Chinese delegation visits campus to begin formal discussions about student, faculty and academic exchange possibilities with ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ.
ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ President Leo M. Lambert and South China Normal University (SCNU) President Liu Ming signed a memorandum of understanding Oct. 13, formally beginning discussions about potential partnerships between the two universities. Liu and three of his colleagues came to ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ to meet with Lambert and other ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ administrators to talk about SCNU’s initiative to expand international partnerships, enabling more Chinese students to study abroad and encouraging faculty and academic collaboration with top universities.
SCNU has three campuses in Guangzhou, the country’s third largest city located in Guangdong Province, north of Hong Kong in southern China. SCNU enrolls nearly 26,000 undergraduate students, 6,000 graduate students and more than 500 doctoral students. SCNU was founded as a teacher’s college in 1933 and has been growing rapidly as part of the Chinese government’s $2.2 billion Project 211, aimed at strengthening about 100 institutions of higher education and key disciplinary areas as a national priority for the 21st century.
Under the arrangement signed by the presidents, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ and SCNU will begin talking about exchanging students, considering joint undergraduate degree programs, launching joint faculty research projects, collaboration in teacher development, exchange of academic information and organizing joint conferences and meetings.
President Liu and his staff met with President Lambert; Steven House, provost and vice president for academic affairs; Gerald Whittington, senior vice president for business, finance and technology; Alison Morrison-Shetlar, dean of ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ College, the College of Arts and Sciences; and Woody Pelton, dean of international programs and director of the Isabella Cannon Centre. House, Whittington, Morrison-Shetlar and Pelton will visit SCNU in December for further discussions.
Liu remarked on ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s beautiful and quiet campus and said he had heard of ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s reputation for excellence. “We hope we can learn a great deal from ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ about undergraduate education,” Liu said.
Liu said ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ students who choose to study at SCNU would benefit, since they would have the opportunity to research one of China’s fastest-growing regions, with a rapidly expanding economy.
Pelton led the Chinese delegation on a tour of ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s campus, and they were joined by Ling Zhou, an ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ sophomore from China. ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ accounting faculty member Catherine Chiang served as interpreter during the visit.