China trip achieves close ties with 6 universities

Five faculty members and a higher education policy studies student from China, representing the IU School of Education, embarked on a four day trip to China this semester, hoping to build upon long-standing relationships with six Chinese universities.

The main purpose of the trip was to plan an education conference in China, following one that occurred in the 1990s under Dean Emeritus of the School of Education, Don Warren. One of the delegates on the trip was Heidi Ross, who accompanied Dean of the School of Education, Gerardo M. Gonzalez, Warren and three others.

Ross, who is the director of IU’s East Asian Studies Center and a professor, said the two main goals of the trip to China included “the strengthening of our collaboration with the six universities we visited through the exchange of faculty and graduate students, while also planning for a conference in higher education reform, which is expected to take place in Beijing in October 2009.” 

This conference will be the follow-up to the conference hosted by Warren several years ago.

Gonzalez said Asia is an area of special priority to IU, and the relationships with these top Chinese universities provide tremendous assets.

The IU School of Education has been ranked in the top 20 education schools in the country for the past 10 years, Gonzalez said. By generating partnerships with these Chinese universities, IU can engage in the scholarly exchange of faculty members with these universities to provide insight and the exchange of ideas from one university to another.

The six universities visited were among the most prestigious in China. These universities in Beijing included Peking University, Tsinghua University, Beihang University and Beijing Normal University. While in Shanghai, the delegates from IU visited East China Normal University and Zhejiang University. 

All of these institutions have current ties to the IU School of Education, either through current students now enrolled at IU or through graduates and visiting scholars.

With the organization of an educational reform conference scheduled to take place around this time next year, IU and its partner schools in China can benefit from each other through the exchange of faculty and ideas to further the advancement and development of each of the school’s educational infrastructures.

Gonzalez said there was not one single reason why the IU School of Education embarked on its four-day trip, but rather a multitude of motives.

Ross said “it is paramount that we develop a close relationship with (Chinese universities).”