President Rosenberg blogs from China: Continuing hope and optimism about our collaboration

The FIU delegation’s itinerary.

This is President Rosenberg’s ninth annual blog chronicling the TUC-FIU partnership, the annual China Commencement and our students in China. This is his final blog post for 2018. Here are his first, second, third and fourth blog posts.

Our visit to China leaves me with continuing hope and optimism about the importance of collaboration with our university friends there. Our partnership with the Tianjin University of Commerce has become a benchmark for cooperation between foreign and Chinese universities. More importantly, we have been blessed with hundreds of master’s degree students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree here in China program and then return to Miami to continue their advanced degree work.

Authorities in Qingdao have studied the Tianjin model and are attempting to replicate it with us at the Qingdao University and more generally in other educational initiatives in that community. I am thrilled that the partnership with QU focuses on Spanish language preparation and cultural studies of Latin America.

I know that we will eventually build up a pipeline from QU for master’s-seeking students in our social sciences and humanities. I believe that this is important for our Arts & Sciences and Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs students, in particular. They should and must gain exposure to students from China and how they think, how they live and how they collaborate. Our recent graduation of students from the Green School had but a handful of students from Asia; same for CASE and CARTA. Collaborations with institutions such as QU can bring us scores of students from China whose interests extend beyond the traditional engineering, finance and business-centric education.

So as we head back to Miami (and one final graduation—our College of Law), we will pursue eagerly a deeper relationship with institutions in both Tianjin and Qingdao. Our students will have countless challenges in the decades ahead. Familiarity with the people, culture and norms of a rising super-power such as China can only be in their interests. A stronger foothold in these two growing communities will help us in the future to be more prepared for the challenges and opportunities presented by China. We do not have to be on the sidelines for this drama as it evolves. Like much else, I am counting on us to provide solutions and win-win options for both China and the United States. That is who we are, that is what we do! Thanks to all who made our graduations and this trip possible!