China Newsletter Column from
Dr. Fernando Leon Garcia,
Co-Acting President of City University
It is a genuine pleasure for me to greet City University’s China alumni. At the present time, there are more than 850 of you and by the end of 2005-2006 academic year that number will increase to roughly 1,000. You should all feel proud of having worked very hard to obtain an US-style, US-accredited university degree while continuing to work and live in your homeland. And from the information that I am receiving, you are all making a significant difference in the businesses that you work for as well as in the growth and development of China itself. Your accomplishments and successes both support and mirror China’s worldwide influence and leadership, and City University is proud to have contributed in an intellectual way to that on-going leap forward.
Because you have completed your degree at City University, you know how our programs operate, but I thought that you might find it interesting to understand why our university near Seattle in the state of Washington relates so profoundly to Chinese people today.
City University was established over thirty years ago to offer courses where they were needed, when they were needed and to those who needed them to enhance their personal and professional lives. As China began its late 20th century surge, reaching out both inside its own borders and internationally with such energy and excellence, City University decided to likewise extend our American-style university degrees to people in China who also seek to study close to home. This has been possible through a very happy and successful partnership with Beijing University of Technology and the CIBT School of Business.
In addition to students like you who have come to City University China on your own, there are four groups of students who work for various Chinese airlines and aviation authorities who have been selected and are being supported by the international airline manufacturer Boeing to obtain their MBA degrees through our programs. Two groups are studying in Beijing, one in Shanghai, and the other in Guangzhou. From the very beginning, our faculty members in China have found all of our Chinese students to be very dedicated and hard-working, with incredibly high expectations for themselves in their classes and in their careers. Such a commitment to learning and personal improvement continues to be very impressive.
Hopefully, you are aware of the creation of City University’s China Alumni Association. For the last few months, a very committed and enthusiastic group of alumni have repeatedly met with City University’s Yanan Xu and CIBT’s Shuai Yang to work out the fundamentals of an Alumni Association that would benefit our graduates and increase the stature of City University’s current programs and affiliations.
The City University China Alumni leaders typify the kind of enthusiastic and dedicated students that have so impressed our faculty and administration. They are people who have been very successful in the classroom, in their own professional lives, and, along with that, have been eager to share their time and energies to develop an Alumni Association that will enhance a City University degree for all of our students. I commend them highly for all they are doing and I very much look forward to meeting face-to-face with this leadership group and with the alumni members as well.
City University has espoused offering higher education opportunities through programs that are globally focused and locally relevant across three continents. Through its alumni, City University is making a difference in lives, communities, and in countries. I can think of no finer goal and I am proud to be serving in a leadership position of this amazing institution.
