Driving from the airport to downtown Shanghai took about an hour. Riding back on the MagLev high-speed train took eight minutes, and Provost Kyle Carter snapped pictures of a sign reporting the train’s speed as they accelerated to 190 mph. “The train was smooth, quiet and fast,” said Carter, who was intrigued by the level of infrastructure in China as well as the welcoming, entrepreneurial spirit of the people he met during a trip to the country with a delegation from WCU. “China obviously is a big player in the world today, and it’s a place we and our students need to understand.”

With Chinese language courses being offered at WCU and a growing number of courses available for English-speaking students at Chinese universities, the time is right to expand partnerships, exchange programs and international research collaborations, said Lois Petrovich-Mwaniki, director of International Programs and Services at WCU. The delegation visited universities across China. Now, agreements that took months to develop are being finalized with five universities in Guilin, Shanghai, Xi'an, Chongqing and Dalian to open the door to new opportunities for student and faculty exchanges, faculty visits and programs in China led by WCU faculty for WCU students.

Delegates also seized the opportunity during the trip to recruit prospective students such as Zijing “Ginger” Qin of Chongqing. James Zhang, associate dean of WCU’s Kimmel School and a native of China, often speaks to prospective students from China over the phone, but this trip enabled him to meet with Qin in person. She enrolled at Western Carolina this fall as an electrical engineering graduate student. She said she was attracted by the university’s facilities, and accessible and approachable faculty members, and added that she is happy she chose WCU. “The most challenging things about my experience so far, I guess, are language adjusting and getting involved in studying a new research topic,” said Qin.

Zhang expressed hope that increasing interaction between WCU students and Chinese students such as Qin would help Western Carolina students better understand the increasingly global nature of the marketplace and what it will take to succeed. That understanding is critical for students, said Carter. “Our world is truly interdependent, and our students are going to be cheated if they don’t get a better perspective of where Cullowhee, North Carolina and the United States fit within the global perspective, and the only way to do that is to travel, to interact and to study different cultures,” he said.

That’s why WCU is fostering relationships and forging partnerships with universities in China with the intent of soon offering students and faculty additional opportunities to study, work and visit in that country.