Indiana State University Newsroom

This spring, some prospective Chinese exchange students will hear about a new program at Liaoning University - one that will send them to Terre Haute.

An agreement for a new four-year joint economics degree program between Indiana State University and Liaoning University was signed this week by ISU President Dan Bradley and Liaoning University President Cheng Wei. In the program, Chinese students will spend their first and fourth years at Liaoning University and the middle two years studying economics at ISU.

"This is going to certainly help globalize not only our curriculum, but give our students the experience working with a group of people from another culture, which will also benefit them when they go to work for an international or global corporation," said John Conant, chair of the economics department at ISU.

The goal is for 10 to 15 students from Liaoning University to study at ISU annually, or about five to eight students per collegiate level.

Program graduates will receive economic degrees from both universities.

"That's what makes it so valuable," Conant said. "For employers that are international corporations, that credential, both from an international school and a U.S. school, shows students spent significant amounts of time in both institutions and both kinds of cultures."

Prospective students will be recruited for the program this spring, and begin their work at Liaoning in the fall. They would then arrive at ISU in fall 2012.

The economics degree program wasn't the only agreement signed Tuesday. President Bradley and Liaoning's President Cheng also formally announced a continuation of the scholar exchange program, which sets a framework to allow professors from one institution to teach and conduct research at the other.

In the agreement, ISU and Liaoning "agree to cooperate in providing opportunities for cultural exchanges in areas of mutual interest and benefit."

"This agreement reinforces the relationship that has been developed between ISU and Liaoning, which has been mutually beneficial in providing cultural opportunities for faculty, staff and students of both institutions," said Jack Maynard, ISU's provost and vice president for academic affairs. "We are excited to continue this agreement and the future opportunities it will provide."

Photo: http://isuphoto.smugmug.com/Events/Liaoning-University-signing/092110laioningsigningpackaging/1016911345_yCtcm-L.jpg

President Dan Bradley and Liaoning University President Cheng Wei exchange gifts before signing agreements. (ISU/Tony Campbell)

Contact: John Conant, chair, department of economics, 812-237-2163 or john.conant@indstate.edu

Jacques Fuqua, director of International Programs and Services, Indiana State University, 812-237-4391 or jacques.fuqua@indstate.edu

Writer: Austin Arceo, assistant director of media relations, Indiana State University, 812-237-3790 or austin.arceo-negrich@indstate.edu