Bridging Minds Across the Pacific

          ----The 25-Year Sino-U.S. Educational Exchange

                       November 10-11, 2003
                         Fudan University
             Shanghai, People’s Republic of China


Conference Venue: Center for American Studies, Fudan University

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November 10 (Monday)

8:30-9:00    Registration at the Conference Venue:
            Center for American Studies, Fudan University, 220 Han Dan Rd.

9:00-9:30    Opening Session
Chair: NI Shixiong, Dean of the School of Int’l Relations and Public Affairs and Director of the Center for American Studies, Fudan University
Speakers:
WANG Shenghong, President of Fudan University, Vice Chair of the
Shanghai Political Consultative Conference
ZHANG Xinsheng, Deputy Minister of Education
SUN Wenbin, Program Officer, Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong (representative of the funding institution)
LI Cheng, William R. Kenan Professor of Government, Hamilton College

9:30-10:30   Keynote Speech
Chair:   NI Shixiong, Dean of the School of Int’l Relations and Public Affairs and Director of the Center for American Studies, Fudan University
Keynote Speaker:
Richard C. Levin, President of Yale University
(“US-China Educational Exchange”)
Questions & Answers

10:30-10:50   Group Picture & Coffee Break

10:50-12:00   Session 1
US-China Educational Exchange from the Standpoint of the Chinese
University Presidents
Chair: Mary Brown Bullock, President of Agnes Scott College
Speakers:  
YANG Fujia, Chancellor of the University of Nottingham, and
Former President of Fudan University
(“A Decade of CUSPEA ”)
WANG Shenghong, President of Fudan University
(“Internationalization of Education: A Fudan Perspective”）
Questions & Answers

12:00-13:30 Lunch

13:30-15:30 Session 2
Impact of Sino-US Educational Exchange: Historical and Comparative Perspectives
Chair: Kathryn Mohrman, Johns Hopkins University
Speakers:
Ruth Hayhoe, The University of Toronto
(“Fudan’s Early Years: A Microcosm of Sino-American Educational Interaction”)
XU Yihua, Center for American Studies, Fudan University
(“Union Theological Seminary and the Christian Church in China”)
DING Xinghao, Shanghai Institute of American Studies
(“China and America: Reflections on Exchange in the Area of International Relations”)
LIU Fanfeng, Higher Education Institute, Fudan University
(“Governance Structure of Chinese Universities”)
GUO Zhikun, Chief Editor of Shanghai Renmin Press& ZHU Aijuan, Shanghai Nanyang Model High School
(“The Life of a Chinese Student in America”)
Free Discussion

15:30-15:45 Coffee Break

15:45-17:00 Session 3
Growth of Human Resources in China and Returnees from Education Abroad
Chair: SUN Zhe, Center for American Studies, Fudan University
Speakers:
Stanley Rosen, University of Southern California & David Zweig, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
(“Transnational Capital: Valuing Returnees in a Globalizing China”)
XIANG Longwan, Shanghai European-American Schoolfellow Association
(“Links and Ties: Shanghai Overseas Returned Scholars Association”)
GUI Yonghao, Shanghai Children’s Hospital
(“The Implication of the Sino-US Medical Exchanges for the Reform of Chinese Hospital System”)
Free Discussion

18:15 Banquet in Bao Long Hotel
Chair: Ni Shixiong, Fudan University
Speakers:
WANG Shenghong, President of Fudan University
Richard Levin, President of Yale University
Douglas Spelman, American Consul General in Shanghai

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November 11 (Tuesday)

9:00-10:30 Session 4
The Dynamic Role of Returnees in Shanghai and China
Chair:  Stanley Rosen, University of Southern California
Speakers:
LI Cheng, Hamilton College
(“Coming Home to Teach: Status and Mobility of Returnees in China’s Higher Education”)
YAN Kaili, Shanghai Higher Education Institute
(“The Growing-up of Excellent Young & Middle-Aged Experts and the Role of Their Overseas Learning Experience”)
SUN Zhe, Center for American Studies, Fudan University
(“Integrating into the Policy Community: Returnees and the Making of Chinese Policy”)
ZHANG Shuguang, Shanghai International Studies University
Free Discussion

