Upon the completion of the scheduled activities in University of California, Davis, all the 31 members of Jiangnan University 3rd Overseas Training Program came back to China safe and sound.
With the assistance of both the International office of Jiangnan University (JU) and the International Education Center of the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), the delegation attended more than 20 lectures, as previously planned, from 11th July to 5th August, the high-level lectures involving a wide range of disciplines and a large amount of information. UC Davis attached great importance to this training and arranged an outstanding teaching team including its Vice President Harris Lewin and Fred Wood, Deputy Provost Barbara Horwitz, Bill Lacy, Peter Siegel, Dean of the Graduate School Prof. Jeffery Gibeling, Dean of the School of Law Prof. Kevin Johnson, President Assistants Mitchel Benson, Bernd Hamann, Karen Hull and Bob Segar, as well as Deputy Provost Assistant Bob Kerr and Gail Martinez, all with abundant teaching or administrative experience. The topics touched upon range from higher education in the U.S. to undergraduate education of UC Davis, from post graduate education to scientific research management and laboratory management, from human resource management to student affairs management, from information management to social service and infrastructure construction, from education international strategy to campus culture and planning, plus intercollegiate relationship and alumni work. They covered virtually every major respect of the higher education of the U.S.
In between these lectures, members of JU, together or in groups, visited Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, University Library, Health System, Wine Making and Food Science Center, campus police station, fire brigade, Mondavi Arts Center, students’ amusement center, students’ canteen as well as some schools and departments such as School of Food Science and Technology, School of Law, , School of Design, Department of Psychology, Department of Environmental Design and Department of Atmosphere Science, Soil and Water Resources. Together with both extensive and in-depth discussions during these field studies, these visits gave our participants access to the rich administrative experience of UC Davis and enabled them to obtain first-hand experience and understanding. Besides, some members even made full use of their breaks and made special trips to University of California–Berkeley, Stanford University, California State Government, communities in Davis and American families. All of these trips turned to be great ways of better understanding American politics, economy, culture, different works of society and of better acquiring all-around perception of the current situation of American higher education, government management, social values and common folks’ ways of life.
To honor the precious overseas learning opportunity, and to comply with the urges from the leaders of the University —— to learn better abroad, so as to better serve the teachers and students of JU, during the four weeks, every member of the Program made use of well-equipped facilities and sound learning environment to the utmost, and studied American higher education management experience seriously and systematically. Under the instruction of Prof. Xu Yan, Vice President, also the head of this delegation, and under the leadership of class management committee, the delegation, well-disciplined, tightly united, but full of passion, were determined to study meticulously and deliver scrupulous study reports to Jiangnan University.
The core notion in competitiveness among governors is learning. During the whole learning process, all members, irrespective of cultural difference, language barriers and new environment, always prioritized learning and accomplished three shifts: from passive to active, i.e., to raise questions actively; from within to without, i.e., to study both in class and out of class; from campus to community, i.e., to study from school and from society. It has been, among the delegation, a common view that this training is not merely an academic study merely focused on theories. They made up their mind to take full advantage of whatever observed and learnt and better serve building JU into a high-level university of distinctive features. To realize this goal, they held after-class discussions centering around five formerly planned projects. Concerning any remaining puzzles and questions, they actively engaged themselves in field studies and interviews for further information. All the learning experiences, down to earth, brought broader views and richer knowledge to everybody of the delegation. In the meantime, they tried every means to let JU be known and make connections with foreign universities. Altogether, these efforts and activities have helped to make this training a resounding success and everybody a rich gain.
During the training, Prof. Xu, attending lectures, conducting field studies and discussing international cooperation and exchange with UD Davis, gave favorable compliments on the performance of the delegation and encouraged them to study hard for better achievements. Also attendant at the training was Prof. Zhong Fang, Director of the International Office of JU. Besides conducting research in UC Davis, she carefully arranged this training and managed to enrich their leisure time. Besides, Prof. Charles Shoemaker, guest professor of the School of Food science and Technology, JU, attended lectures and discussions, and showed the members round the Wine Making and Food Science Center, which benefited them a great deal.
Another incentive came from Prof. Beth Greenwood, Dean of International Exchange Center of UC Davis. At the closing ceremony, he highly appreciated the overall performance of JU’s members. Their efforts, effectiveness, achievements, innovative spirits and teamwork impressed trainers of UC Davis substantially and set an example for its future overseas training projects. (Han)
