XI’AN, China — Middle Tennessee State University’s delegation to China headed home Wednesday after gaining a fifth new academic partner and setting plans for a group of Rutherford County schoolchildren and parents to visit Xi’an cultural sites in July.

MTSU signed a pact with with Shaanxi Normal University in Xi’an, solidifying a relationship that President Sidney A. McPhee broached in December with SNU leaders at a Beijing ceremony honoring him a “Person of the Year” by the global Confucius Institutes.

MTSU Vice President Andrew Oppmann looks out upon the Terra Cotta Warriors unearthed at the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor in Xi’an, China. The archeological site and museum complex will be one of the places visited by a delegation of Rutherford County schoolchildren and parents in July being organized by MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee and first lady Elizabeth McPhee. (MTSU photos)

It gives MTSU a presence in China’s Shaanxi province in the northwestern region of the country. Xi’an is home to some of China’s top cultural sites, including the archeological dig of Terra Cotta Warriors at the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor.

McPhee noted SNU and MTSU share “normal school roots” and both remain major institutions for training teachers and school administrators. Also, like MTSU, Shaanxi has grown into a major comprehensive university with expertise in sciences and the arts.

“SNU is a top-tier university in China, directly administered by the Ministry of Education here, and known for its quality programs and excellent faculty,” McPhee said. “We are pleased to begin this partnership with our new friends.”

SNU will also be one of three hosts to a group of Rutherford schoolchildren and parents visiting China in July as part of MTSU’s Confucius Institute’s cultural exchange efforts, McPhee said. The delegation on Tuesday set the group’s plans to see the Terra Cotta Warriors, as well as the ancient Xi’an City Walls, Bell Tower and Drum Tower.

The schoolchildren will also visit Hangzhou and Shanghai during the exchange, the third such activity organized under the auspices of MTSU. It follows last year’s visit by Chinese schoolchildren to Murfreesboro and the initial 2012 trip to China by Rutherford students.

The changing of the guard ceremonies at the Xi’an City Walls will be one of the sites in China visited by a delegation of Rutherford County schoolchildren and parents in July. The schoolchildren, part of a group organized by MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee and first lady Elizabeth McPhee, will also visit Hangzhou and Shanghai.

Co-hosts Dongcheng Education Group and Hangzhou Normal University, along with private donors, will also provide financial and logistical support for the July trip and parents will pay for the children’s flights to and from China. Hanban, the headquarters for Confucius Institute, is covering the costs of the Xi’an portion of the trip.

“SNU, along our partners at Dongcheng, Hangzhou Normal and Hanban, have allowed us to extend this exchange effort for a third year,” McPhee said. “This is yet another tangible result from the relationships we have created and fostered over the past decade plus.”

The pact signed by MTSU and SNU will allow the two universities to set up student exchanges and develop faculty collaboration, said SNU Vice President Xuqun You.

He said SNU has almost 18,000 undergraduates and almost 8,000 graduate students, along with more than 40,000 enrolled in continuous education and long-distance learning programs. It is located on two large urban campuses in Xi’an and boasts almost 3,000 faculty and staff members.

The university contains 16 colleges and departments, 58 majors, 26 doctoral programs and 95 master programs.

The agreement with Shaanxi was the fifth agreement signed during the MTSU delegation’s visit to China. It follows new pacts with Xiangnan University in Chenzhou; Communication University of China in Beijing; Shanghai Second Polytechnic University; and a renewal of MTSU’s partnership with Hangzhou Normal University.

Under McPhee’s watch, MTSU’s international student enrollment has increased from 396 to 789 in five years, and the university has 335 students in its education abroad programs this summer. It has more than 40 exchange agreements with institutions around the world.

— Andrew Oppmann (andrew.oppmann@mtsu.edu)

MTSU IN CHINA 2014: MTSU wraps up visit with agreement, lectures

May 26, 2014

CHENZHOU, China — Middle Tennessee State University’s latest delegation to China left the Hunan province Monday after gaining yet another educational partner and speaking with prospective students at three other institutions.

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee (left) shares a moment with Xiangnan University President Cao Shizhu prior to the leaders signing a memorandum of understanding between the two institutions during McPhee’s recent visit to China. (MTSU photos)

President Sidney A. McPhee signed an agreement with Xiangnan University in Chenzhou, which will allow the two entities to develop student and faculty exchanges. The agreement follows similar pacts made on this trip with three other China universities.

