The Global Times reports on the opening of this new University campus in Shanghai.
John Sexton (left), president of New York University (NYU) and Yu Lizhong, former president of East China Normal University and now president of NYU Shanghai, throw flowers to celebrate the groundbreaking ceremony of NYU Shanghai on March 28, 2011. Photo: CFP
| The first class of 300 students, half of whom enrolled from China, is starting their undergraduate studies at New York University (NYU) Shanghai. These students pay around $45,000 a year in tuition and mandatory fees and will graduate with a degree granted by NYU. NYU is one of many Western universities to have set up a satellite or a branch campus in China. It is reported that Shanghai plans to attract at least two Ivy League universities by 2015, while Duke Kunshan University, located in Jiangsu Province and approved in late 2012, will start enrolling students to their graduate and professional degree programs in fall 2014. It's a two-way street. China, especially local authorities, wants to attract elite universities; and for overseas universities, a presence in China gets them closer to new resources and opportunities. Still both the students and the schools may be concerned about issues like quality of education, academic freedom and sustainability. |