Nikola Zivlak, a scientist – Serbian life in Shanghai

(Nikola Zivlak)

Many things in his life happened accidentally, starting from the selection of the faculty to relocation from Novi Sad to the biggest Chinese town. Today, when he is a docent at the prestigious Shanghai university, every day Nikola Zivlak comes happy to work, sure that he made the right choice.

This thirty year-old man, in his interview for eKapija reveals how it is to work with Serbian and Chinese students, what cooperation of Shanghai and Novi Sad universities is, what it is like to live in the "Paris of the East" as well as an unbreakable bond to Serbia.

Although he was born in Kikinda which takes a significant place in his childhood and growing up, Nikola Zivlak feels as a citizen of Novi Sad even today where he completed his primary school, a grammar school "Laza Kostić" and the faculty.

- I was lucky to grow up in a house in a very nice part of the town, surrounded by family and since I was born I was lucky to meet great people who have been my best friends ever since. Events from my childhood are mainly related to family gatherings and travels with my sister and parents. My teenage period was great, full of nights out and hanging around with best friends and later on travels round Serbia, Europe and USA. I think that the schooling period until the completion of studies I would not trade that lifestyle for anything in the world – our collocutor says.

He made quite accidentally decision to enroll the Faculty of technical studies.

- After finishing grammar school, of course I had no clue what I would like to study and completely accidentally at the biology lessons, I received from my fiend a brochure with detailed description of the department which was then opened for only a year and a half. I read everything in details and decided the same moment that would be the place where I will study. Ever since, I liked mechanical engineering and cars but somehow it was not all I wanted to study and the combination of industrial engineering and management seemed great. I still think the same way – Zivlak is speaking about the faculty where he completed his master at the industrial engineering and management department and started his PhD studies.

China – unplanned destination

During his master studies, he worked as an assistant – demonstrator at the Faculty of technical sciences at the scientific institute for food technologies and, as he says, he was not planning to leave Serbia.

- A colleague form the faculty, Marko Ljubicic, showed me a competition of the Chinese government which was offering a few scholarships for Serbian students. We got full amounts of scholarships for PhD studies at the Donghua University, the same mentor and it all seemed very attractive. When you now ask me why China, I have to admit I do not know how to explain it. It seems that big things simply happen. Some feelings and moments are something that simply drags a man. I certainly had extremely positive emotions about China and the space of the East, first of all Russia and China, has always been attracting me but at that time I did not know anything about China – our collocutor admits.

After he came to China in 2007, Zivlak and his colleague had a clear vision to do everything they can to connect Serbia and Chine on academic and business level. And they succeeded in it. Today, the Donghua University and the University in Novi Sad are connected to a great extent as well as the Mokra Gora school of management as of recent period.

- We hope for a more intensive cooperation especially in the economy field and we will definitely do everything to help. At the moment, my selection for the teacher in residence is in progress for the University in Novi Sad and that is a place where I always return and where the biggest part of my project in Serbia is. In March, we organized the Winter Academy at the industrial engineering and management department at the Faculty for technical sciences and that is something which fulfills me and makes me happy. I am attached to Serbia and th work with our students is however something special.

When asked about similarities and differences between these two continents, Zivlak says he finds it very difficult to speak about students from Serbia because he cannot avoid being a bit of subjective since he is one of the,. Working with people from more than 90 countries in the world, he recognized there are no national frameworks. There are some habits and some emotions which develop in a specific environment but as for studies and working habits, he thinks it is an individual thing.

I think our students are great, I worked with them two months ago and was extremely satisfied. In Serbia, we could develop general information knowledge and greater orientation to foreign languages and high technologies. Generally, I was not very satisfied with the foreign language skills when it comes to a larger number of our students. As for the Chinese students, they are extremely diligent, they work long hours and they fight every day for their position in this big country. I think that we should not be compared with another nation in but we should focus on development of positive features of our people, working habits and development of the unique feature we can offer to the world.

He comes happy to work every day

(with students)

Although he has working experience in Serbia and Chine, our collocutor says it is difficult to compare these two different environments.

- I think that a big advantage of Serbia is the climate at work which is irreplaceable and of course hanging around after work. But, huge problems in the country reflect on all systems, even on the places where I was. In Chine, people work more, more difficult and longer but that also has its advantages and the work here enables people very nice life. The market is huge, everything changes rapidly and being a part of that is a true satisfaction. It is not easy to draw a parallel between these two countries since they are completely different in size in two completely different historical moments for Chinese and Serbian civilization.

Nikola Zivlak points out that every day he comes to work happy and that he completely fulfilled with the work in an interesting and a dynamic environment.

- I work with students from 88 countries in the worlds. My job enables me to stop occasionally, to think about what I am doing and to deal with other things as well. It also enables me to influence directly the cooperation with Serbia and other countries where I have friends which especially makes me happy and fulfills me. When students from Serbia would come to Shanghai in larger number, it would definitely be much nicer and better.

Return to Serbia – always an open question

He is especially glad that in Shanghai he does not have a typical day because he does not have fixed working hours and travel around China relatively often. He likes to go for a swim and ride a bike, it relaxes him in a big city of the East-Asian country.

- The best way to relax is with family members and friends, long conversations and going out because happiness lies in small things and I am trying to have as many these moments as possible. The biggest happiness for me is that I can help somebody who is dear to my heart and whom I love.

As for Serbia, he misses most his family, friends, neighbors as well as “some dear people whom you often encounter on the street, accidental passengers, bakery staff, people working in kiosks, bars.”

- All these nice people and some brief moments, events I miss very often. That is what I definitely miss. I miss the scent of our environment, a special feeling of freedom and some, small, lovely places in Novi Sad, Kikinda, Beograd and the entire Serbia where I always return – Zivlak points out, adding that a return always remain an open question.

- I deeply feel I have never left Serbia and I am trying to maintain all the contacts as well as build new ones and I think that in Shanghai I live a kind of Serbian, Balkan life.

(defending his doctoral thesis in Shanghai)

Real results yet to come

For Nikola Zivlak, a true value in life is to achieve balance between friends, family, health and career.

- I, personally, aim at becoming and remaining a good person, to do something nice and good for me and my environment. I very much appreciate in life an individual independence and I try to develop myself in that direction.

Plans for the future are mainly related to family and career because, as he says, he still has not reached his maximum and he hopes that the true results of his work are yet to come.

- It is difficult for me to say where exactly I see myself in the future but I hope that my family will get new members, that I will succeed in maintaining all my contacts and hang around even more with all of my friends and that, of course, I will meet many new great people.

I also want to achieve even greater satisfaction when it comes to my career, to acquire new knowledge and maybe, to learn another language and of course, to help connecting Serbia with other countries in the most positive sense possible.

Although thousand miles away from his hometown, in the biggest Chinese town, Nikola Zivlak thinks his life has not changed to a great extent. He thinks his greatest success is that he managed to set his own peace although he lives in such a big and dynamic city as Shanghai is.

- As a person, I have remained the same, I believe. I still value things in the same way, I hang around with the same people and I feel happy about the same, small, life events. It is definite that we have less time than before and that everything dispersed somehow, everything got bigger dimensions. It seems Serbia extended to Shanghai – Nikola Zivlak is finishing his story.

Irina Milosevic