Life
HBCU – China exchange program launched
Xiao continued: “That’s what we call an “’exchange.’”
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), China recently surpassed the United States as the world’s largest economy. Taylor said that it would be senseless not to have relationships with the Chinese, especially with what he called a ‘Chinese American company.’ Perfect World is publicly traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange. During a ceremony on Capitol Hill to announce the fellowship program, Hao Ping, the vice minister of education in the Ministry of Education in China, noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping explained that in 1978, during early student exchange efforts, 52 Chinese students were sent to study in the U.S. and 8 American students traveled to China. Hao called the exchange “a landmark event in the establishment of China-U.S. diplomatic relations.”
By 2013, more than 400,000 Chinese students were studying in the U.S. and thanks to the 100,000 Strong Initiative, a group that promotes Mandarin language learning and study abroad, Hao said that more that 100,000 American students have the chance to study in China.
The announcement about the Zhi-Xing China – Perfect World U.S.-China Young Leaders Fellowship program follows the launch of a collaboration between HBCUs and the CEAIE, that will provide 1,000 scholarship awards to HBCU students.
David Wilson, the president of Morgan State University in Baltimore, led a delegation of HBCU officials on the trip to Beijing where the memorandum of understanding was signed between the schools and the Chinese government last July.
The Beijing delegation included school administrators from the following HBCUs: Tougaloo College, Hampton University, Bowie State University, Spelman College, Howard University, Morehouse College, Xavier University, and Morgan State University.
Even though the eligibility requirements and selection process for the Zhi-Xing China—Perfect World U.S.-China Young Leaders Fellowships still needs to be finalized, officials with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund said that students will begin traveling to China for the exchange program in July 2015.
Taylor said that the world is huge and that the most important thing that HBCU students need to know about the program is that opportunities exist not only in the U.S., but also around the world. “Our students can’t be limited by the job market in the U.S.,” added Taylor. “They have to think globally. Our community has to get on board.”
