Miami, June 27, 2013 – Five Miami Dade College (MDC) students are about to take flight to China. As part of the college’s rich study abroad program, the students were awarded scholarships to spend the upcoming fall semester in Jiangsu, China. Sponsored by the Hanban/Confucius Institute headquarters in Beijing, a non-profit organization promoting world-wide Chinese language education and a partner of MDC’s Confucius Institute, the program pays for tuition, living expenses, meals, and local cultural tours in China. From varying disciplines, the students will attend MDC’s sister university in China, Jiangsu Normal University.
MDC’s prestigious Confucius Institute (CI) has played a key role in supporting the college’s thriving study abroad programs in China. This summer 10 students were awarded scholarships to study in Beijing for a Chinese language and culture camp. And overall, more than thirty students have taken part in study abroad opportunities to China since the CI’s inception in 2010. For many students, study abroad has been their first experience overseas.
“Our students have been very enthusiastic about the study abroad programs in China, and greatly value these transformational experiences. Many of them didn’t have a passport to begin with, but we walk them through the process, ultimately help change their lives through overseas learning,” said Dr. Xuejun “Jim” Yu, director of the Confucius Institute. “We design our curriculum in a close connection with the Chinese HSK proficiency tests and provide our students with tutoring.”
The five students who were awarded the fall scholarships are: Dayan Buen, a performing arts major at the Wolfson Campus; Christian Cabrera, a business major at the Wolfson Campus; Xiomara Ingles, an accounting major at the Wolfson Campus; Valentina Gomez, a social work major at the Wolfson Campus and Jaime Alvarez Du Que, a chemistry major at the North Campus.
Study abroad provides students with opportunities to gain an understanding of the social, cultural and economic issues of this fastest growing country in the world. Through such international exposure, members of the MDC community will be prepared to compete in the global marketplace and serve effectively as citizens and leaders of our increasingly global society.
For more information, contact Dr. Xuejun (Jim) Yu at 305- 237-7581 or xyu@mdc.edu.