10:30-10:45 Coffee Break

10:45-12:00 Session 5
Program Development and Educational Institution Building: Case Studies
Chair: XIANG Longwan, Shanghai European-American Schoolfellow
    Association
Speakers:
Mary Brown Bullock, Agnes Scott College
(“Mission Accomplished:  The Influence of the CSCPRC on 21st Century Patterns of Educational Relations with China”)
Robert Daly, Hopkins-Nanjing Center
(“Vision and Reality of U.S.-China Educational Exchange: Reinventing the Hopkins-Nanjing Center”)
Gerard A. Postiglione, The University of Hong Kong
(“Minds Across the Pacific: The Evolution of Hong Kong’s Bridge Role”)
Free Discussion

12:00-13:30 Lunch

13:30-15:15 Session 6
Curricular Development: Teaching about America, China and Sino-US Relations
Chair:  David Zweig, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Speakers:
ZHENG Shiping, University of Vermont
(“Sino-U.S. Educational Exchange and IR Studies in China”)
WANG Feiling, Georgia Institute of Technology
("Bring China to America by Taking Americans to China:
A Case Study of Studying Abroad in the PRC")
Jonathan Koppell, Yale University; Fulbright Lecturer, Fudan University
(“Teaching American Politics in China”)
XU Yanyan, Higher Education Institute, Fudan University
(“The Practice and Cultural Conflicts of U.S. Training Programs in China:  A Case Study of the Microsoft Project Management Advanced Training Program”)
TONG Haiyan, Syracuse University & WANG Hongying, Syracuse University
(“Sino-American Educational Exchanges and Administrative Reforms in China”)
Free Discussion

15:15-15:30 Coffee Break

15:30-16:45 Session 7
Future of Sino-U.S. Educational Exchange: Challenges and Prospects
Chair: LI Cheng, Hamilton College
Speakers:
Kathryn Mohrman, The Johns Hopkins University
(“Sino-American Educational Exchanges: Challenges and Prospects”)
XIE Renyi, Shanghai Higher Education Institute
(“On Sino-US Cooperation in Higher Education Fields: A Case Study of the Shanghai Region”)
WANG Liushuan, Higher Education Institute, Fudan University
(“Prospects and Suggestions for Sino-U.S. Higher Education Exchanges”)
CAI Guangtian, President of Shanghai Qianjin College
Free Discussion

16:45-17:00 Concluding Remarks

17:30 Dinner

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The conference, entitled “Bridging Minds across the Pacific: The 25-Year Sino-U.S. Educational Exchange,”was convened at the Center for American Studies of Fudan University on November 10-11, 2003. It was motivated by the crucial need to examine the multi-dimensional impact of educational exchange between China and the United States, especially in light of the 25th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping’s Open Door Policy.  The two-day conference was supported by the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong.

Cultural and educational exchanges have always played a vital role in building mutual respect and cooperation across national borders.   As a former U.S. President wrote over half a century ago on the eve of the Cold War, "information and education are powerful forces in support of peace. Just as war begins in the minds of men, so does peace." Today, the preservation of peace and prosperity increasingly depends on the capacity of people to think and collaborate on a global and intellectual basis.  This capacity is particularly essential in the area of China-U.S. relations.

During the past 25 years, China has sent a total of 580,000 people to study abroad as degree candidates or visiting scholars.   One-third of them, approximately 150,000, returned to China.   In the last few years, China has experienced the highest return rate in its history of students and visiting scholars who have completed their study abroad. The real impact of training some of China’s best minds in America since 1978 – the true significance of a quarter-century-long educational exchange between the United States and China – is now coming to fruition.  

We have invited approximately two dozen distinguished scholars from both China and North America who have extensive expertise in the areas of educational exchange, human resources, educational institution building, and curricular development to take part in the conference.  The two-day conference consists of seven panels, each focusing on one aspect of these important subjects. Pannelists particularly examine the role of “returnees” in education, business, finance, law, media, NGOs, and government, as well as the role of scholars in the U.S. who teach courses about China and scholars in China who study about the U.S..  Professor Richard C. Levin, President of Yale University, gave the keynote speech at the conference under the topic of "U.S.-China Educational Exchange". Former President Yang Fujia and the encumbent President Wang Shenghong also gave speeches, under the topics of " A Decade of CUSPEA" and " the Internationaliztion of Education: A Fudan Perspective" Respectively.