Release

UAlbany Champions Partnerships with China
Alliance with East China Normal University first of several agreements to expand collaborative opportunities between the University at Albany and Chinese higher education institutions

Contact: Catherine Herman (518) 437-4980

ALBANY, N.Y. (May 11, 2006) -- University at Albany President Kermit L. Hall signed a comprehensive agreement with President Lizhong Yu from East China Normal University (ECNU) to expand research collaborations, joint degree and curricular programs, and provide regular student and faculty exchanges. Hall has focused on China in his endeavors to internationalize UAlbany as a higher education institution. The UAlbany-ECNU partnership is the first of several cooperative efforts the University is undertaking to raise its international profile. Forthcoming initiatives include collaborations with Fudan University, Sichuan University, and Nanjing University. UAlbany is also hosting 150 undergraduate and graduate students from China in the summer of 2006, as well as 30 university presidents from throughout Jiangsu Province.

"This unique collaboration with one of China's premier institutions will give UAlbany a foundation to enhance our international undergraduate and graduate education curriculum," said Hall. "This also provides yet another reason for the most talented and motivated students from the United States and from around the world to study at UAlbany."

The goals of the UAlbany-ECNU partnership include:

• To offer UAlbany and ECNU undergraduate and graduate students international educational experiences through regular student and faculty exchanges;
   
• To offer UAlbany and ECNU faculties a variety of opportunities for research collaboration in areas of mutual interest and comparative advantage, and broadening and expanding their intellectual horizons;
   
• To develop joint degree programs, curricula, modules, and workshops that offer unique cross-cultural, bilingual learning experiences and qualifications to American and Chinese students, both undergraduate and graduate;
   
• To offer UAlbany and ECNU faculties opportunities for short-term visits to each other's campus as visiting scholars, either for professional development or research purposes;
   
• To assist each other in areas where each has a distinct strength (e.g., Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages or the TESOL programs and Intensive English at UAlbany, Chinese language training at ECNU);
   
• To promote and contribute to a fuller understanding of the culture, history, language, economic and social development of each country through the UAlbany-ECNU partnership.

The Office of International Education at UAlbany and the Office of International Exchanges at ECNU will coordinate new initiatives proposed by the universities. UAlbany will also explore, in consultation with ECNU, the feasibility of establishing an "offshore campus" to be located at ECNU.

The universities will specifically promote collaborative research in areas of strength, such as nanoscale science and technology, atmospheric sciences, East Asian studies, life sciences, urban studies, education, social welfare and public policy, computing and information science, and information science-related business disciplines among others.

UAlbany President Kermit L. Hall has made China a strategic focus in his efforts to internationalize the University as a higher education institution. The UAlbany-ECNU initiative is also part of a larger effort spearheaded by President Hall and the State University of New York system to seek wide-ranging collaborations with Chinese universities. Jiangsu Province Party Secretary Li Yuanchao, a leading candidate to become China's next premier in 2013, will speak at the UAlbany School of Business graduation ceremony on May 21, two days following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with SUNY Chancellor John R. Ryan.

In addition, the University at Albany's Atmospheric Sciences Research Center has reached a research partnership agreement with Wuhan University, through the effort of ASRC director and Ray Falconer Endowed Chair in atmospheric sciences Kenneth L. Demerjian.

The University also conducts exchange programs with colleges in Brazil, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, France, Ghana, Israel, Japan, Russia, Thailand, Tanzania and the United Arab Emirates. Blanca M. Ramos, education core director of the Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities at UAlbany and associate professor of the School of Social Welfare has initiated exchange programs for study, research, and teaching with several universities in Peru beginning in 2002, including the Universidad Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo in Chiclayo, and the Pontificia Universidad Cat�lica del Per� in Lima. In 2006, Hall signed cooperative agreements with the Universidad de Piura and the Universidad Nacional de Piura, the two largest universities in the norther city of Piura, Peru.

(Release translated into Chinese - PDF file, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)