COLLEGE TIES UP WITH UNIVERSITY IN CHINA

Date:02/04/2010 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2010/04/02/stories/2010040260660300.htm College ties up with university in China Special Correspondent To facilitate exchange of faculty and students — Photo: G. Moorthy OPPORTUNITIES ABROAD:Brijveen, consultant, EduFrance, addressing students of American College in the city. MADURAI: The American College here has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a university in China to facilitate academic and cultural exchange between the two institutions. The MoU, signed on Tuesday with Ginling College, Nanjing Normal University (NNU) in the People's Republic of China, will be in force till December 2015. According to T. Chinnaraj Joseph Jaikumar, Principal and Secretary of American College, the areas of cooperation include exchange of faculty members and students, joint degree programmes, joint short-term programmes, research projects and joint cultural programmes. It was a sequel to the visit of Premila Paul, Dean, International Exchange and Study Programme, American College, to Nanjing Normal University in November last year. “This is the college's second Asian Exchange Programme as the institution has been sending students to Japan through Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers Programme,” he said. The latest understanding with a university in China would help in giving an Asian tilt to the otherwise West-centric higher education in India. The other overseas institutions with whom the American College had collaboration were Oberlin College, Appalachian State University, Boone North Carolina, USA; University of Northrumbia, UK and the Leeds Metropolitan, UK. The college was also exploring the possibilities of collaboration with German and French universities. “These collaborations would serve the vision of promoting the much needed cosmopolitanism and international standards needed in a city such as Madurai,” he said. Campus France Meanwhile, an event to give exposure to students on higher education opportunities in France was conducted in the college on Wednesday. Called ‘Campus France in American College,' it focused on Lille Catholic University and programmes offered there. Brijveen, consultant, EduFrance, Alliance Francaise de Madras, Marie Pierre Augustin, Head, Department of French, Madurai Kamaraj University, and B. Vijaya, Lecturer, Department of French, American College and the college Principal participated. © Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu