State of University Level Education Programs in China, 4030 group project

Semester Abroad Programs Introduction Though CAPS is not a traditional study abroad program, other semester abroad programs can serve as models to improve the Beijing semester experienc

The State of University-Level Education Programs in China

A Group Project for CAPS 4030

Amanda Williams Cole DeVoy Sarah Harris Max Alaghband Matt McGee

Cornell University

China & Asia Pacific Studies

May 2017

Table of Contents

2 Semester Abroad Programs by Max Alaghband 3

3 Branch Campuses and Joint Institutes by Amanda Williams 9

4 Chinese-operated Graduate Programs by Cole DeVoy 13

5 Intensive Language Programs by Sarah Harris & Matt McGee 17

As Cornell’s China and Asia-Pacific Studies (CAPS) program moves forward after brating its milestone tenth anniversary and looks to the years ahead, it is imperative that we take full advantage of the vibrant community of China scholars which surrounds us Although CAPS

cele-is a unique program offering a combination of opportunities, world-renowned faculty, and a orous, expansive curriculum, there is still a broader community at hand from which we have much

rig-to learn This community of China hands and China-focused programs is at once an opportunity for growth and a call for self-reflection Within it are similarities and differences, lessons and mistakes, as well as examples of excellent scholarship, vigor, and well-roundedness As such, in

an analysis of the programs that constitute this community, an important learning opportunity emerges which ought not be ignored In the following pages, the authors will share examinations

of peer university programs, stand-alone schools, Chinese-operated and foreigner-oriented ate programs, and programs for intensive Chinese language study From these analyses, a number

gradu-of suggestions will be put forward, and it is our hope that these suggestions will be heard and implemented In other words, as graduating seniors in the Class of 2017, we now take our turn

“feeling for stones.”

Semester Abroad Programs

Introduction

Though CAPS is not a traditional study abroad program, other semester abroad programs can serve as models to improve the Beijing semester experience and draw more students into the program (as minors at the very least) Compared to other Ivy League schools, Cornell is unique in being one of two universities that directly administers a study abroad program in China Apart from Dartmouth, which administers a program on Beijing Normal University’s campus, other Ivy League schools either rely on outside programs (such as CET) or have students enroll directly at schools like Peking University and Tsinghua University as international students (as is the case at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University) I have drawn information from univer-sity programs based in Beijing at Dartmouth, Columbia, Syracuse University, the University of Chicago, and Stanford University, as well as from CET’s program in Shanghai, which more closely resembles the CAPS program than CET’s other programs (the others are mostly intensive language study)

Curriculum

The courses taken at Peking University allow CAPS students to learn about China’s nal developments and relationship with the world through a Chinese lens While rewarding, op-portunities for engagement with domestic students were slim and examining other programs’ cur-ricula may serve useful

inter-Faculty-in-Residence: Stanford, UChicago, Dartmouth, and Syracuse bring faculty to their

Chi-nese host institutions to teach core courses In the case of Stanford, having a professor from ford teach a course seemed to attract more domestic Chinese students than our course with Profes-sor Chen, a PKU professor Additionally, Stanford students cited the presence of Stanford faculty

Stan-as a core strength of Stanford’s program, Stan-as it ensured that quality and pedagogy met the standards

of their home institution Having a Cornell professor teach a course open to PKU students may attract more domestic students and thus allow CAPS students more opportunities to engage with Chinese students Maybe co-teaching a course with a PKU professor would allow CAPS students

to better engage with domestic students while still gaining exposure to Chinese pedagogy and perspectives, core strengths of the current curricular arrangement

Access to University Courses: CAPS restricts students to courses within the School of International

Studies, while Stanford, Syracuse, and Columbia allow students to enroll in any course offered by the host institution Liberalizing course enrollment would make obtaining completing double ma-jors and minors more feasible for CAPS majors Additionally, improving student access to course listings would be very useful for students who need to plan ahead to complete coursework for other programs

