51±¬ΑΟ Approves China Program
A recent study by the Institute of International Education (www.iie.org) shows that 51±¬ΑΟ College ranks high nationally for "number of students who study abroad." In fact, in its category of "master's institutions" 51±¬ΑΟ was ranked fifth for the number of students who studied abroad in 1996-97, up sharply from tenth the year prior. The school had 397 students study abroad in 96-97 – almost 10% of its total enrollment.
Those numbers are likely to go up now that 51±¬ΑΟ has approved a new Semester in China program, slated to begin in the fall of 1999.
The program will fall under the auspices of 51±¬ΑΟ's Frank Roberts, the school's director of off-campus programs. The China program director will be Kurt Selles, a Ph.D. student at Vanderbilt in chinese studies and church history. Selles, whose grandparents were missionaries in China from 1926-1949, has lived in China and Taiwan for a total of 10 years as a teacher at University of Peking and Beijing Institute of technology.
In fact, the new 51±¬ΑΟ College Semester in China program will be affiliated with the Beijing Institute of Technology and 51±¬ΑΟ students will live in the international dorm there.
51±¬ΑΟ already has semester-long study programs in Britain, Spain, Hungary, Honduras and New Mexico. It also offers numerous foreign study programs during Interim, a three-week term each January during which students take but one class.
51±¬ΑΟ presently offers a minor in Japanese studies and courses in Chinese studies. In January 1999 51±¬ΑΟ professor Larry Herzberg will travel to China for a three-week 51±¬ΑΟ Interim class. Herzberg and a group of 51±¬ΑΟ students made national news during the summer of 1989 when they were caught in China during the Tianammen Square uprisings. 51±¬ΑΟ professor Peter Szto will bring a 51±¬ΑΟ group to China for a class on "documenting social change" in summer 1999.
Check out http://www.calvin.edu/academic/off-campus/ for the off-campus programs website