DSU Establishes New Partnerships in China

DSU President Dr. Harry L. Williams and Dr. Alton Thompson, provost and vice president of Academic Affairs, recently returned from China where new accords were signed with Ningbo University of Technology, Sanming University and Zhaoqing University.

 

“We had a good meeting of the minds with these three universities,” Dr. Williams said. “We all want the same thing for our students – to provide them the opportunity to grow intellectually by exposing them to other cultures, something we have agreed to work together to make happen.”

 

The agreements with Sanming University and Zhaoqing University facilitate student and faculty exchanges with DSU. About 60 Chinese students from those two institutions will attend DSU in the fall as part of the American Cultural Program, in which the students will take English courses to improve their fluency and also courses in American literature and history.

 

While in China, Dr. Thompson gave an address at the dedication of the Global Village at Jilin Hauqiao Foreign Language Institute, which entered into a formal agreement with DSU in 2010 and will send students here in the fall. Dr. Thompson impressed the audience of more than 1,000 with his knowledge of Confucius, and left no doubt that the Jilin students would be in good hands at DSU.

 

“Our number one job is to give our students a quality education, such that they will become well-read, well-spoken, technically proficient, socially responsible and globally competent as productive and contributing citizens in our knowledge-based global society,” Dr. Thompson told the audience.

 

Another 40 Chinese students from Sanming and Zhaoquig will enroll at DSU in a regular degree program during the upcoming school year. According to Dr. Fengshan Liu, DSU associate vice president of International Affairs who also made the trip to China, many of those degree-seeking students will be enrolled in the University’s MBA program.

 

Dr. Williams also formalized an agreement with Ningbo University of Technology that will send DSU accounting faculty to that university to teach courses that will introduce the latest curricula, education resources and teaching methods in the United States in the field of accounting, as well help familiarize Ningbo students with international accounting practices and sound business principles.

 

Dr. Thompson said the agreements will also result in study abroad opportunities for DSU students in China – an opportunity a group of students has already taken advantage of this month. A group of 15 DSU music and science students traveled to China in late May for a learning experience trip. In addition to a wealth of cultural tours, the science students took a course in ecology and the music students gained an appreciation of the culture through a music course.

 

Diamond Moore, a junior biology major from Newark, Del., said it was exciting being out of the country for the first time in her life.

 

“It showed me how similar we are to other cultures,” Ms. Moore said. “We are all human and we all do similar things; it’s just language that divides us.”

 

Dr. Thompson said such international experience will put DSU students in a better position to make their mark on the world.

 

“To be world leaders, our students need to have a good perspective of other cultures,” Dr. Thompson said. “Upon graduation, we want our students to be globally competent.”