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Sino-Australia education program launched

By Li Yingqing (China Daily Yunnan Bureau)
Updated: 2010-08-02 15:37

Shangri-la, an oriental ideal in the western world, inspired the dream of an Australian educator to help more western students explore China through education.

Professor Kevin McConkey, deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Newcastle, initiated an alliance on Friday with four Chinese universities to launch a Sino-Australian dual master degree program.

The alliance, called Shangri-la University Alliance was established in Shangri-la, Southwest China's Yunnan province, where the deans of the five universities signed the agreement in a rural resort of the county, a holy and romantic land with primitive and poetic scenery.

The program, offering a major in international business, and being conducted solely in English, will enable foreign students to learn about China and Chinese business environment from an international perspective, McConkey said.

Students joining the program can spend their first year in one of four Chinese universities to get to know the different aspects of China. Then they can spend the second year at the University of Newcastle, located in Newcastle, a town within a two-hour-drive of Sydney.

Ranked one of the top 10 universities in Australia, the University of Newcastle is a comprehensive university covering both undergraduate and graduate education, with about 32,000 students at 4 campuses.

The four Chinese universities include East China University of Science and Technology, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, Jilin University of Finance and Economics and Tianjin University of Commerce.

"They are located in different regions across China and represent a geographic diversity,” said McConkey. ”I am very much attracted by the widespread geography of the four universities.”.

Under the new alliance, the five universities will encourage international exchange of staff and students, and cooperation in course development and academic research. The five parties will design the course content together, and jointly award the dual degree diploma.

McConkey, who chose Shangri-la as the alliance's name, said Shangri-la boasts great natural beauty and spirituality for Tibetan people, and also symbolizes a place with a great future, great promise and great harmony. It is a good interpretation for his plan of building the program into something that attracts people from China and the English-speaking world.

Shangri-la, described as a utopia of peace and harmony in the novel "Lost Horizon" by American writer James Hilton, now witnesses the establishment of a new partnership to promote Chinese culture in an innovative education program, McConkey said at the signing ceremony.

"I believe that the presidents from the five universities have a strong commitment towards the program, and we are a mixture of diversified identities," said McConkey.

"The program will not only help the students understand China and gain an international perspective, but also will do good to their home country," he added. He also plans to add new partners into this alliance to help diversify the group.

He said that as an experienced international education manager, he believes the market demand for customized education is very large, and the new specific service has big potential in China.