 |
 |
 |
PULLMAN, Wash. – Documents have been signed to create a study abroad exchange program between the Honors College at Washington State University and the Chien-Shiung Wu Honors College of Southeast University in Nanjing, the capital and largest city in the Jiangsu Province of China.
This program has been added to Honors’ exchanges offered in Europe at the University of Wales at Swanseaand the University of Wales at Aberystwyth.
March visit to China
In March of 2012, Libby Walker, dean of the Honors College, Prema Arasu, vice provost and associate vice president for international programs and WSU’s chief international officer, and David Mclean, professor and chair of the WSU Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, visited China with Warwick M. Bayly, provost and executive vice president of WSU. They toured several campuses, including Southeast University and Nanjing with a population in excess of 8 million people.
“We are pleased to have another exchange program for Honors students, whose curriculum emphasizes global issues,” said Walker. “China presents an amazing academic opportunity and Southeast University will be an outstanding exchange partner for us.”
Two by two
Provost Bayly signed the agreement, which calls for two Honors College students from WSU to study at Southeast University. In exchange, two students from the Chien-Shiung Wu Honors College at Southeast University will attend WSU.
Honors students from all disciplines are eligible for the exchange, though Southeast University’s honors college is for students in engineering, physics, and architecture studies only.
The Global Learning department in WSU’s Office of International Programs administers various types of programs for students interested in education abroad, including exchanges. It will work closely with Honors on the new Southeast University exchange.
Complete immersion
WSU students who plan to integrate a global perspective into their required thesis should consider this opportunity, says Walker. They will be completely immersed in the foreign culture as they would live in China for a semester or full year. Some courses at Southeast are taught in a bi-lingual format, and WSU students taking Mandarin dialect Chinese courses in Pullman would have the chance to improve their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills there.
Southeast University
Southeast University is a comprehensive university operating under the Chinese Ministry of Education. Founded in 1902, the university is one of 10 top research universities in the country. Students can take courses from 30 departments and work toward any of 69 undergraduate degrees.
Southeast has hosted international students from over 60 countries. They welcome WSU students to an extraordinary academic experience in China, as they encourage their own students to study abroad, says Walker.
This summer, four students from Southeast University will travel to the U.S. for a physics conference in Philadelphia and will extend their trip to include a visit to WSU and the Honors College from August 1-5. They will be accompanied by Professor Yinghui Kuang, Deputy Dean of the Chien-Shiung Wu Honors College, Ms. Hong Huang, the International Program Coordinator of the Honors College, and Dr. Zhi-Yong Zhou, lecturer in the Department of Physics at Southeast University.