Rice University | Office of the President

In July 1908, Rice University’s inaugural president, Edgar Odell Lovett, began his international tour of universities in preparation for the founding of the institution.

In the spirit of that original journey 100 years ago and the university’s current strategic vision, "A Vision for the Second Century," Rice President David Leebron has returned to China to continue Rice's ongoing effort to build relationships with distinguished universities and educational leaders around the world.

Leebron, his wife and university representative, Ping Sun, and assistant to the president, Mark Davis, are visiting academic institutions along with government and organizational officials in China.

The trip serves as an opportunity for Rice to increase its profile in Asia. One of the key elements of the school's mission for the next century is to transform Rice into a global university, particularly by increasing its visibility in China.

The following details Leebron's visit with China's educational leaders.

June 23

President Leebron and Ms. Sun had a lunch meeting with the Minister of Science and Technology and Vice Chairman of the Zhi Gong Party, WAN Gang during their first day in Beijing. Minister Wan was the former president of Tongji University and participated in the China-Rice Advanced Leadership Forum (CRLF) on the Rice campus in spring 2007. He provides an insightful perspective on China higher education advancements in science and technology.

June 24

The delegation met with Beijing Normal University President ZHONG Binglin and Professor LIU Chuansheng, Chairperson of the University Council. Professor Liu participated in the CRLF in 2007 as served as the co-leader of the Chinese delegation. Presidents Leebron and Zhong discussed the histories and academic strengths of their respective institutions.

As part of the visit, Leebron visited China’s leading State Key Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning that was created in 2005 by the Ministry of Science and Technology to research the psychological and neural mechanism of multiple cognitive functions, including language, mathematics, learning and emotion. They discussed the department’s current university collaborators and the future of the program. In Fall 2007, a Rice faculty member was awarded a Faculty Initiatives Fund grant toward building a relationship with BNU in the area of cognitive and neural mechanisms found in language processing and how they deteriorate as the consequence of stroke and degenerative disease.

Professor Liu hosted a reunion luncheon for the Beijing officials who participated in the CRLF in honor of President Leebron and Ms. Sun’s return to Beijing. The occasion was the first time the group was together since the conference. Many memories of the two-week forum were discussed as well as the current state of higher education in China. Attendees included:

Professor HAN Jingyang Vice Chairperson of Tsinghua University Council
Professor WU Bin, Chairman of the University Council, Beijing Forestry University
Professor LIU Chuansheng, Chairperson, University Council, Beijing Normal University
Mr. ZHANG Lanchun, Executive Vice President, National Academy of Education Administration
Professor XU Jinwu, President, University of Science and Technology Beijing
Professor HOU Guangming, Vice Chairman of University Council, Beijing Institute of Technology

Leebron later traveled to Tsinghua University to meet with President GU Binglin who has been president of Tsinghua since 2003. Professor HAN Jingyang, Vice Chairperson of Tsinghua University Council also joined the meeting. Leebron and Gu have met before on a number occasions and took this opportunity to discuss specific projects between the two universities. The Chao Center for Asian Studies only was in the formative stages during Leebron’s last visit to Tsinghua so Leebron announced the openning of the center and discussed its focus on transnational interactions between Asian nations with particular focus on China. Leebron alerted Gu of Rice’s recent appointment of Dr. Tani Barlow as the center’s inaugural director. Barlow already has some existing relationships with Tsinghua faculty members and the center is beginning to lay the groundwork for a more deeply rooted exchange relationship with Tsinghua. Leebron expressed his appreciation and enthusiasm for these new efforts. Leebron also stated his enthusiasm for the collaborative relationship in materials science and engineering building between Tsinghua and Rice. Rice Professor Pulickel Ajayan holds a guest professorship at Tsinghua and will spend a month on its campus later this summer and is building strong ties between the universities. There were a number of other possible joint projects that were discussed.

The day concluded with a dinner meeting with the immediate past Vice Minister of Education, Madam WU Qidi who is a member of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress and Ms. ZHANG Xiuqin, director general of the department of International Cooperation and Exchanges at the Ministry of Education.

June 25

The delegation started the day with a breakfast meeting with additional higher education officials who participated in the 2007 China Rice Advanced Leadership Forum. The attendees included a representative of Beijing Forestry University and a representative from the Ministry of Education. The conversations included a number of topics including the evolving nature of the Chinese higher education system.

The group traveled to the offices of China Daily. Established in 1981, China Daily is the only national English-language newspaper in China with an average daily circulation of more than 200,000. China Daily states that one-third of the readership is abroad in more than 150 countries and regions. President Leebron was interviewed for China Daily’s web site (www.chinadaily.com.cn). He answered a number of questions regarding the higher education systems in the U.S. and in China, Rice’s strengths and reputation in China, and goals for the university. According to the journalist Mr. Raymond Zhou, more than 2 million students enter college each year, with about 200,000 Chinese students choosing to go overseas. The interview will be available as part of an educational feature on ChinaDaily.com.cn in the coming days.

Later in the day, the delegation participated in meetings with officials from the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) including the president of the CICIR, Dr. CUI Liru. With more than 300 researchers, the CICR is known for being a comprehensive policy oriented research institution for international studies with seven institutes and three additional regional foci. While the conversation included a breath of topics, Presidents Leebron and Cui discussed the strengths of CICR and the Baker Institute of Public Policy to determine complementary strengths and interests.

The group concluded the day with several enjoyable meetings with area alumni.

June 26-27

The group departed Beijing and flew to Xi’an in the Shaanxi province on June 26. At the airport, they were warmly greeted at the airport by officials from Xidian University, including Professor GAO Xinbo director of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange. The campus decorations included large banners hung in three different locations that publicly welcomed President Leebron to the campus.

Traditionally, Xidian University has been known for its efforts in engineering, computer science and natural sciences, but has expanded into other areas. Xidian is a leader in China in its research in digital signal processing and, like Rice, has established relationships with Texas Instruments.

President DUAN B.Y. and his wife, Ms. ZHAO Yuzheng, provided an overview of Xidian University and the city of Xi’an and facilitated tours of Xidian’s historic and new campuses. He described the history and growth of the institution and highlighted the opening of its new campus in 2004, which boasts more than 20,000 students and is located 30 minutes away from the original. The new campus is designated for undergraduate students while graduate students are primarily on the original campus. Xidian University enrolls more than 40,000 students. President Duan was a member of the delegation at the China Rice Advanced Leadership Forum at Rice in 2007.

July 10

Rice University President David Leebron received an honorary doctorate from China's Nankai University. The degree was presented at the Nankai campus in Tianjin, where Leebron lectured on Sino-American relations.

Nankai University is a key multidisciplinary and research institution under the jurisdiction of China's Ministry of Education. Listed as one of the ministry's universities for priority development in the 21st century, Nankai has nearly 2,000 faculty members and almost 22,000 students, including 12,499 undergraduates. The university's 22 academic colleges are complemented by its Graduate School, China APEC Institute, School for Continuing Education, Advanced Vocational School, Modern Distance Education School and Binhai School.

Other VIPs who have received honorary degrees from Nankai include former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former South Korea President Kim Dae-jung.

July 12

At a July 12 reception in Beijing hosted by the Beijing Rice alumni group, President David Leebron, University Representative Ping Sun and Assistant to the President Mark Davis met with alumni and current and incoming students from the Beijing area. The delegation was there visiting Chinese universities and other higher education officials to continue to foster collaborations and increase the university's visibility in China as part of the Vision for the Second Century.