UB Celebrates 25th Anniversary of Historic Exchanges With China

UB Celebrates 25th Anniversary of Historic Exchanges With China

October 09, 2006

University at Buffalo Opened Door for U.S. Institutions to
Create Educational Programs with China

    BUFFALO, N.Y., Oct. 9 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- When
University at Buffalo President John B. Simpson travels to
China this week he will be the fourth UB president to do so
since 1981.

    At a time when many U.S. universities are just
beginning to navigate China's complex political environment
and establish new ventures there, UB this year marks the
25th anniversary of its successful, and historic,
partnerships in China.  

    Simpson will celebrate the anniversary on Oct. 9-11
with visits to three Beijing universities that in 1981 were
the first to open educational exchanges with UB, marking the
first such agreements with any U.S. university following the
normalization of relations between the U.S. and the Peoples
Republic of China in 1979. 

    According to Simpson, the UB exchanges -- with Beijing
University of Technology, Capital Normal University and
Capital University of Medical Sciences -- opened the door
for other U.S. universities to establish educational
programs with China over the past 25 years.  

    "UB had the foresight decades ago to set up
relations with higher education entities in China before
anyone else in the U.S. did," Simpson noted.  "We
have a longstanding history of cooperation and collaboration
that has benefited generations of students and faculty from
both countries and which will continue to benefit future
generations in decades to come."

    During the trip, Simpson also will visit Nanjing
University, on behalf of the State University of New York
(SUNY) system. SUNY is considering establishing a joint
campus with Nanjing -- one of China's leading universities
-- in Xianlin University City.  UB is one of five SUNY
institutions working with SUNY Chancellor John R. Ryan to
establish the joint initiative with Nanjing University.  

    Simpson also will attend an alumni reception with
prominent Chinese leaders who earned degrees at UB or who
graduated from UB's groundbreaking MBA programs in Beijing
and Dalian.  UB's roster of Chinese alumni is among the
most impressive of any U.S. university. It includes China's
Minister of Education Zhou Ji and entrepreneur Robin Li,
founder and CEO of Baidu.com, the Chinese-language
equivalent of Google. 

    In 1980, UB was the first U.S. university to negotiate
an educational exchange agreement with China after
diplomatic ties were reestablished between the two
countries.  In 1981, under the auspices of that historic
agreement, UB established the UB Language Institute in
Beijing on the campus of the Beijing Normal College of
Foreign Languages. It was the first American-run English
Language Center in China. That same year, under the
exchange agreement, China began to send students and
faculty to UB, primarily to study science and engineering,
while UB students and faculty traveled to China to study
the country's culture.

    The original exchange agreements were renewed over the
years to include opportunities for medical students. In
addition, the UB School of Management in 1984 established
the first U.S. MBA program in China at Dalian University.
That program closed in 1991 following the events at
Tiananmen Square, but since 1999 the School of Management
has operated an Executive MBA program at Renmin University
in Beijing. 

    Over the past 25 years, more than a thousand students
and faculty from UB and its partner institutions in China
have participated in educational and artistic exchanges,
joint programs and research-faculty exchanges in both
countries, according to Professor Stephen C. Dunnett, UB
vice provost for international education.  Dunnett and
George C. Lee, UB's Samuel P. Capen Professor of
Engineering, negotiated the first exchange agreements in
Beijing in 1980.  

    "There was a definite sense of history; we were
aware that we were opening up new doors in China to the
mutual benefit of both countries," recalled Dunnett,
who will join Simpson in China for UB's anniversary events.
 "I remember walking through the streets of Beijing
with colleagues and being warmly greeted by ordinary
citizens who welcomed the arrival of visitors from the
U.S."

    Lee recalls that, "in the late 70s when China
first opened to the Western world, we had a sense that the
U.S. and China should start coming together to get to know
each other.  UB's exchange agreements were a milestone in
the globalization of the entire world."

    UB's historic role in advancing Chinese higher
education is remembered throughout China today, according
to Dunnett.  A memorial hall at Beijing University of
Technology commemorates of the career Robert L. Ketter, the
first UB president to visit China.  Ketter's leadership was
responsible for advancing UB's presence in China in the
1980s.  

    UB's exchanges with China are still very active today,
and UB is considering opportunities to open a branch campus
in China in partnership with a Chinese university, Dunnett
said.    

    "We are redefining our relationship in
China," Dunnett explained. "Our successes and
contacts in China are a tremendous asset as UB begins
another chapter in its history in China."    

    UB's history and reputation in China have played a
major role in internationalizing UB over the years, Dunnett
noted.  Today, UB ranks 11th among U.S. universities in
international enrollment.  More than 2,000 of UB's 4,000
international students are Asian, and nearly 500 of those
students are from China.  

    UB's longstanding relationship with China was the
reason why last year the UB Art Galleries and the
Albright-Knox Art Gallery were able to present the
"The Wall: Reshaping Contemporary Chinese Art,"
the most ambitious exhibition of contemporary Chinese art
to travel beyond China.

    Accompanying Simpson and Dunnett on the trip to China
will be Simpson's wife, Katherine; Marsha S. Henderson, UB
vice president for external affairs; Joseph Hindrawan,
assistant vice provost for international education and
director of international enrollment management; Richard
Lee, M.D., professor of medicine in the UB School of
Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; and Joseph Mook,
professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering and associate dean for international
education in the UB School of Engineering and Applied
Sciences. 

    The University at Buffalo is a premier
research-intensive public university, the largest and most
comprehensive campus in the State University of New York. 

    Contact:

     John DellaContrada, University at Buffalo
     Tel:   [phone], ext. 1409, 
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  University at Buffalo