Preparing Students For An Increasingly Interconnected World Necessarily Includes Focusing On China, States Dr. True
10 Apr 2008
Georgia Universities Partner With Chinese Counterparts Trevor Williams – Reporter GlobalAtlanta.com Atlanta - 04.10.08 The growing global economy and China's increasingly influential role in it have Georgia universities looking to collaborate with schools in the Asian nation as they seek to internationalize their curricula. Throughout many historical eras, especially in the few decades following the Communist takeover in 1949, China isolated itself from foreign ideas. But since economic reforms 30 years ago opened the country to market influences and foreign investment, China has made it a priority to learn from outside expertise. During his recent business mission to Beijing, Gov. Sonny Perdue added a new chapter to the long list of pacts between Georgian and Chinese schools. He signed a formal partnership between his alma mater, the University of Georgia, and Tsinghua University, a prominent research university in the Chinese capital. The deal focuses on fostering greater collaboration on research and development projects and building cultural understanding through faculty and student exchanges, said Arnett Mace, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at UGA. In what many analysts are calling "China's century," the latter is an indispensable skill. "Graduates must accept and understand the cultures and values of China and the world. This understanding is essential to Georgia students' success in the 21st century," Dr. Mace told an audience at a breakfast panel in Beijing before the signing ceremony April 3. Currently, 120 UGA students are studying abroad in China. Public administration and genetics are two of many fields in which Georgia and Chinese scholars are already working together successfully, and the long-awaited partnership with Tsinghua promises to broaden that scope further, Dr. Mace said. The nearly century-old university runs the Tsinghua Science Park, a large, well-respected research park servicing high-tech industries and 300 multinational companies including International Business Machines Corp., General Electric Co. and Microsoft Corp. Tsinghua Vice President Xie Weihe and representatives from six colleges within Tsinghua attended the signing ceremony. Although Georgia's flagship public university received much of the spotlight, a wider contingent of educators on the governor's trip showed that increasing ties with China is a priority for many schools throughout the state. Kennesaw State University, one of Georgia’s largest universities with more than 20,000 students, places a strong emphasis on the international marketplace, Sheb True, a marketing professor and the director of the International Center in the university's Coles College of Business, told breakfast attendees. The Coles College International Center is a branch of the university’s Institute for Global Initiatives, which aims to prepare students for an increasingly interconnected world. Achieving that goal, especially in business, necessarily includes focusing on China, Dr. True told GlobalAtlanta. “Our interest in China mirrors the global marketplace’s interest in China. It’s a powerful economic force in the world today, so it’s important for our students and faculty to be engaged in that,” he said, adding that Kennesaw has other partnerships throughout Asia and the rest of the world. While in China, Dr. True visited two Kennesaw faculty members currently working at a university in the city of Dalian as well as a Chinese professor there who will come to work at Kennesaw during the next exchange. Kennesaw also announced April 7 that it will partner with Yangzhou University to establish the second Confucius Institute in Georgia this fall. That institute will join a growing network of centers funded by the Chinese government to promote Chinese language and culture around the world. Of the more than 200 worldwide, 42 are in the U.S. In March, Emory University, through a partnership with Nanjing University and Atlanta Public Schools, launched Georgia’s first such institute, which is based in Sammye A. Coan Middle School on Hosea L. Williams Drive. Representatives from other Georgia universities presented their China-focused programs at the briefing, which was attended mostly by Georgia business leaders and delegates. Steven McLaughlin, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said that his school's involvement in China is part of a broad strategy to internationalize its educational offerings. Georgia Tech offers doctoral degrees in collaboration with Peking University in Beijing and programs with Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, which just gained an air link with Atlanta through a nonstop Delta Air Lines Inc. flight. Mercer University was also represented at the panel. Although not on the governor’s trip, Georgia State University by coincidence had a delegation led by Provost Ronald Henry and Dean of Health and Human Sciences Susan Kelley in China at the same time as the mission. John Hicks, Georgia State’s associate provost for international affairs, told GlobalAtlanta that the university has 17 partnership agreements with 14 different Chinese universities. A nine-year-old pact with Tsinghua has been a successful mechanism for student exchange, Mr. Hicks said. Georgia State offers Chinese as one of its 15 different foreign language programs, and the Robinson College of Business has agreements with five institutions, including Peking University. Mr. Hicks said it has become necessary to provide international opportunities with countries like China as technology and transportation has made the world smaller. “It’s no longer something that should be regarded as something special or a luxury,” he said. “To the extent that (students) don’t have the ability to communicate in a language other than English, the potential for them to be disadvantaged is quite real.”
