[photopress:Benedictine_university.jpg,full,alignright]U.S. visa regulations make it more difficult — less enticing — for foreign students to enter colleges in the United States. As a direct result, Benedictine University near Chicago, has affiliated with universities in Shenyang, a city of 4.8 million people in northeast China.
Benedictine University is a private Catholic university located in Lisle, Illinois.
Originally named St. Procopius College and located in the Pilsen community of Chicago, the school was founded in 1887 by the Order of Saint Benedict.
The campus was moved to its current location in 1901. St. Procopius College changed its name to Illinois Benedictine College in 1971, which became Benedictine University in 1996.
Benedictine University has retained close relations with the Benedictine Order. Some monks from the nearby St. Procopius Abbey belong to the faculty, though the vast majority of professors at Benedictine are secular instructors.
In 2005 Benedictine received approval from the North Central Association to offer a master of business administration (MBA) at the Shenyang University of Technology and a master of science in management information systems (MSMIS) degree at Shenyang Jianzhu University.
The courses for each program are taught by both Benedictine and Chinese professors using Benedictine’s curriculum.
Benedictine was the first American university to receive approval from the Chinese Central Government to offer these programs in northeast China. Since the program’s inception in 2005 Benedictine has graduated hundreds of Chinese students with MBAs.
William Carroll, president of Benedictine, ‘An American MBA is still at the top of the list for many students in China. This really impacts these students.’ (Whether one would wish to attend an university where the president speaks like that is another matter. It would depend on how he impacts the students.
While it is training and educating Chinese students overseas, the university hopes to establish a business portal for local companies that want to expand their business to China.
William Carroll said, ‘I’ve heard horror stories from so many companies about trying to get on the ground in China. It’s not rocket science, but it does require some training and we have already worked through the problems.’
Benedictine has partnered with Nomadic Consulting in Chicago to offer training seminars and workshops on doing business in China.
Source: The Business Ledger