NC State-RTP Group Travels To China

North Carolina State University Chancellor James Oblinger will join an economic development delegation from the Research Triangle on a relationship-building trip to China, beginning May 24.

Oblinger will be joined on the trip by deans Terri Lomax (Graduate School), Louis Martin-Vega (Engineering) and Dan Solomon (Physical and Mathematical Sciences). Rick Weddle, president of Research Triangle Foundation, will lead the economic development contingent that will include Charles Hayes, president and CEO of Research Triangle Regional Partnership, and several members of the Wake County business community.

“International education and study-abroad opportunities are important parts of NC State’s mission,” Oblinger said. “They help us build relationships with international institutions and individuals and boost economic development for the state and nation. Education is the new language of the world and part of the currency of tomorrow.”

Last fall, NC State signed 13 academic agreements with universities in China, creating a range of new education and research opportunities for the university’s students and faculty and their counterparts from China. The first wave of exchanges under those agreements began earlier this month. International exchanges will continue throughout the summer and into the 2007-08 academic year.

“International study gives American students the opportunity to immerse themselves in global culture,” Oblinger said. “Bringing more international students to NC State broadens the diverse community already found on our campus. These academic connections also help to position North Carolina for economic development opportunities in China.”

Oblinger added that there is an “obvious tie” between international initiatives and NC State’s core economic development mission.

“NC State is the only North Carolina university that serves the entire state,” he said. “Until recently, we were the state’s only university with economic development as part of its mission. We’re very pleased to have the opportunity to further North Carolina’s economic ties to China while building academic relationships.”

This is the second international trip this spring for the chancellor. In March, he traveled with Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes and five other chancellors and presidents on a weeklong trip to India to promote U.S. higher education.

The chancellor and deans will meet with their counterparts at several Chinese universities and also will visit NC State students studying in China.

NC State has 150 institutional linkages with foreign institutions, including academic, faculty and student exchanges and research collaborations.

The university offers international programming that ranges in complexity from simple faculty and student exchanges to large-scale initiatives such as the College of Design’s Prague Institute, which serves as a base for the exploration of educational, research and professional opportunities in other European countries. Beginning in 2007, the Prague Institute will be open to all NC State students, and will offer, in addition to design courses, a set of General Education Requirement courses intended to meet the needs of most NC State students.

Dozens of research projects connect faculty to international universities, including the study of Chinese legal history and contemporary civil law, generational caregiving, supply chain management, environmental protection, waste management, ecological restoration projects, business development, road construction, textile R&D, power semiconductor devices, network security, cell mortality, animal breeding and disease management, neurocomputing, fuzzy systems theory, and robotics.

NC State is home to about 2,000 international students. In 2006, the university received more than 4,500 applications from international students for its graduate programs.

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NC State-RTP Group Travels To China

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