By Yaxue Cao
CHINA CHANGE - February 5, 2015
A recent event prompted me to look into New York University Shanghai.
I was rather surprised by what I found. This article pieces together my
findings which include information available through the media as well
as websites, in the spirit of “tossing out a brick hoping to attract a
gem (抛砖引玉).” If it can help deepen inquiries and debate about the host
of issues that can arise from setting up university campuses in China,
as more American universities are set to do, it will have more than
served its purpose.
“A Testing Field to Demonstrate Reform on International Cooperation in Chinese Higher Education”
NYU Shanghai is a joint venture between East China Normal University
(ECNU) and New York University, “the first Sino-US joint venture
university” according to NYU Shanghai’s website, whose first undergraduate class was inaugurated in the fall of 2013. According to the Chinese state media China News, the
joint enterprise was approved by the Ministry of Education of China on
January 17, 2011, and construction began on March 28 the same year in
Lujiazui, the heart of Shanghai’s newly-developed Pudong District
(上海浦东陆家嘴). A vice president of ECNU headed the team that oversaw the
construction of and preparation for NYU Shanghai. Given that China’s
universities, ECNU included, are owned and run by the government, it is
fair to say that NYU Shanghai is a joint venture between NYU and the
Chinese government.
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