Experiential Learning Trips

One of the highlights of the CAPS Beijing semester is the weeklong trip included in the China in Transition course The Fall 2016 trip took us to Shanxi province, where we explored a converted Maoist commune, many historical sites, and manifestations of China’s initiative to build

an “ecological civilization” in urban-historical renewal projects and a newly built, tightly regulated

factory Our experiences were framed by Professor Xu’s introduction of China’s current tionary state and supported by him and the staff members and tour guide who accompanied us While this trip was a fascinating and engaging way to introduce us to China and get us excited for the semester, these experiences could be more tightly integrated into the semester’s curriculum Other programs provide similar opportunities within different curricular frameworks that are worth considering:

transi-Syracuse University: transi-Syracuse takes students on a two-week “Signature Seminar” to areas such as

Yunnan and Xian (depending on the semester) before the beginning of the academic semester This seminar is treated as a standalone, 3-credit course, the former focusing on ethnic minorities and the environment and the latter on China’s economic development Treating the trip as a standalone course separate from the China in Transition course and/or extending it to two weeks could allow for a more in-depth and focused experience

Dartmouth College: Dartmouth takes students on multiple trips, including a two-week trip in the

middle of the semester with a specific research focus Students travelled to Zhejiang, Tibet (the two-week trip), and Sichuan during the Fall 2016 semester and conducted research projects on culture and history in each locale for their Chinese languages courses More school-organized travel opportunities, maybe centering on specific research topics, could help students who other-wise do not have many opportunities to travel see more remote parts of China (I understand that

my cohort was an anomaly in the amount of trips we took) through a tightly focused, academically rewarding framework

Engagement with Local Students and Culture

The Beijing semester is jam packed with coursework and internships, making engagement with local students and culture difficult While the CAPS program does a very good job of expos-ing students to heritage sites and local political organizations through field trips around Beijing and to Chengde, it can learn from other programs’ initiatives pairing students with local students and engaging them in cultural activities

Local Student Partners: The Stanford program pairs Stanford students with a PKU student buddy,

chosen from a selective application process for their English language ability and enthusiasm and compensated for their assistance Buddies are paired with students based on their common interests and help students with their Chinese language ability while showing them around the city Dart-mouth pairs students with graduate students from BNU’s teaching college who are studying Chi-nese language teaching The CET program pairs students with a local roommate, with whom they live and can practice their Chinese Pairing CAPS students with a language buddy would help supplement our Chinese language coursework, as immersion outside of the classroom is tanta-mount to improving language ability and is not easy given our busy class and internship schedules This could be a structured exchange, with CAPS students serving as English language buddies, in place of monetary compensation Pairing students with a similarly interested Chinese student would also help form friendships and facilitate cultural exchange, exposing Cornellians to Beijing through the lens of their Chinese counterpart

Cultural/Extracurricular Activities: Stanford works with local instructors to offer semester-long

classes in Tai Chi, calligraphy, and cooking to its students Similarly, Dartmouth hosts periodic mandatory cultural classes in similar subjects Bringing weekly cultural experiences into the “Chi-nese table” program would allow CAPS students to explore aspects of Chinese culture while

providing more opportunities to practice Chinese This could be done through partnerships and planned collaboration with campus cultural organizations, which are difficult to access through the complex BBS system and make time for as busy students/part-time employees

Logistics and Amenities

CAPS is fortunate to have wonderful and attentive full-time staff at PKU, who are mental to the success of the Beijing semester, as well as comfortable living quarters and a student lounge Still, there may be room to improve in terms of streamlining payments and improving on campus amenities

instru-Expenses: The CAPS semester requires that students pay for room and board and a variety of

services in cash – a very cumbersome process Other programs, such as Stanford, Syracuse, cago, and CET, charge a one time, comprehensive fee that covers these services before arrival Additionally, while Stanford and other international students at PKU received standard ID cards, Cornell students were provided with green ID’s that charged an additional fee when making pur-chases Streamlining costs to include room and board and basic amenities, like wifi, would make the experience much smoother, helping students avoid unnecessary ATM fees and the headache

UChi-of navigating campus services, as would securing standard ID’s to avoid unnecessary charges not exacted from other students

