Engagement sought for China, US universities

A professor at Harvard University has spelled out the need to restart intense engagements between US and Chinese universities to meet the expectations of both sides.

William Kirby, a professor of China Studies and Business Administration at Harvard, returned two months ago from his first trip to the Chinese mainland since the pandemic broke out in early 2020. The central part of his mission was to visit staff at the Harvard Center Shanghai as the center's faculty chair, he said.

"The major purpose of my trip is to plan our re-engagement with China."

He cited "not only the public programming but more research collaboration with our Chinese colleagues".

Harvard Center Shanghai, Harvard's first university-wide center outside the United States, was established in March 2010. It was a significant milestone in Harvard's enduring relationship with China and Asia.

"Led by the Harvard Business School and the Harvard China Fund, the center serves as a valuable asset for Harvard's faculty, students and alumni from all of its Schools," the center's website says.

Kirby unveiled plans by Harvard University and Harvard Center Shanghai.

"We now have our internship program of the Harvard China Fund, which sends 25 Harvard undergraduates to intern in Chinese companies and NGOs over the summer.

"And next year we will start a Harvard summer school in Shanghai in cooperation with Fudan University. We want to reengage."

Kirby said it is "still very early days", although there is "a great sense of hoping that we can restart the many relationships that we have" because the exchanges of people between the US and China are still facing many obstacles. He gave flights as an example. "Flights are very few, and they're very expensive, and longer, too, if you take the American carriers that now no longer fly over Russia."

Last month the US Transportation Department said Chinese airlines would be allowed to increase the number of US passenger services to 12 weekly round trips, equal to the number of flights Beijing has permitted for US carriers.

Significant role

Kirby emphasized the special and significant role of universities in US-China dealings.

"Our belief is that universities can do things together in areas, sometimes even when governments cannot cooperate.

"We continue to welcome many Chinese students to come to the different schools of Harvard. And we are a much stronger university because of the Chinese students who come and faculty who come to Harvard."

Kirby stressed the necessity of "making sure that the American side reengages".

"Right now, there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students in the United States, and I think there are 350 American students in China."

The annual report of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement published in January said India had surpassed China in the number of its students who went to the US to study last year. India sent 64,300 more students to the US last year compared with 2021, while the number of Chinese students who went to the US to study shrank by 24,796.

Even so, China remains the largest source of international students in the US, accounting for 30.6 percent of all international students in the country in the 2021-22 academic year, according to the Open Doors 2022 Report published by the Institute of International Education in November. Only 382 US students were in China for the same academic year, the report said.

That is why there should be a "restart", Kirby said. "We should remind ourselves that we have a great deal more in common than we have separate in this regard. So, it is the job of universities to try to push academic and research collaboration irrespective of the politics of the moment. It doesn't make it easier, that's for sure. But it is our job."

No country is investing more in higher education and research than China, he said. "And that's why American universities, along with European, Japanese, Australian, you name it, really want to cooperate with China.

"And we have to try to have our governments allow the greatest degree of cooperation possible because it actually will redound to the benefit not just of the faculty and not just of the students, but also to the benefit of the countries, of both countries."