Knox Signs Pact with China

Knox College has signed a pair of agreements with a Chinese university that allows Knox students to teach in China and Knox faculty to explore other exchange opportunities. The first agreement will send Knox students to China later this year as part of a new course in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL).

Lawrence B. Breitborde, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Knox College; and Jason Helfer, assistant professor of educational studies, inked the agreements with Lun Wang, president of Anhui Normal University, during a trip to China in December.

?Under the first agreement Knox students will study ESL methods during the fall of 2008,? Breitborde said. ?Then they will travel to China to teach undergraduates at Anhui University for about three weeks in December 2008."

A representative of the university visited Knox last spring and met with Helfer. "This is a terrific opportunity for our students and Anhui students," Helfer said. "Anhui University has opened its doors to Knox students, who will live on campus and also have time to see some of China's gems ? its cultural and historic attractions."

According to Breitborde, the second agreement charts a multiyear path toward other academic exchanges and activities involving Knox and Anhui.

Anhui Normal University is in Wuhu, a city of 2-million people in central China, about 200 miles west of Shanghai. Wuhu is also about 50 miles south of Ma'anshan, Galesburg's planned sister city. The university, founded in 1928, is one of the first universities accredited to receive foreign students. It currently enrolls more than 19,000 students.

The agreements, as well as a trip to China by eight other Knox faculty last month, are elements of Knox's Asian Studies initiative, Breitborde said. "In addition to new courses in Chinese language, we are enriching the curriculum with an array of Asian-focused materials."

Breitborde and Helfer each delivered lectures at the Chinese university. Breitborde spoke on "The Organization of American Higher Education Today," at the School of Foreign Studies, while Helfer gave a talk, "The 'Science' of Teaching and Learning, 1890-2007," at the School of Educational Studies.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 45 states and 44 nations. Knox's "Old Main" is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.