hands-on space-seed and Long March 2 model activities (half day, 30 students)
• Helicopter maintenance workshop: theory plus real tools on real aircraft (half day, 20 students)
• China Maritime Museum: simulator bridge, ship design, sailors' knots (full day, ages 6–12, 20 students)
• Shanghai Tower: 126th-floor damper and light show (half day, 30 students)
• Shanghai Planetarium, and a telescope session observing the Moon, Jupiter, Mars and sunspots
• Guangfulin ruins, Sihang Warehouse, Yu Garden, the Bund, Duolun Road and Wukang Road heritage walks
• Rocket manufacturing plant and an aviation-parts plant (subject to access at time of booking)

Who the programmes are for

• Secondary schools booking a class or year-group science camp (Fudan, SJTU, Tongji, ECNU camps and Shanghai sites)
• Universities and colleges sending students to Tsinghua or SJTU summer schools (undergraduate and graduate level; some programmes require a computer-science or related background)
• Families and private groups wanting a shorter, customised campus-and-culture itinerary (one-day university programmes typically take up to 30 students; some Shanghai sites accept ages 4–12)

What is included

• Programme design with the partner university or institution, including lectures, laboratory visits and hands-on sessions
• Accompanying teacher(s) and student mentors from the host institution; our Chinese/English/Arabic guides throughout
• Hotels suited to Muslim guests and halal-compliant meals every day
• Ground transport, entrance fees and activity materials as itemised in the quotation
• Cultural exchange sessions with Chinese students, plus optional calligraphy, paper-cutting or tea-ceremony workshops
• 24-hour customer-service line for the school and parents while the group is in China

How booking works

1. Tell us the school or institution, age group, number of students and teachers, preferred dates and subject focus.
2. Our planning team proposes a programme with the relevant university partner and a written quotation; UAE travel agencies can request the same on a B2B basis.
3. Once the programme and group list are confirmed, we secure the university dates, hotels and transport and issue the final itinerary.
4. A pre-departure briefing covers documents, dress, dietary and prayer arrangements and the daily schedule.

Safety and supervision

Groups travel with their own teachers, who lead the programme, and with our guides, who handle logistics and translation. Laboratory and workshop sessions are run by university staff and student volunteers. Every group has a named operator in our Dubai office and a 24-hour contact number for the duration of the trip.

University programmes are confirmed against each institution's calendar at the time of booking; content above reflects recent editions and may change from year to year.