Building Partnerships in Asia

As part of the Office of Global Affairs’ new strategic development plans, President Samuel Stanley, Jr. and Dr. Jun Liu, Vice Provost for Global Affairs, traveled to China and South Korea to enhance existing relationships and reach out to new partners.  Focusing on student and faculty exchanges and research collaborations, President Stanley and Dr. Liu met with several universities, government agencies, businesses and alumni to broaden the scope of Stony Brook’s activities in the two countries.

Picture:  President Stanley meets with China's Vice Minister for Education

The China leg of the mission consisted of a multi-city visit to partner universities like Tongji University, Suzhou University, Hong Kong Baptist University, and South University of Science and Technology of China.  In Shanghai, President Stanley and Dr. Liu met with Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University to share best practices in running an overseas satellite campus.  The mission led to several key developments in Stony Brook’s relationships in China, including potential new university collaborations and the exploration of a Stony Brook satellite office.

In addition to local universities, the delegation visited important government education institutions including the Chinese Ministry for Education, the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs (SAFEA), and Hanban (the Beijing headquarters for the Confucius Institute), where they discussed Stony Brook’s collaborative efforts with China.  They also explored opportunities for Stony Brook students with industry leaders at mega-retailer Alibaba and the Suzhou-Singapore Industrial Park.

While in Beijing, President Stanley and Dr. Liu had a chance to meet up with former Stony Brook faculty and Nobel Prize winner Dr. C.N. Yang.  An influential leader in Chinese higher education, Dr. Yang is also a valued advocate for and advisor to Stony Brook University in China.  The delegation was able to discuss Stony Brook’s potential for collaborations and exchanges in China and obtain advice on the university’s strategic initiatives in the country.

The delegation then traveled to Korea, where they met with Stony Brook alumni at a reception in Seoul and spent time at Stony Brook’s only international satellite campus, SUNY Korea.  SUNY Korea currently offers five undergraduate and four graduate degree programs taught by Stony Brook faculty, and requires undergrad students to study at Stony Brook in their sophomore year.  President Stanley and Dr. Liu met with the Songdo government and Incheon Global Campus officials and reviewed strategies to move SUNY Korea forward.  Key initiatives for SUNY Korea will focus on aggressively marketing the institution to attract students through a variety of interventions: expanded course offerings, targeted marketing in China and other Asian countries to boost enrollment, collaboration with local universities for reciprocal credit exchanges, and encouraging top students at local community colleges to transfer to SUNY Korea.

The Office of Global Affairs is coordinating follow-up visits to China with the Deans of the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences to identify specific areas of cooperation and collaboration.  The result of these visits and new projects will contribute to Stony Brook’s strategic directives to build on relations in China and support our SUNY Korea global site.