University in China Joins Growing List of UM-Flint International Partners

(Top Row: Christine Liu, Education Consultant; Dr. Zhuge Yang, Presidential Office; Dr. Chen Bin, Associate Dean; Dr. Ou Chen, School of Foreign Languages, and Dr. Vahid Lotfi, UM-Flint Associate Provost

Front Seated: Dr. Jack Kay, Provost; Dr. Yang Jiangang, NIT Vice President)

A regional campus of one of China's premier universities will work with the University of Michigan-Flint to develop programs that will send students to both countries.

Recently, representatives of Ningbo Institute of Technology (NIT), signed an agreement that will facilitate future cooperation between the two schools. NIT is a regional campus of the Zhejiang University which is one of the major universities in China. There are over 10,000 students in six schools.

According to UM-Flint administrators, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed that calls for a number of areas to be explored, including:

1. • Faculty and student exchange,
   • Development of joint and/or dual degree programs,
   • Development of a study abroad experience for NIT students to attend the UM-Flint English Language Program (ELP), studying language, culture and/or other pertinent academic and extracurricular work.

"We hope to receive students from their university to enroll in our academic programs," said Vahid Lotfi, UM-Flint Associate Provost and Dean of Graduate Programs. "We plan to explore study abroad trips, sending our faculty and students to spend time at their university."

The delegation met with College of Arts and Sciences Associate Dean Bob Barnett and Professors Darryl Baird and Mike Lewis from Communications and Visual Arts department; Professor Chris Pearson from Computer Science, Engineering and Physics; Dan Adams, director of the International Center, They also met with Dean Jack Helmuth and Professors Wieqi Li and Clement Chen from the School of Management along with Provost Jack Kay and Lotfi.

"We live in a world that is becoming increasingly interdependent. Most of the world economies are now intertwined. Our graduates need the knowledge and skills that are necessary to compete and to succeed in the global economy," said Provost Kay. "An international educational experience has become a critical component of most of our academic programs and this agreement will support such a need."

The agreement came about as a result of the efforts by Lotfi, and Dan Adams, director of the International Center, to expand international education and study abroad opportunities at UM-Flint. They worked with Christine Liu, CEO of Global Education Network, Inc, an overseas education consulting company. The initial agreement is for a period of three years with provisions for automatic renewal.