The Weihai campus of Shandong University (SDU) has recently concluded its 2026 summer school, a month-long program combining international courses, interdisciplinary study, and practical training.

A major focus of this year was international learning. Faculty members from universities and research institutions across France, the United States, and Australia delivered both on-site and online courses, many of them taught entirely in English.

Alex Fang, a professor of linguistics from City University of Hong Kong, taught an online course on language, culture and cognition. Drawing on linguistics, philosophy, cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence, the course explored how language and culture shape human cognition. It connected theoretical discussions with real-world domains such as media studies and digital business.

Marine Calamai from a French art school led an international summer workshop which combined Chinese and Western approaches to art and design. Meanwhile, Mahendra Mariadassou from France's National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) taught an introductory statistics course in English. The course covered core concepts in probability and statistics and demonstrated their applications in model construction and real-world data analysis.

Beyond its international courses, the summer school also featured classes in humanities, art, mathematics, artificial intelligence, and engineering, with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary learning. Many courses transcended traditional disciplinary boundaries, combined theoretical study with practical application and focused on cutting-edge academic and technological topics.

This combination of international, interdisciplinary, and practice-oriented courses helped students expand their academic outlook and enhance their communication and problem-solving abilities.