Experts hope to strengthen China-U.S. cooperation on education

Bradley Farnsworth, Vice President of Center for Internationalization and Global Engagement of American Council on Education, Casey Sacks, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Colleges of U.S. Department of Education, Yang Xinyu, Minister Counselor for Educational Affairs of the Chinese Embassy in the United States, Bob Holden, Chairman and CEO of U.S. Heartland China Association and former U.S. Governor of Missouri, and Wenchi Yu, Head of Global Public Policy of VIPKID, attend a panel discussion on education and cultural exchange during the fifth China-U.S. Governors Forum in Lexington, Kentucky, the United States, on May 23, 2019. [Photo: Xinhua]

"I firmly believe that you must develop a linkage in education and culture before you have a stable business relationship going forward," said former Missouri Governor Bob Holden at a panel discussion of the Fifth China-U.S. Governors Forum.

While he was a professor at Webster University, Holden helped bring the first Confucius Institute to the state of Missouri.

"It's important that we continue to look at ways to connect our educational system, our students with the students from China so that they can, at a young age, get to understand both cultures," Holden, currently the chairman and CEO of the United States Heartland China Association, told Xinhua.

When asked about U.S. visa restrictions for Chinese students, Yang Xinyu, minister counselor for educational affairs of the Chinese Embassy in the United States, said she hasn't seen much impact on undergraduate students, but graduate students, especially those in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields, are really affected.

"It's one of those policy issues we need to continue to collaborate on, so we can really get whatever the problems are ironed out for people who want to study with us," said Casey Sacks, deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Education Department.

Brad Farnsworth, vice president of American Council on Education (ACE)'s Center for Internationalization and Global Engagement, said China is a tremendously important country for ACE's member colleges and universities.

"When we survey our members and we ask them what their top priority is internationally, where they're looking for partners around the globe, China always comes up as number one, the number one priority for expansion of partnerships, study abroad, language programs, internships, the list goes on and on," Farnsworth said.

Noting that he gets "uneasy feelings" about what he sees at times occurring in the political world, Holden told Xinhua that "if we can get and mobilize the cultural and educational aspect of our country and China's, that will take care of the other issues."

"They will be the driving force in making the changes that we need to have made to be successful," said Holden, whose organization is committed to building stronger ties between the 20 U.S. states located between the Great Lakes to the Gulf and China.

"Education is at the center of what we do," Holden said, adding that his organization has been helping establish connections between academic institutions from the two sides.