Today@Dal

Submitted by Asa Kachan

March 21, Fuzhou.

Each day of our trip I have been struck by the many connections to Dalhousie – some that we knew about, but others that came as a pleasant surprise.

Today, we spent the day at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (FAFU). FAFU and the Faculty of Agriculture have had a longstanding successful 2+2 agreement that is now approaching its 10th year. In the first year, only a handful of students came. In recent years that number has grown to over 50. Many of these students have gone on to graduate work and successful careers. The daughter of Zhixiong Luo, the Deputy Secretary of the Oversees Education College at FAFU, is among the students currently studying at Dalhousie.

We had a chance to meet up with Claude Caldwell and Shannon Kilyanek from the Faculty of Agriculture, who are just finishing up 3 weeks of teaching and counselling of students in the 2+2 program. Both have been spending time at FAFU every year since the program began, and they have had a tremendous impact on the program’s success and on FAFU more generally. We heard today about how faculty members from other programs at FAFU often drop by to observe Shannon and Claude when they teach, and the contributions they have made to curriculum development here. In recognition, Shannon was awarded a Friendship Award today for her great service to FAFU over the past 10 years.

Shannon Kilyanek (Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie) receiving her Friendship Award.
Mid afternoon, we met with the Vice-President Academic of FAFU. A gracious man whose ties to Canada began in the late 80s when he spent two years in Canada as a post-doctoral fellow, Dr Mingsheng You reflected on all he has observed with respect to Canadian and Chinese academic cooperation and was genuinely interested in everything we could share about Dalhousie. We awarded Dr. You an honorary degree in 2008, something that he reflected on very fondly, and it’s clear he is proud of the great work that has already been done between our institutions. Both Dr. You and our great supporter Vice-President Zonghua Wang were very keen to explore how we can grow the FAFU/Dalhousie relationship further.

Some of that growth in areas beyond Agriculture is already underway. As the afternoon drew to a close, we had the opportunity to spend an hour with several faculty members in Computer Science and the first two students heading to Dalhousie this September as part of a new 2+2 agreement between FAFU and the Faculty of Computer Science.

We were so impressed by these students. It was clear that Zhiwei had spent many hours poring over every detail of the Dalhousie website. He’s planning to play rugby on Dalhousie’s club team; he definitely wants a roommate so he can begin to meet as many people as possible; he is exploring the possibility of a certificate of specialization within his degree; and he would like to build work or experiential learning into his Dalhousie degree. He is ready to seize the opportunity coming his way.

Ms. Huang was quieter, but just as enthusiastic. When we arrived at our hotel this evening, she was waiting for us in the lobby to provide me with the last documentation I needed for her admission file. As she shook hands with each of us to say goodbye, it was with a promise of a hello this September in Halifax. Both students are a wonderful reminder of why we work hard to build these agreements.

Read more from the delegation at the Eastern Horizons blog.