中英合作半学项目：9所英国大学首次在沪授予学士学位

Nine British universities have teamed up with the century-old Shanghai University of Science and Technology to establish a joint venture in the city recently, recruiting and awarding dual degrees to students from both home and abroad.

All of the nine British founders of the Shanghai British College are mem­bers of the Northern Consortium in the United Kingdom, and include the University of Bradford, University of Leeds, University of Sheffield and Manchester Metropolitan University.

It's the first time for a Chinese university to run a joint college with nine universities, SBC officials said.

High school graduates from all over the country and neighboring Asian countries are eligible to attend the SBC by passing a written exam and interview. Students will be allowed to choose to study in one of the nine British universities in any academic year after their first.

Graduates, including those who stay in the city for their entire four-year undergradu­ate period, will also be awarded a bachelor degree from the British side.

But those who wish to acquire a Chinese degree must sit the national college entrance exam and study in the city for at least three years, college officials said. 

"We see SBC as an exciting development not only because it enables students who wish to study in the UK to.have an international experience without leaving China. It's also a great opportunity for us to be deeply involved in the Chinese education system," said Tim Crick, director of international liaisons at the University of Sheffield.

To date, the SBC has launched three undergradu­ate programs, including events and exhibition management, electronic engineering and mechanical manufacturing engineering.

All the courses are taught in English by residential British faculties in the first and second years, with tuition fees of 55,000 yuan (US$6,875) per year for arts majors and 60,000 yuan for science majors.

The college plans to launch altogether 12 programs at both bachelor and masters level within five years. The recruit volume is expected to reach 2,000 students per year by 2008, according to Zhou Yong, the SBC deputy dean. Xiong Bingqi, a higher education critic with Jiao Tong University, said that joint ventures were an easier approach for foreign universities to grab Chinese students in a market that was not fully opened to foreign investment yet.

"But joint colleges should focus more on education quality than simply cashing in on China's huge market demand for foreign de­grees," Xiong said.

 

Source: Rachel Van, Shanghai Daily