The school pays special attention to practice in educating professional degree students. In the process, we not only invite renowned practitioners to our classrooms, but also try to provide the students with opportunities to learn from practice.

KPMG, one of the big four accounting firms, is the first practice base for the professional master degree program of taxation at the School of Economics of Fudan University. This year, the school has worked closely with the Tax Department in KPMG in terms of internship and practical lectures. While all the taxation master students enrolled in 2012 have participated in KPMG’s winter intern program, the school has invited 4 senior experts from KPMG to deliver lectures concerning topics in taxation like transfer pricing, international tax planning, interpretation of bilateral tax agreements and treaties, tax system comparison, cases for transnational tax planning, and the reform of value-added tax. These lectures were arranged in KPMG Business School located in Plaza 66 on West Nanjing Rd. to give students a better understanding of the working environment of the company.

The lectures were combined with the students’ group presentations, through which the scope of learning was extended and the students’ interest in research stimulated. For instance, after Mr. Lu used cases to explain different forms of international tax and the corresponding strategies for tax planning, one group of students made a presentation to compare the ways foreign corporations invest in China . And after Ms. Jiang’s lecture on tax agreements, some students made a group presentation on the treatment of stock dividend in the tax agreement between China and Singapore and received positive comments from Ms. Jiang. This approach is conducive to cultivating the students’ sensitivity to practical issues, developing their creative thinking and enhancing their ability of self-learning and practicing.

KPMG’s lectures were delivered in English. Though basic communication in English wasn’t a problem for most students, they still had difficulty when it came to professional English. Therefore, the series of lectures provided the students with a perfect environment to learn about the hot issues in taxation in English. By analyzing different choices of tax systems and tax practices from different angles like national conditions, economic and political systems, social environment and cultural customs, the students had a deeper understanding of our country’s tax system and tax practices, and improved their communicating skills.

One feature of the lectures  was case study. In her lecture Ms. Jiang calculated corporations’ taxes payable in different cases so that the students could have a full grasp of complicated issues in international taxation such as tax credits. During the five lectures , students took an active part in case study under the guidance of their teachers and they all spoke highly of this teaching approach.

As a practice base for the professional master degree program of taxation at the School of Economics, KPMG has some partners working as our school’s part-time supervisors and has provided internship positions for the students.

Translated by Chen Siyu