"I like the culture here. I like the people here. It's so different from Shanghai."
Yunlong "Jeff" Guo, Univeristy at Buffalo freshman from China
Charles Lewis/Buffalo News
By JAY REY
News Staff Reporter
2/19/2007
When Daemen College officials traveled to China last fall, the visit was more than a chance to see the Great Wall.
The small, liberal arts college in Amherst signed a pact for a student-exchange program with two Chinese universities.
"We decided we really wanted to push hard in China," said Edwin G. Clausen, Daemen's vice president for academic affairs. "The growth of China in all areas makes it a perfect place for collaboration."
International exchanges and academic programs overseas are nothing new, but U.S. schools big and small are resolving to get their foot in the door in China, which celebrated the start of the Chinese New Year on Sunday.
The economy is booming, the appetite for higher education insatiable and the potential for students, such as Yunlong "Jeff" Guo, bountiful.
"I like the culture here. I like the people here," said Guo, a University at Buffalo freshman from China. "It's so different from Shanghai."
Exposing more Americans to the world's most populous country - and a budding superpower - is part of the plan, too.
"We need to have more young Americans who speak Chinese who know the country and can do business there," said Stephen C. Dunnett, UB's vice provost for international education.
UB was the first American university to have an exchange agreement with a Chinese university. Dunnett and engineering professor George C. Lee negotiated a deal in 1980, after the communist country instituted economic reforms and opened its doors to the West.
"It was a very dark place," Dunnett said, recalling his early visits to China. "The universities were not in good shape. People were demoralized. What gave me hope were the students. They were diligent and eager to learn what they could from me. Many of them slept in the classrooms, because they didn't have dorms."
What a difference a quarter-century later.
A middle class has blossomed. Bicycles are being replaced by cars. Beijing and Shanghai make Manhattan look like it's standing still, Clausen said.
"Twenty-three years ago, large portions of Beijing were one- or two-story mud-brick buildings," said Dr. Richard V. Lee, a UB medical professor who travels with med students to China. "Those are virtually all gone and replaced by huge high-rises that are all glass and steel."
The country has its problems. China is one of the world's biggest polluters and still is home to a vast population of poor.
And while China has expanded its higher-education system at an extraordinary rate, it still cannot keep pace with the demand from its 1.3 billion people, Dunnett said.
American institutions see it as an opportunity to fill a need by setting up exchanges or branch campuses with Chinese universities.
It also opens doors for collaboration with Chinese researchers and the chance to recruit high-quality faculty and students to America.
More than 1,000 UB students and faculty members from UB and its partners in China have participated in joint exchanges, programs and research over the last 25 years.
That long history in China has been a reason so many Chinese students enroll at UB, which touts China's education minister, Zhou Ji, as one of its alumni.
Last semester, UB enrolled nearly 500 undergraduate and graduate students from China. "The tuition is not too expensive," said Guo, 19. "I am a business major, and UB has a very good business program. That's a main reason I came."
But some refer to the recent interest in China as a gold rush.
"There's an unbelievable rush," Clausen agreed. "I think there are high expectations that colleges and universities are going to be able to fill their ranks with Chinese students. That's ludicrous."
The U.S. schools that can be successful in China are those that are deft in the language and culture, and play to their strengths, he said.
Daemen, for example, signed a student-exchange agreement with Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and Sichuan University in fields where Daemen is strongest, such as physical therapy, chronic wounds and visual arts.
"We picked very carefully areas we can sustain over the years," said Clausen, who has a doctorate in modern Chinese history. "You have to be very, very careful. I think there's a cautionary tale there."
At UB, a contingent traveled to China last fall for the 25th anniversary of its partnership.
UB has renewed its exchange agreements over the years to include medical students, although in 1989 it closed the English language center it ran in Beijing for eight years.
UB's School of Management - which established the first U.S. master of business administration program in China in 1984 - also still operates an executive MBA program in Beijing, said John M. Thomas, dean of the school.
That experience in the country is an important advantage for UB, which is considering opening a branch campus in China but is treading cautiously, Dunnett said.
"We do see our university expanding its presence in a careful, deliberate fashion to ensure that our efforts in China benefit our Chinese partners and the University at Buffalo," Dunnett said.
Guo, meanwhile, has been enjoying his first year at UB.
He will visit Shanghai maybe twice a year, but truthfully, he doesn't miss home that much.
Guo only wishes he would have known what kind of weather he was in for in Buffalo:
"It's much, much colder than the weather in my city," he said.
