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President of American Purdue University Visited NCEPU

Publishing time:2009-06-08    Viewer:

On the afternoon of May 29th, Prof. Howard Cohe, President of American Purdue University, came to NCEPU with his wife and other relevant staff and delivered a speech titled “How American Higher Education Works” to answer students’ common concerns in the Science Hall. Li Chengrong (Vice President of NCEPU), Liu Yongqian (Director of International Cooperation Department), Xu Hong( President of Energy and Power Engineering School) and Duan Chunming (Deputy Director of International Cooperation Department) attended the lecture.

     According to Prof. Howard Cohen,there are tremendous differences between Chinese higher education and American higher education. Generally speaking, American education is more flexible in form and afforded far broader development space for students. At present, there are 4300 colleges and universities in the US, which are further divided into 3 categories: public universities, private universities and profit-making universities. Public universities, mainly supported by state governments, are the first choice for most applicants. Private universities, receiving no financial help from governments, vary in size from place to place, and thus are not the best choice. Profit-making universities are all aimed at personal benefits; although there are some specialized universities, the schools,their teaching quality still can not meet people’s need. Different from China, there is no national university classification system in America. Public universities like Purdue University are in the charge of State Higher Education Committee, which ensures the smooth operation of universities’ daily concerns there through evaluating projects and coordinating budgets. In addition, in America, each discipline has its own special organization, where professors of various universities have a regular meeting, sharing teaching and research experience and making common efforts to promote the development of science.

     As to the ranking of universities, which draws great attention of most applicants for studying aboard, Prof. Howard Cohen made a detailed explanation. He stated that, in America, universities could be ranked according to the quality of students, prestige of professors, quantity of academic achievements issued on the internet or contributions to society, thus different organization might give different orders of the same university. He advised that students should find out the university that could meet their own needs and fit themselves best.

     As for recruitment policies of students and faculties, Prof. Howard Cohen thought it as a process subject to free choice. Picking and choosing a teacher, a university usually makes itself more competitive by advertisements; besides, it also guarantees students’ quality and scientific research environment to make itself more attractive. In the college admissions process, each university has an indispensable evaluation system; it will take into consideration not only the examination performance but also the appraisal of teachers. In the USA, university application system is different from that of China. American students can apply as many universities as they like. Although applicants will investigate the academic reputation and job prospects of a university, an increasing number of them now lay most weight on location. However, Prof. Howard Cohen pointed out frankly that such a regional trend had resulted that American universities missed many opportunities for international exchange, so it was urgent and significant to carry out students exchange program. He also hoped to take this chance to start the exchange program with NCEPU.

    After the speech, Prof. Howard Cohen answered students’ questions with patience, such as scholarship and major-changing. His elaborate and detailed explanation earned him warm applause. Professor Zhou Qian, director of Mechanical Engineering Department, Purdue University, gave a brief introduction so that students can understand Energy Major Exchange Project of Purdue University better. By far, Purdue University has established “2+2” cooperative relationship with Zhongnan University, Nanjing Aeronautical Institute, Beijing Institute of Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu Electronic Technology University and students can choose licenciatura or pursue the master’s degree after graduation from university. She was very happy that studying abroad enables graduates to gain practical experience as well as progress in English, and they were spoke highly of by employers. What’s more, the superior location of Purdue University provides students with more opportunities to exercise themselves in industrial regions, and the relatively low tuition reduced students’ pressure to a large extent.

    The one-hour communication was comprised of the analysis of American higher education, the introduction of Purdue University, the explanation of recruitment system, and the description of exchange program. After the lecture, students all expressed that they had learned a lot from it.

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