Xiangnan, with an enrollment of about 18,000 students, specializes in teacher training and medical sciences and is affiliated with eight area hospitals. Its 33 majors also include art, science, management, engineering, law and economics.

“Like MTSU, this university puts a great emphasis on experiential education,” McPhee said. “We are pleased to gain another partner in this important southern region of China.”

McPhee also lectured to students in Ningbo University and Hunan Normal University, two long-time partners with the university, about the American higher education system. Both visits gave administrators an opportunity to renew ties and talk with prospective students.

Peter Cunningham, special assistant to Provost Brad Bartel and part of the delegation, said nine students from Ningbo have graduated from MTSU’s actuarial science program since 2010. “This is a strong start to a partnership that could yield significant results,” he said.

Although it was McPhee’s second visit to Ningbo, the president has lectured several times at Hunan Normal, one of MTSU’s earliest partners in China.

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee lectures to students at Hunan Normal University in China about the American higher education system and the Murfreesboro campus.

“We are proud of our relationship with Hunan Normal,” he said. “We have shared students, faculty and administrators over the years, which has benefitted both of our institutions.”

MTSU Vice President Andrew Oppmann and Guanping Zheng, director of MTSU’s Confucius Institute, also toured Liuyang No. 1 High School, one of the top prep schools in the Hunan Province. Oppmann talked with students about MTSU and answered questions about the international outreach efforts on the Murfreesboro campus.

The signing with Xiangnan was the fourth agreement signed in recent days during the MTSU delegation visit to China. It follows new pacts with Communication University of China in Beijing and Shanghai Second Polytechnic University and a renewal of MTSU’s partnership with Hangzhou Normal University.

Under McPhee’s watch, MTSU’s international student enrollment has increased from 396 to 789 in five years, and the university has 335 students in its education abroad programs this summer. It has more than 40 exchange agreements with institutions around the world.

The delegation heads to Xi’an next before returning to Murfreesboro at week’s end.

— Andrew Oppmann (andrew.oppmann@mtsu.edu)

MTSU Vice President Andrew Oppmann answers questions about the university from students at a top prep school in China’s Hunan province.

MTSU IN CHINA 2014: Pact with Shanghai Second Polytechnic includes mechatronics

May 22, 2014

SHANGHAI, China — Middle Tennessee State University gained an international partner with expertise in mechatronics engineering through a pact signed Thursday with Shanghai Second Polytechnic University.

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee and SSPU President Yu Tao signed a memorandum of understanding that will allow the universities to exchange students and faculty and develop joint research projects.

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee, shown at front left, and Yu Tao, president of Shanghai Second Polytechnic University, shake hands Thursday after signing a memorandum of understanding between the two institutions during McPhee’s visit to the Chinese university. (MTSU photos)

It is the third such agreement McPhee has signed recently during his delegation’s visit to China. It follows a new pact with Communication University of China in Beijing and a renewal of MTSU’s partnership with Hangzhou Normal University.

“We hope this agreement will lead to collaboration and cooperation between your engineering programs and our new mechatronics program,” McPhee said after touring SSPU’s laboratories.

“There is much we could learn from each other.”

SSPU was founded in 1960 with an enrollment of about 20,000 students, said Vice President Zou Longfei. Engineering is its main discipline among its 31 undergraduate programs, and it specializes in manufacturing of motor vehicles, aircraft and energy generation.

Click the image for more information about Shanghai Second Polytechnic.

Yu said his university has cooperative agreements with institutions in Australia, Sweden, Great Britain, France and Thailand as well as 50 of the world’s top 500 business enterprises, including Siemens and Volkswagen.

McPhee noted MTSU’s and Tennessee’s connections to both Siemens and Volkswagen and expressed his hopes the universities could collaborate in joint studies and research to prepare students for work in such industries.

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee, left, toured one of Shanghai Second Polytechnic University’s engineering laboratories during his visit Thursday to the Chinese university.

MTSU’s new mechatronics engineering degree program combines mechanical, computer and electrical engineering along with systems integration and technical project management. A surgical robot is a perfect example of a mechatronic system.

Rutherford County auto industry leaders Bridgestone, with a mechatronics facility at its La Vergne education center, and Nissan are among the partners in MTSU’s program.