Georgia Universities Partner
With Chinese Counterparts
Trevor Williams – Reporter
GlobalAtlanta.com
Atlanta - 04.10.08
The growing global economy and China's increasingly influential role in it have Georgia universities looking to collaborate with schools in the Asian nation as they seek to internationalize their curricula.
Throughout many historical eras, especially in the few decades following the Communist takeover in 1949, China isolated itself from foreign ideas. But since economic reforms 30 years ago opened the country to market influences and foreign investment, China has made it a priority to learn from outside expertise.
During his recent business mission to Beijing, Gov. Sonny Perdue added a new chapter to the long list of pacts between Georgian and Chinese schools. He signed a formal partnership between his alma mater, the University of Georgia, and Tsinghua University, a prominent research university in the Chinese capital.
The deal focuses on fostering greater collaboration on research and development projects and building cultural understanding through faculty and student exchanges, said Arnett Mace, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at UGA. In what many analysts are calling "China's century," the latter is an indispensable skill.
"Graduates must accept and understand the cultures and values of China and the world. This understanding is essential to Georgia students' success in the 21st century," Dr. Mace told an audience at a breakfast panel in Beijing before the signing ceremony April 3.
Currently, 120 UGA students are studying abroad in China. Public administration and genetics are two of many fields in which Georgia and Chinese scholars are already working together successfully, and the long-awaited partnership with Tsinghua promises to broaden that scope further, Dr. Mace said.
The nearly century-old university runs the Tsinghua Science Park, a large, well-respected research park servicing high-tech industries and 300 multinational companies including International Business Machines Corp., General Electric Co. and Microsoft Corp.
Tsinghua Vice President Xie Weihe and representatives from six colleges within Tsinghua attended the signing ceremony.
Although Georgia's flagship public university received much of the spotlight, a wider contingent of educators on the governor's trip showed that increasing ties with China is a priority for many schools throughout the state.
Kennesaw State University, one of Georgia’s largest universities with more than 20,000 students, places a strong emphasis on the international marketplace, Sheb True, a marketing professor and the director of the International Center in the university's Coles College of Business, told breakfast attendees.
The Coles College International Center is a branch of the university’s Institute for Global Initiatives, which aims to prepare students for an increasingly interconnected world.
Achieving that goal, especially in business, necessarily includes focusing on China, Dr. True told GlobalAtlanta.
“Our interest in China mirrors the global marketplace’s interest in China. It’s a powerful economic force in the world today, so it’s important for our students and faculty to be engaged in that,” he said, adding that Kennesaw has other partnerships throughout Asia and the rest of the world.
While in China, Dr. True visited two Kennesaw faculty members currently working at a university in the city of Dalian as well as a Chinese professor there who will come to work at Kennesaw during the next exchange.
Kennesaw also announced April 7 that it will partner with Yangzhou University to establish the second Confucius Institute in Georgia this fall.
That institute will join a growing network of centers funded by the Chinese government to promote Chinese language and culture around the world. Of the more than 200 worldwide, 42 are in the U.S.
In March, Emory University, through a partnership with Nanjing University and Atlanta Public Schools, launched Georgia’s first such institute, which is based in Sammye A. Coan Middle School on Hosea L. Williams Drive.
Representatives from other Georgia universities presented their China-focused programs at the briefing, which was attended mostly by Georgia business leaders and delegates.
Steven McLaughlin, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said that his school's involvement in China is part of a broad strategy to internationalize its educational offerings.
Georgia Tech offers doctoral degrees in collaboration with Peking University in Beijing and programs with Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, which just gained an air link with Atlanta through a nonstop Delta Air Lines Inc. flight.
Mercer University was also represented at the panel.
Although not on the governor’s trip, Georgia State University by coincidence had a delegation led by Provost Ronald Henry and Dean of Health and Human Sciences Susan Kelley in China at the same time as the mission.
John Hicks, Georgia State’s associate provost for international affairs, told GlobalAtlanta that the university has 17 partnership agreements with 14 different Chinese universities.
A nine-year-old pact with Tsinghua has been a successful mechanism for student exchange, Mr. Hicks said.
Georgia State offers Chinese as one of its 15 different foreign language programs, and the Robinson College of Business has agreements with five institutions, including Peking University.
Mr. Hicks said it has become necessary to provide international opportunities with countries like China as technology and transportation has made the world smaller.
“It’s no longer something that should be regarded as something special or a luxury,” he said. “To the extent that (students) don’t have the ability to communicate in a language other than English, the potential for them to be disadvantaged is quite real.”