Business professors Drs. Linguo Gong (left) and Cindy Newman taught at Sanda University in the late spring.

By
Dr. James Ottavio Castagnera
Associate Provost

SHANGHAI - In 2002, following mutual visitations and extensive planning and negotiation, Rider entered into an agreement with Sanda University, this city's first-ever private institution of higher learning. Credit for discovering this unique partnership opportunity in 1998 goes to Provost Phyllis Frakt and communication Professor Minmin Wang.

Initial negotiations took place in January 1999 when Associate Business Dean Tom Kelly and finance Professor Feng-Ying Liu traveled to Shanghai to develop the framework for the partnership.

Under the contract, Chinese students studying business can come to Rider for their sixth and seventh semesters, return to Shanghai to complete their undergraduate careers and earn a dual Rider-Sanda diploma. At the start of this Fall 2004 semester, the first cohort of 67 Sanda students, admitted immediately after this agreement was signed, returned to their campus as college juniors. In early October, 27 members of this cohort have submitted applications for admission to Rider's CBA.

To aid these applicants in achieving their dream of a year's study at Rider and a dual degree at the end of the road, Professor Linguo Gong of the management sciences department and I traveled to Shanghai during the last week in September. For Dr. Gong this was a quick trip home. Born and raised in Shanghai, he visited his parents and siblings, when we weren't busy prepping our applicants for the next big hurdle on their path to the Lawrenceville campus. That potential roadblock is the application for an exchange student (J-1) visa from the U.S. Consulate in their home city.

Sanda administrators brought the entire cohort together in a presentation room for our PowerPoint primer on the visa application procedures. The students applauded enthusiastically when they caught sight of Dr. Gong, who had been to the 350-acre campus most recently in June of this year to teach one of the business courses that our contract calls for the College of Business Administration to deliver in Shanghai. Dr. Cindy Newman of the CBA's marketing department also taught a six-week course in late spring. Cohort students who complete five Rider business courses at Sanda, but who do attend Rider for a year, are eligible to receive a certificate of completion from Rider under the partnership program.

Dr. Gong and I visited with State Department officials, who were open and encouraging about our applicants' chances of receiving J-1 visas. Said both Public Affairs Officer Jennifer Galt and Vice Consul Christopher Bishop, who is on the visa-interview 'firing line,' "The vast majority of student applicants have been granted visas in recent months, and the number is growing."

Seeking to tilt the odds in our students' favor, Dr. Gong and I conducted mock interview sessions and coached the interviewees on their demeanor and on the issues most likely to be probed by consular officers, who must decide in brief face-to-face encounters whether applicants have the requisite academic credentials, financial resources, English-language skills and intent to return home after completion of study abroad.

Dr. Gong and I assessed the student-interviewees with whom we worked to be skilled in English, ambitious to build their own careers and business, as well as a more prosperous China, and enthusiastic about coming to America and Rider University. Those who are successful in their dual-application process - application for admission to Rider and application for the J-1 visa - will arrive in New Jersey on January 15th, or thereabout, and will be part of our community until mid to late December 2005. Many are expected to enjoy internships with local corporations during their summer in the Garden State, ideally with corporate partners, which will consider them for permanent positions in their Shanghai offices after graduation.

A Rider University/Sanda University Educational Partnership Steering Committee chaired by Tom Kelly has been formed to move the partnership forward, prepare to welcome the Sanda students, and publicize the partnership. Subcommittee chairs are Cindy Threatt, student affairs; Dr. Susanna Monseau, academic affairs; Earle Rommel, public relations; and myself, enrollment. Other key participants are Professors Wang, Gong and Newman, as well as administrators Stephanie Polak, Aimee Thomson, Jacqueline Simon, Diane Romulus and Michael Brogan.

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