Thursday’s ceremony at Shanghai was the fourth stop in McPhee’s latest visit to China. His delegation next travels to Changsha, Zhangjiajie and Xi’an.

Under McPhee’s watch, MTSU’s international student enrollment has increased from 396 to 789 in five years, and the university has 335 students in its education abroad programs this summer. It has more than 40 exchange agreements with institutions around the world.

Last May, MTSU signed a similar agreement with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, known as “China’s MIT,” that will also allow for the exchange of faculty and students between the institutions.

For more information about the MTSU mechatronics engineering program, visit www.mtsu.edu/programs/mechatronics.

— Andrew Oppmann (andrew.oppmann@mtsu.edu)

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee listens to questions from students at Shanghai Second Polytechnic University after his Thursday lecture about the American higher education system.

MTSU IN CHINA 2014: MTSU, HNU extend pact, discuss music center

HANGZHOU, China, May 19, 2014  — Middle Tennessee State University and Hangzhou Normal University on Monday extended its Confucius Institute partnership — and discussed an idea to expand it with the creation of a Chinese music and cultural center at MTSU.

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee and HNU President Du Wei signed a second five-year pact between the two universities that allows MTSU’s successful Confucius Institute to continue its work with HNU to promote Chinese language, history and culture. It will bring at least $500,000 in grant funding to the Murfreesboro campus.

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee, seated at left, and Du Wei, president of Hangzhou Normal University, seated at right, sign the formal agreement Monday extending the partnership for the Confucius Institute on the Murfreesboro campus. The signing followed a meeting of the institute’s advisory board on HNU’s Cangqian campus. Also pictured are, standing from left, MTSU Confucius Institute Director Guanping Zheng; Paul Martin, a member of the CIMTSU Advisory Board; MTSU Vice President Andrew Oppmann; Wu Xiaowei, HNU’s director of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange; Yiping Cui, associate director of MTSU’s Confucius Institute; and Tang Shiming, vice director of HNU’s Department of International Cooperation and Exchange. (MTSU photos)

At the annual advisory board meeting held at one of Hangzhou’s three campuses in the city, the partners also discussed future plans, which may include a cultural and music center at MTSU that would be substantially funded through a separate grant from Confucius headquarters.

Plans for the center were first reported by China Daily on May 12 in a report on the speech by Madam Xu Lin, director-general of the worldwide Confucius organization, who delivered one of the spring commencement addresses at MTSU.

“The development of this center would be a vital and exciting project for both of our universities,” McPhee said. “It capitalizes upon several of our unique resources as well as the regional and international relationships we have developed.”

Among those resources, McPhee said, are MTSU’s School of Music in the College of Liberal Arts and the Center for Popular Music and the Departments of Recording Industry and Electronic Media Communication in the College of Mass Communication.

“Our vision for the center is to complement and expand the cultural services we are now offering through our Confucius Institute,” the president said. “We will promote music as a vital element in education and cultural understanding.”

Du, a violin player himself, said he has been enthusiastic about the idea ever since he learned about the proposal from McPhee in December.

“If you need our support,” he said, “we will organize some people and resources.”

The universities have been asked to submit a final proposal for the center in July to Hanban, the worldwide headquarters for Confucius.

Officials from Middle Tennessee State University and Hangzhou Normal University meet Monday on HNU’s Cangqian campus in China to discuss future plans and objectives for the Confucius Institute on the Murfreesboro campus. The meeting was followed by a ceremony extending the partnership between the two universities for another five years.

Du and McPhee also pledged to work cooperatively to participate in the worldwide celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Confucius Institute in late September.

“It’s another great opportunity to underscore the value of our partnership and affiliation,” McPhee said.

“We all appreciate our relationship, our partnership,” Du said of HNU’s ties to MTSU. “I think, for us, this is a very important moment in our history.”

Confucius Institute, named after the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius, is sponsored by China’s Education Ministry to promote Chinese language, history and culture through tours, exchanges and university partnerships. There are more than 440 institutes in 120 countries.

The ceremony at Hangzhou was the second stop of McPhee’s latest visit to China, where he is expected to establish or renew MTSU’s ties with academic partners in Beijing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai, Changsha, Zhangjiajie and Xi’an.

Also, on Friday, McPhee was asked to present leadership strategies and tactics to about 75 top and middle managers at Hanban in Beijing.

