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On January 5, 2005, President Dan Bernstine signed an agreement between Jilin Provincial Education Department of China and Portland State University to provide training at PSU for administrators of Jilin's universities.

Programs will run twice yearly, July-September and February-March, with Jilin sending groups of 20 to 40 participants to Portland. The Province of Jilin, located in northeastern China, is known for its breadth and depth of higher education institutions, and is similar in size and scope to the California state system of higher education.

Since 2002, PSU Extended Studies' Office of International Special Programs has hosted over 80 leaders from Jilin educational institutions who have met with PSU faculty and administrators to learn about the American system of higher education, exploring topics such as educational philosophy and history, structure, finances, human resources, student services, governmental roles, current trends and issues, continuing education and distance education. The officials also made site visits to local grade and middle schools, Portland Community College, Reed College, Lewis & Clark College, the Oregon state capital and the Portland mayor's office.

"This agreement is evidence of PSU's leadership in international higher education in Oregon," said Mike Burton, vice provost for Extended Studies. "I am particularly pleased that PSU can offer an opportunity for Chinese educators to learn about the American system of education, and in turn give PSU faculty and students the chance to learn about and participate in programs in China."

In addition to signing the agreement to continue offering the higher education administrators' training seminar, other ideas under discussion include offering an additional annual seminar on student teaching and learning to K-12 educators from Jilin; sending English as a Second Language-student teachers from PSU to Jilin universities for four months to teach English; offering mini-conferences in Jilin and in Portland on topics of mutual interest; and the Jilin Province inviting PSU faculty to give lectures in China.

Mr. Zhikai Yu, deputy director-general of the Education Department of Jilin Province, signed the agreement as the Jilin representative (his daughter holds a master's degree in Business Administration from Portland State). He was accompanied by Mr. He Jian, vice president of Changchun Teachers College, and Mr. Qinggui Miao president of Jilin Transportation Vocational Technology Institute.

A photograph of the signing is available by contacting David Santen, 503-725-8789 or santend@pdx.edu.

The Extended Studies Office of International Special Programs designs and conducts more than 20 programs annually for visiting international groups of students and professionals from countries around the world. Since July 2004, it has hosted approximately 600 participants. For more information, visit www.isp.pdx.edu.