Amenities: Syracuse, UChicago, and Stanford have physical centers on their host campuses for

students, faculty, and researchers to access The Stanford and UChicago centers, which I have visited, hold classrooms, conference rooms, and student lounges, and frequently host workshops and conferences If funding allows, investing in a physical space for Cornell to base its operations out of would be of great benefit to students, especially given the lack of work spaces on PKU’s

campus, and would help Cornell expand its presence and opportunities for collaboration in China More immediately attainable amenities provided by other universities, like Stanford, include air purifiers for student rooms, an expanded lounge space with updated amenities (to replace the bro-ken computer and provide additional study space)

Branch Campuses and Joint Institutes

Introduction

When Duke University opened its doors in China, it became the sixth U.S based university

to develop a school in China China Daily USA told its story along with the emerging market for

American higher education in China in an article entitled “US Schools Go East with Campuses.”1 There is an 8.1% year-over-year increase in international students coming to the United States to study and 31% of them are from China alone.2 According to the Institute for International Educa-tion, at the same time, the number of American students in China is decreasing by 8.2%.3 There-fore, it seems as though American universities can benefit from partnering with a Chinese univer-sity to provide a different style of education in China as well as maintaining a unique center for their American students who wish to study abroad

Among eleven U.S universities and colleges in China, six received approval from the istry of Education to operate a branch campus or joint institute: Carnegie Mellon, Kean University, University of Michigan, New York University, University of Pittsburgh, and of course, Duke Uni-versity.4 While some of these universities focus on providing an American higher education to Chinese students, there are a couple that operate both ways between Chinese students and Ameri-

can students Carnegie Mellon offers joint degree programs at Chinese universities in Harbin, jing, Nanjing, and Guangzhou These are mostly graduate degree programs geared towards the Chinese university student who would like to study abroad and/or receive a degree from an Amer-ican institution The Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute in Chengdu is similar in that it is geared to Chinese students studying in engineering fields who may want to study abroad and re-ceive an American degree University of Michigan operates a joint institute with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs to Chinese students focus-ing on engineering Although these universities are unique in their English-taught courses, Amer-ican degree granting programs, and study abroad opportunities for Chinese students, this kind of venture is one that is very different from CAPS at Cornell Therefore, in this section, we will spend more time focusing on Duke Kunshan University, New York University (NYU) Shanghai, and Wenzhou-Kean University, all of which have a diverse range of offerings for both American and Chinese undergraduate and graduate students

Bei-Duke Kunshan, NYU Shanghai, and Wenzhou-Kean

Duke Kunshan University and NYU Shanghai both have liberal arts focused studies Duke offers everything from natural sciences to arts and humanities as well as social sciences like cul-tural anthropology and economics Students are also able to make their own interdisciplinary cur-riculum but one thing that is the same for all students is fluency in English and conversational proficiency in Chinese Chinese students have the requirement to sufficiently communicate in Eng-lish while native English speakers are required to take sixteen credits of Chinese language to ensure conversational proficiency NYU Shanghai is very similar although they expect all students to study the language until maximum proficiency Students also have the opportunity to study abroad,

not only at Duke in America and NYU, respectively, but also at other institutions in the United States and Europe because one aspect of these types of universities is that they have an interna-tional focus Universities like Duke Kunshan and NYU Shanghai are truly international universi-ties They accept students from all over the world, creating a more diverse atmosphere Having these institutions in China as well, students from the home university in the United States do have the opportunity to spend a semester, a year, or more in China

Conclusion

When comparing these particular programs to CAPS, on the surface it may seem like thing that resembles them would be impossible Creating a “Cornell in China” campus would be a big endeavor but there are aspects of these institutes that could be replicated in the CAPS program, specifically First, prioritizing language learning is key While it may be easier to develop when you’re in China for four years, there are ways in which we could support greater language learning

any-in Ithaca Chany-inese tables, dany-inners, the peer-to-peer language program and more any-interaction with Language House on West Campus would all seek to benefit CAPS students’ language proficiency while in Ithaca but often times, these resources are underutilized Greater Chinese language inter-action could also come in the form of greater two-way interactions with our partner university, Beijing University A key aspect of the stand-alone universities in China is that they foster a rela-tionship with the Chinese students who are then able to study abroad at the American university Once and a while the government department accepts international students from China into its graduate program that are able to interact with CAPS undergraduates if they find us However, if

we were able to facilitate these kinds of relationships more regularly, not only would it be another avenue for us to practice language skills but also to meet new people and make connections with