Under McPhee’s watch, MTSU’s international student enrollment has increased from 396 to 789 in five years, and the university has 335 students in its education abroad programs this summer. It has more than 40 exchange agreements with institutions around the world.

— Andrew Oppmann (andrew.oppmann@mtsu.edu)

MTSU IN CHINA 2014: MTSU teams with Communication University (+ VIDEO)

BEIJING, May 15, 2014 — Middle Tennessee State University signed an agreement Thursday that will allow select juniors from China’s top communication university to complete their bachelor’s degree studies in Murfreesboro — and then earn a master’s degree from MTSU in one additional year.

The agreement, known as a “3+1+1 accelerated graduate program,” was signed by MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee and Su Zhiwu, president of Communication University of China, during brief ceremonies at the Beijing campus.

Watch a video from the signing here: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzEyOTA1MzM2.html.

The pact aligns MTSU’s acclaimed College of Mass Communication, named by the Radio Television Digital News Association as one of the U.S.’s Top 20 programs, with the China Ministry of Education’s top-ranked institution for journalism, communication, film and television.

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee, left presents Su Zhiwu, center, president of Communication University of China, with a shirt bearing MTSU’s “I am True Blue” logo. The two presidents met Thursday in Beijing and signed a partnership agreement creating an accelerated graduate program for CUC students at MTSU. (MTSU photos)

“This partnership plays to the strengths of both universities,” McPhee said.

“It opens the door for wonderful collaborations between our students and faculty and provides an attractive option for CUC students wanting to earn a graduate degree in the U.S.”

McPhee said the real-world experience of the faculty is a big strength of MTSU’s college.

“We employ practitioners, former top-rated anchors and broadcasters and people in print and electronic media of different disciplines,” he said. “They help pave the way for students who need internships and practicums.”

Chief among them, McPhee said, is Mass Communication Dean Ken Paulson, who joined MTSU last year after serving as top editor of USA Today, the nation’s largest newspaper.

The president also pointed out the college’s Center for Innovation in Media, which allows students to collaborate and develop content on multiple platforms, including the university’s two radio stations, student newspaper and student-run television news operation.

“It brings together all of the various media entities within the college,” McPhee said.

Communication University’s Su said he hopes the agreement will encourage collaboration between faculty at both institutions, such as a joint reporting or film project.

“We wish to cooperate in the area of communication between our professors,” he said.

Communication University of China, one of the top public universities in China, is known as “the cradle of China’s broadcasting and television talents.” Many of its graduates are in prominent reporting and media management roles.

The Chinese Ministry of Education ranked it as the country’s No. 1 university for media education in 2012. There are about 15,000 full-time CUC students, including more than 9,000 undergraduates and more than 3,500 candidates for doctoral and master’s degrees.

It also has about 17,000 students in programs of continuing education. Like MTSU, many members of CUC’s more than 1,100 faculty members have strong professional ties and media experience.

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee, left, and Su Zhiwu, president of Communication University of China, talk Thursday in Beijing before signing a partnership agreement creating an accelerated graduate program for CUC students at MTSU.

The agreement calls for MTSU and CUC to work together in establishing a curriculum to allow CUC students to complete their undergraduate studies while attending MTSU, McPhee said.

Both universities will work to identify graduate-level courses to allow CUC students to simultaneously pursue a master’s degree at MTSU.

“It is anticipated that CUC students will take a minimum of three years of courses here in Beijing, then come to Murfreesboro for the fourth year of their undergraduate education,” the MTSU president said.

“They would be enrolled in our graduate program, and, if successful, they would be able to obtain both a bachelor’s degree from CUC and a master’s degree from MTSU.”

The ceremony at CUC was the first stop of McPhee’s latest visit to China, where he is expected to establish or renew MTSU’s ties with academic partners in Beijing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai, Changsha, Zhangjiajie and Xi’an.

McPhee has worked to strengthen MTSU’s international undergraduate and graduate enrollment, expand its education abroad and cultural opportunities and develop research collaborations with international partners.

MTSU’s international student enrollment has increased from 396 to 789 in five years, and the university has 335 students in its education abroad programs this summer. It has more than 40 exchange agreements with institutions around the world.

— Andrew Oppmann (andrew.oppmann@mtsu.edu)