I’m taking a visiting year at a university in a different country.
Based on the culture I’m from, it’s traditional to give gifts to a senior figure who is working with you in some capacity in the first meeting as a show of respect and thanks.
So I bought:
– A pack of tea from my home country
– A cardboard flower representing an important cultural artefact
– A handkerchief with a panda and the initials of my supervisor.
But according to my boyfriend, this is kind of taboo in the UK context, and my supervisor might not know how to react.
Some additional context:
1. The senior academic is not my supervisor, academically speaking, but they are more like my host or sponsor, albeit we will be working together to some extent (therefore I think that there is no risk of the gifts seeming like a ‘bribe’ or unprofessional)
2. On a previous occasion, the same academic was a little confused as a result of a previous cultural misunderstanding, when again, I was following standard protocol for my home country.
I wonder if anyone has any advice/relevant experience they can share so I can decide what to do (maybe I should just give the gifts to someone else, or to give them to my supervisor at the end of the year visiting period). I find the idea of not giving the gifts awkward – I wouldn’t really know what to say in our first meeting as for me the gifts function as a necessary icebreaker/affirmation of social role.
Thank you so much for your advice!
Comments
Tea seems reasonable as a nice token. The other stuff seems excessive.
The tea is a nice idea. From a US perspective, visiting scholars have typically given something that can be shared with the whole lab and brought them to a lab meeting. Past items have been sweets from their home country (a few times), and one person brought little keychain animals and hats with traditional patterns. I would avoid anything very expensive as that could be misconstrued as bribery, or anything that might not be able to be consumed, such as alcohol.
Honestly, I’d be thrilled if a visiting scholar who brought tea handled the steeping so I don’t accidentally mess it up, haha.
It also isn’t expected or required, I wouldn’t even notice the absence if there was no gift. But I do remember the things that were gifted, so there is something to say for gifts leaving a positive impact.
It’s not necessary to give gifts. The other students aren’t. Respect is shown by showing up on time, being polite, doing well in your studies. Learn how to carry on a conversation that is appropriate for where you are. Think of a few questions to ask.
Not everyone likes tea, or, if they are tea drinkers, they probably have some favorite type that may or may not be like what you have. The other gifts are not likely to be something your supervisor needs or wants.
Do not do the handkerchief. It has a romantic commentation.
I’m a professor in the US and regularly get small gifts like this from visiting students or other students I have helped out. It is not necessary, but always welcomed as a cultural exchange. Tea is a common gift from students from Asia and likely wouldn’t be weird in any way to your host. The embroidered handkerchief is a larger gift, but will be enjoyed. You might want to keep that one to give at the end of your one year visit. Nothing you have written is wrong/inappropriate in my eyes!
(Side story, one of the faculty at my alma mater was so uncomfortable by the gift giving – and concerned that it might be seen as some as bribery – that he would always thank the students and put all the gifts in a single large drawer. It was like an interesting little museum in that drawer …)
I have a lot of visiting international scholars/students/collaborators and I often receive gifts like this. I would recommend just the tea and flower, perhaps not the handkerchief which might come across overly personal. But do consider whether they will be received in the manner in which they’re being given. People in the UK generally have very different manners and cultural expectations to people in China, and there will be a tacit expectation that generally you will fit with them rather than they with you.
Am in the UK. This would be weird. It’s weird. I think you’re getting a lot of comments from the US here, so bear that in mind.
A gift for the whole group when you’re leaving to say thank you would be appropriate. But a gift before you begin feels like a bribe. (I know it’s not, but it has the same feel.)
I wouldn’t. If you really want to then you’ll have to make it very clear that you’re doing it because it’s traditional in your culture.