EASC Newsletter

IU East Asia News

IU President Joins US Education Secretary on Outreach Trip to Japan, Korea, and China
In November, IU President Adam W. Herbert joined Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, Assistant Secretary of State Dina Habib Powell, and a select delegation of U.S. college and university presidents to travel to Japan, Korea, and China. The trip, which was held in conjunction with International Education Week, was jointly sponsored by the U.S. Departments of State and Education. It was the first official delegation of U.S. college and university presidents to be assembled for an overseas mission to promote the value of this country’s higher education institutions.

Said Herbert prior to departure: “I am very proud that Indiana University will be part of the first delegation chosen for this important mission. It provides a unique opportunity to discuss American higher education and to build relationships with senior government officials, as well as higher education and business leaders, in this significant part of the world. We will explore opportunities for expanded collaboration and affirm that the United States welcomes and values international students. We also will describe the benefits associated with pursing higher educational opportunities in America’s outstanding colleges and universities.”

“I am especially pleased to visit Korea, China and Japan personally. These are countries that the largest share of IU’s international students call home,” Herbert said. “Serving as a member of this delegation provides an opportunity to strengthen ties with these nations and with our local alumni who are such enthusiastic ambassadors for Indiana University and U.S. higher education as a whole.” At IU’s eight campuses this fall, there were 1,027 students from South Korea, 583 from China and 208 from Japan.

In Japan, the delegation made stops in Kyoto and Tokyo. Highlights included a meeting with leaders from universities in Kyoto and Osaka, a meeting hosted by Minister Ibuke, the newly appointed Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, a symposium at Waseda University that was attended by more than 250 students from various Japanese colleges and universities, faculty and members of the academic community, and a meeting with twelve university presidents from Japanese higher education institutions at the Tokyo American Center, a U.S. government educational outreach office.

In the Republic of Korea, the delegation highlighted the United States as a higher education destination for Korean students, offering a diverse range of opportunities at thousands of colleges and universities throughout the country. The delegation leaders also stressed the need to encourage U.S. students to study in Korea. Throughout the visit both Secretary Spellings and Assistant Secretary Powell underlined the importance of President Bush’s National Security Language Initiative, as Korean is one of seven critical languages that are part of this initiative.

While in Seoul, the delegation met with students, university administrators, government officials, and business leaders, underscoring the desire of the United States to strengthen relationships between U.S. and Korean colleges and universities and to increase student and faculty educational exchanges. Secretary Spelling announced during their trip that Korea had the largest percentage increase in students studying abroad last year, as well as in the number of F-1 visas offered to students living in Korea. In fact, Korea is the third-leading country of origin for students studying abroad in the United States, and over the last year, the number of F-1 visas issued increased by almost twenty-one percent.

Rounding out the three-country tour, the delegation traveled to Beijing, China, to herald the United States as a premier destination for educational opportunities. To formalize an agreement on the ways the United States and China can work together to equip students with the tools necessary to compete in the global economy and pledge for cooperation to further Chinese language development in the United States and English language development in China, Secretary Spellings and Minister of Education Zhou Ji signed a memorandum of understanding noting mutual emphasis on the advancement of international higher education opportunities for U.S. and Chinese students. Following the signing ceremony, the delegation joined in a roundtable discussion at Tsinghua University, one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher education, with leaders from several Chinese colleges and universities. The delegation also participated in an event at Beijing Normal University with an auditorium full of students and met with an intimate group of American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing members for a breakfast meeting to discuss international higher education issues in the United States and China.

Prior to the delegation’s departure, they discussed the historic importance of this trip as a critical first step toward increased collaboration between the United States and other countries, particularly China, Korea, and Japan, to foster greater international higher education exchanges and partnerships.

Kelley International Perspectives (KIPs) to Japan and China this Semester
Since Spring 2000, the Kelley School of Business has been offering its MBA students the opportunity to learn about global business and culture through its Kelley International Perspectives (KIPs) program. This semester, students taking KIPs classes have the opportunity to travel to China or Japan. (The two other KIPs classes being offered this semester focus on Brazil and Peru.) According to the Kelley School webpage, “Each seven-week KIPs course is student-organized and faculty led. The course consists of directed readings, a speaker series, and a ten- to twelve-day field research trip to the country of study at the conclusion of the class. Three to five student leaders propose each course nearly one year in advance. All student leaders participate in one of the designated leadership roles that handle certain aspects of the course and trip: curriculum, marketing, logistics, finances, and speakers.” For general information about the KIPs program, see http://www.kelley.iu.edu/mba/academics/kips.cfm, and for the Japan and China KIPs classes, see http://www.kelley.iu.edu/mba/academics/japankips/ and http://www.kelley.iu.edu/mba/academics/chinakips/, respectively.

China Highlighted in Journalism Class
Associate Professor Steve Raymer’s class J414: International Newsgathering Systems, held most recently in Fall 2006, included a sizable component focusing on the mass media in China. Since Spring 2004 Raymer has been including in the course a section on the Chinese news media and a teleconference with Chinese journalists. This Chinese content makes up about a quarter of the course and is the result of a curriculum development grant EASC awarded Raymer in 2003, which he used to travel to China to learn first-hand about the Chinese news media. What he learned and the contacts he made were then incorporated into the class and enabled him to organize the annual live teleconferences with English-speaking Chinese journalists. The teleconference takes place at the U.S. embassy in Beijing and the IU Radio and Television Center.