Georgia State University is taking a major step forward this summer in implementing its plan to globalize the campus by hosting 46 students from China and Taiwan.
“While Georgia State is making efforts to increase study abroad participation numbers, we know that some students will not have the opportunity to study abroad and develop global competence,” Jun Liu, associate provost in the office of international initiatives, told Global Atlanta.
“By bringing international students here to take classes with our students and to live on campus and eat in the dining halls, Georgia State students will be exposed to those valuable cross-cultural opportunities.”
The students arrived on July 3 and are to live in the apartment complexes on the university commons for four weeks until returning home Aug. 3.
Dr. Liu said that under the Summer Institute program the overseas students are to receive academic credit in a subject area of their choice while having an opportunity to explore Atlanta.
Included among the academic offerings are courses in art and design, applied linguistics, nursing, biology, English and communications.
Besides tours of Atlanta sites such at the Georgia Aquarium, the Martin Luther King Jr. Center and Cyclorama, the students will be hosted for meals at local homes and restaurants.
Their exposure to both the university and the city also is intended to encourage them to apply for admission to graduate programs once they have returned home.
Thirty of the students are from Hangzhou Normal University, which is located in Hangzhou, the historical cultural center and capital city of Zhejiang Province. Three are from Jiangnan University, located in Jiangsu Province and 13 are from China Medical University in Taichung, Taiwan.
The Summer Institute was launched last year with a more modest program bringing 12 students from Hangzhou Normal Univerity, who studied at Georgia State’s biology department.
In coming years, according to Dr. Liu, the summer program is to be expanded to include students from Brazil, Korea, Turkey and South Africa.
To learn more about the university’s Summer Institute, contact Amanda Roshan-Rawaan, executive assistant to Dr. Liu, at amandarr@gsu.edu
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