Harvard Exports Education to China

Students from Harvard are in Shanghai teaching high school students.

ByABC News
August 7, 2007, 4:04 PM

Aug. 8, 2007 — -- It's the middle of summer as 44 Harvard students sit in a room eagerly brushing up on their expository writing skills.

They're going to need them.

For the next eight days they will work as Harvard's and America's cultural ambassadors to China, teaching gifted Chinese high schoolers about everything from chocolate to ballet, international relations theory to America's global influence.

The conference takes place over grueling 13-hour days at the High School Affiliated to Fudan University in Shanghai. The intention of the 2-year-old Harvard program is to offer the Chinese students a sample of American university life.

Participants choose six courses such as Stem Cells - An Ethical Debate, CLICK! Considering Culture Through Photography and Trade, Foreign Aid & Multinational Corporations.

These courses have piqued interest among the Chinese students, not just for their subject matter, but because they offer the opportunity to participate in Western-style teaching. While still relatively uncommon, many students in China desire to go abroad for their university education, specifically to American schools.

"Here in China higher education is not really satisfactory," said Nan Cheng, a high school student from Shanghai. "If you want to really study something, and you want to do it here in China, you can't really get that education."

Shiyun Lin, a journalism student from Xiamen in the country's southeast, said: "I know that journalism is more advanced in the U.S."

Yaru Wu agrees. Originally from Shanxi, in China's north, she moved to Mount Holyoke College, Mass., to complete her studies.

"After a year studying in America I see the advantages in the American method of study," she said.

But China isn't forgotten because many students see their experiences overseas as a way of advancing their mother country.

"I really want to bring American thinking home to China," said Wu.

The Harvard Summit for Young Leaders in China, known affectionately to participants as "H-silk," nurtures this interest in American universities.