Two agreements established between The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Shanghai Institute of Technology will allow academic and collaborative opportunities for students and faculties across both campuses as well as a specific agreement for the UTC College of Engineering and Computer Science.
“The goals of this endeavor were to grow the graduate school at UTC and increase the presence of international students,” said Dr. Randy Walker, Interim Dean of the Graduate School at UTC.
Walker and Dr. Li Yang, Professor and Graduate Coordinator in Computer Science and Engineering, visited three universities in China during August 2014. They found Shanghai Institute of Technology to be very receptive in establishing the agreements. In turn, officials from the Chinese institution visited institutions in North America, including UTC.
Under the general agreement, UTC will encourage the exchange of faculty to promote cooperation in research and teaching, the exchange of students, organization of conferences, seminars, workshops and activities of mutual interests.
Walker explained that international students from all over the world are flocking to the United States to study.
“Higher education institutions in the United States are looking to those international students to supplement and complement their student populations while keeping programs viable,” Walker said.
In the agreement with the UTC College of Engineering and Computer Science, students who have completed three years at the Shanghai Institute of Technology and have fulfilled all the requirements may complete their senior year at UTC. If they are accepted into the graduate program at UTC, they would be able to take graduate courses as a senior and embark on an accelerated graduate program.
“What we are hoping from this agreement is to increase the diversity in our College at the undergraduate level by bringing seniors from China and register them in design and related courses, and then encourage the best ones to stay for the graduate program in Computer Science,” said Dr. Neslihan Alp, Interim Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “This will bring a global perspective to our undergraduate students, challenge all of our students to learn from each other, and grow the international enrollment as well as graduate programs. Hopefully, this will also bring an opportunity to faculty in order to collaborate with other faculty in China, exchange faculty and students, and increase the ranking of our College and programs at the international platform.”
Alp is grateful to have faculty who have worldwide connections, such as Dr. Li Yang.
“This is very intensive work and Dr. Yang has communicated continuously with the Shanghai Institute of Technology in order to finalize the agreement. We appreciate Dr. Yang’s tremendous work in order to make this happen,” Alp shared.
Walker says the next steps will be to encourage Engineering and Computer Science students and faculty to engage in this opportunity, and specifically to engage faculty to work with their new colleagues in China on collaborative research or to teach a courses in China.
It is a great news. Hope there will be more cooperation between UTC and Chinese institution.
Let us hope that this agreement sets the stage for further cooperation with China. UTK has upwards of 200 students from China who strengthen its academic, social and financial position everyday. If UTC can follow a similar path, then perhaps Mandarin Chinese will once again be offered as a foreign language.