Chinese college launches hub in Boston

In Boston, the US' most dynamic education hub, Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College, or UIC, launched a new center on Thursday.

The UIC Boston Center aims to enhance academic exchange, research collaboration and student opportunities between UIC and institutions in the US, according to a UIC news release.

"Boston is an academic center with a rich intellectual history," Chen Zhi, president of UIC, said during the opening ceremony. "This center will enable UIC to build stronger ties with institutions here and provide more opportunities for students and faculty to engage in academic collaborations."

Founded in 2005, UIC is the first higher education institution co-founded by the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong. Its main campus is located in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.

US-China higher education exchanges have seen significant shifts since the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the 2023 Open Doors Report, the number of Chinese students in the US dropped from a peak of 372,532 in 2019-20, to 289,525 in 2022-23.

There are indeed some misunderstandings and obstacles between China and the US, said Chen. "However, this makes initiatives like ours even more significant. Academic research and higher education exchanges play a crucial role in eliminating unnecessary misunderstandings," Chen told China Daily.

Eugene Wang, a Rockefeller professor of Asian art at Harvard University and the co-director of UIC's Boston Center, said he hopes to move beyond bilateral thinking toward a global exchange of ideas.

"It's not just about the US and China. At the end of the day, it's about civilization as a whole — about our entire world," he told China Daily.