SU Delegation Expands Global Partnerships in China, Japan

SALISBURY, MD---A Salisbury University delegation, led by Dr. Dane Foust, vice president of student affairs, recently visited eight partner institutions in China and Japan to expand global partnerships.

In China, the delegation advanced well-established connections with Xinhua College of Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangdong province and Anqing Normal University in Anhui province.  SU leaders also sought to build upon nascent partnerships with West Anhui University, Fuyang University and Hefei Normal University, as well as Zhejiang University’s Ningbo Institute of Technology.

Each campus visit included meetings with senior leadership and students who were seeking more information about the initiatives under development.

“I was honored by the warm receptions at each campus,” Foust said.  “The leadership at our partners is clearly committed to our joint international initiatives.  More than anything, though, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many bright students who are fully engaged in the global projects their universities are building for them with SU.”

In Japan, the SU delegation visited three more campuses to discuss collaborative efforts that are in the early stages of development.

First, they met with leaders from the Asian Studies Program at Kansai Gaidai University, where the first students from SU’s new Japanese language program have begun to study abroad for full semesters.  After connecting with the SU students there this fall, touring the campus and housing, they made plans for further collaboration.

“I was very impressed by Kansai Gaidai,” said Dr. Maarten Pereboom, dean of the Charles R. and Martha N. Fulton School of Liberal Arts.  “Including the cities of Osaka, Kyoto and Nara, the region has a vibrant culture and rich historical tradition, and the university’s strong Asian studies curriculum will be very attractive to SU students in majors as diverse as business, humanities and social sciences."

In Tokyo, the delegation met with the senior leadership of Aoyama Gakuin University about its new School of Global Studies and Collaboration.  Students in that program, which will begin in March 2015, will be required to study abroad for a full semester.  Beginning in fall 2016, the SU English Language Institute will host cohorts of students from the program for semester-long intensive study of English.

The delegation’s travels ended at the Kanda Institute of Foreign Languages (KIFL) in Tokyo, a two-year institution with instruction all in English.  In January 2014, the first KIFL students began transferring to SU to finish their bachelor’s degrees through an articulated 2+2 transfer program.  The delegation met with the next cohort of students, who will transfer to SU next month, and discussed opportunities for future growth KIFL’s Center for Advanced Studies.

“SU continues to position itself as a Maryland university of international distinction through its strategic partnerships with excellent educational institutions around the world,” said Dr. Brian Stiegler, assistant provost for international education. “Our friends and colleagues, old and new, in China and Japan are critical to SU’s international education strategic plan.”

The visits follow numerous preliminary meetings by SU’s administration, faculty and students with the Asian partners, and reciprocal visits by senior leadership of SU’s partners in Asia to the main campus in Salisbury.

For more information on international education at SU, visit www.salisbury.edu/international.