OSU hosts administrators from Chinese universities

Thursday, July 30, 2009

(Stillwater, OK  July 9, 2009) - A delegation of 21 Chinese administrators representing four universities have been on the Oklahoma State University campus in Stillwater this week to enhance their understanding of American student affairs’ concepts and practices to take back to their respective universities.

“The increase in number of Chinese high school students going on to higher education institutions has required some Chinese universities to review their approach to student services,” said Tim Huff, OSU manager of the Office of International Students and Scholars. “Over the last generation, China has undergone a transition from an elite approach to higher education to a mass approach to higher education.”

Universities sending representatives to Stillwater are Fudan University in Shanghai, and Southwest Jiaotong University, the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and Chengdu Unversity, all located in Chengdu.

The officials arrived on July 4, and have spent the week touring the OSU campus, attending lectures and speaking with campus leaders in all areas of student affairs and in the colleges. They plan to depart the campus on July 10.

In 2007, Dr. Lee Bird, OSU vice president for Student Affairs, was invited to Sichuan Province to make a presentation on American student affairs. More than 10 Sichuan institutions attended Bird’s presentation and several expressed interest in a follow-up symposium in the U.S. 

Originally scheduled for 2008, the symposium was cancelled last year due to the devastating events of the Sichuan earthquake. It was then expanded to include other Chinese institutions and set for July 2009.

OSU graduate assistant Meng Wang helped Bird develop the Student Affairs International Symposium.