SC university unveils Chinese education initiative

The new institute, through a partnership with the Beijing Language and Culture University, will enable South Carolina to offer more classes in Chinese studies and provide 20 scholarships to in-state students, said Tan Ye, director of USC's Center for Asian Studies.

It also will give high school teachers the opportunity to travel to China and encourage Palmetto State business people to learn the Chinese language, said Ye, who will also lead the institute.

"This is established just in time to cope with our situation," Ye said.

Starting next fall, the Beijing university will grant scholarships to 20 South Carolina students who want to study Chinese. The exact amounts have not yet been worked out, but could be worth $7,000.

High school principals and language supervisors will also be invited to take a two-week trip to China, and the institute will offer language and protocol classes that will initially be free to South Carolina business people who trade with China, Ye said.

The number of Chinese language classes at USC has tripled in the last couple of years with 150 students taking language or literature courses, and the number of students interested in studying in China is at an all-time high, school officials said.

USC is the first research school in South Carolina to establish a Confucius Institute. There are roughly three dozen in the United States and nearly 300 worldwide, Zhao Ming, vice president of the Beijing Language and Culture University, said through a translator.

Institutes in neighboring North Carolina and Georgia have partnered with Nanjing University.

The Beijing university--which has specialized in teaching Chinese language and culture to foreign students since its 1962 founding--has agreed to send three visiting professors to South Carolina at no charge. USC has asked for a fourth, Ye said.

"This is really great," said USC junior Lauren Koch, 20, who is minoring in Chinese because she wants to work in international investment banking. "It will be easier to take classes."

USC president Harris Pastides said the Beijing Olympics "offered a fascinating peek into a country that has emerged as an international power" and gave young people in the U.S. their first real glimpse into China.

"It also helped fuel a burgeoning interest in all things Chinese on our campus, from our business school to our Asian studies program and to our study abroad program," he said. "We want to guarantee that students have the knowledge and the cultural background to compete in the global marketplace. We also want to be, for all of South Carolina, a catalyst for economic development, and we want to foster new and relevant research relationships."