Shanghai a magnet for higher education
17/11/2003 14:49
With Yale University in cooperation talks with Fudan and Stanford
University planning on a local campus, Shanghai is becoming a magnet for
overseas universities.
Over the past few years, many local universities began
more open policies and made friends with foreign counterparts. They introduced
new disciplines, studied overseas college features and borrowed advanced
management models to improve their current operation.
The expanding overseas
educational cooperation is bringing the city experience and opportunity.
Last year, Jiao Tong University joined up with the National University of
Singapore, mutually opening overseas colleges. This year, it has started
exchanging students' credit hours with the Nanyang Technological University
(Singapore) and has completed more projects with its old friend, the University
of Michigan (US).
Tongji Unversity is famous for its Sino-French MBA program
with the ENPC (Ecole Nationale des Ponts); East China Normal University is
linked with the Paris Normal University; and Fudan University with the
Washington University at St. Louis.
They are translating overseas resources
into productivity. They accumulate experiences to fuel local educational reforms
and sharpen their own edge.
However, a local principal has pointed out the
city has much more to do to expand cooperation and to attract more top-level
overseas universities here.
"Before making a decision, a top-level university
always spend much time getting well acquainted with the city and its educational
system. What we have to do now is to make the current projects bigger, better
and more diversified in order to attract and convince them," he told local media
lately.
With overseas evaluation of the city not bad, it seems likely that
Shanghai is marching towards its goal.
"We could have opened an overseas
college in Shanghai earlier, since the situation here is so good and the
resources are so abundant," said an official with the Stanford University during
his recent visit to Fudan.
Next year, more overseas programs are on the way
and the focus is moving to management and disciplinary pilot projects.
London
School of Economics, where Clinton is invited as a guest professor, will open
summer school in Fudan and start public relations training.
Paris
Institution of Political Studies, home to two former French Presidents, is
considering graduate programs.
Thirty-two universities in Japan, including
the most renowned Weseda University and Kyodo University, are also planning to
recruit locals.
Vicky Xu / Shanghai Daily news
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