Fanyi, Cal State school sign academic pact

By Lu Hongyan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-21 07:21

XI'AN -- Students at Xi'an Fanyi University are still talking with excitement about a partnership between their school and California State University at San Bernardino in the United States, even though the signing ceremony to mark the bond was held on December 17 in the capital of northwest China's Shaanxi province.

Photos from the signing ceremony for the partnership between Xi'an Fanyi University and California State University at San Bernardino in the United States. [China Daily]

Dr William Aguilar, vice president of the California university, and his colleagues arrived in Xi'an after flying from the US for their sole destination - a ceremonial signing with Ding Zuyi, founder and president of Xi'an Fanyi University.

Under the agreement, Fanyi will set up a Confucius Institute at the San Bernardino school to teach Chinese language, literature and culture.

The California school will now recognize credit-hours students earned if they study for a year at San Bernardino after three years at Fanyi University.

The US school will also accept master's degree candidates who earned their bachelor's degree at Fanyi.

Photos from the signing ceremony for the partnership between Xi'an Fanyi University and California State University at San Bernardino in the United States. William Aguilar, vice-president of the California university, presented an American flag once flown at the US Congress Building to Ding Zuyi, founder and president of Xi'an Fanyi University, and invited Ding to be an honorary professor at his university. [China Daily]

The package is complete with preferential tuition fees for students from Fanyi. San Bernadino will also send graduate students and teachers for academic exchanges or teaching sessions in Xi'an.

At the signing ceremony, Dr Aguilar compared of his university and Fanyi in size, number of faculty, facilities, and teaching requirements.

He praised Fanyi for teaching thousands of students who otherwise would not have received higher education.

He presented an American flag once flown at the US Congress Building and invited Ding to be an honorary professor at the university.

After the ceremony, Dr Aguilar and the delegation visited housing for overseas teachers and crossed an iron chain bridge to arrive at the campus that has 70 multimedia amphitheaters and an expansive library.

The 20,000-sq-m library has murals including Albert Einstein and Confucius, illustrating Fanyi's approach of combining Chinese and Western thought.

Students stood under trees, beside gardens, along the winding corridors of their dormitories and near windows to greet the American visitors in English.

The US contingent said they were surprised at the beauty of Fanyi, which lies at the foot of the picturesque Zhongnanshan Mountain, as well as the quality of its sports grounds, teaching facilities, rich collection of books in the library and the diligent students.

"The beautiful campus, self-contained teaching facilities are more than we imagined. President Ding has set a good example for both the Chinese and Americans," Dr Aguilar said.

Fanyi, a private university, has witnessed rapid development over the past two decades.

Starting with undeveloped land, the university now covers 133 hectares and has 1 billion yuan in fixed assets.

Its 40,000 students study and live on campus. Nearly 70,000 students have graduated from the university as graduates who have studied for either four or three years.

For 21 consecutive years, 98 percent of its students have found jobs after graduation. Many went on to work in the world's Fortune 500 companies.