Organizer and Chair: Sean M. Bell, CET Academic Programs
Discussants: Sean M. Bell, CET Academic Programs; Ruth Kling, Johns Hopkins
Nanjing Program; Richard Gaulton, Institute of Asian Studies, Chicago; Fay Ju,
CIEE
As the student population studying Chinese continues to grow and academics continue to request more progressive models of teaching, it is crucial that changes in study programs in China and Taiwan be examined and discussed. Since the early 1980s, study abroad programs in China and Taiwan have changed in several respects; traditional teaching methods have been examined and challenged, the student body has changed from largely undergraduate students to include more graduate and non-traditional students, and traditional language-only courses have been supplemented or replaced with cultural and other content courses. Due to these changes a debate has developed over which model, the language-only or the non-traditional content based course, is the better program. Added to the equation are the increasing costs of living and working in China and Taiwan and the demands of the market, particularly from non-traditional students.
This Round Table has the following goals:
(1) Allow professionals in the study abroad field to meet with interested academics to discuss current programs and models of study available in China.
(2) Develop an accurate profile of which students are studying abroad and for what purposes (We have designed and will send out a questionnaire to help answer some of these questions).
(3) Discuss the future development of study abroad programs in China and Taiwan.
(4) Discuss the development of standards which could be applied to the evaluation of all study abroad programs in China and Taiwan.
The study abroad option continues to play an important role in today's China studies curriculum at all levels. It is vital that current programs be examined and the future discussed.