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kwashikwashi
Joined: 07 May 2009
Posts: 6
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 Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 7:27 am Post subject: Organizing international teacher exchanges |
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I work at a vocational college, and my FAO has asked me for help establishing a cooperation with an American college. That is, a delegation of Chinese teachers plans to visit the States this summer for a short teacher training course, and sight-seeing. My college already has a similar program with a British college. My FAO, however, wasn't around when this cooperation was first established.
Is anyone more familiar with these types of exchanges? Is there any better way to find colleges interested in this kind of arrangement besides cold calling department heads? |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 7:43 am Post subject: |
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Watch your timelines.
Chinese typically give very short notice of arrivals. It may be a visa problem, or an interesting match up on NBA - who knows.
A US college would expect 3m firm notice of a visit. The Chinese are likely to say they want to visit and then only firm up a matter of weeks prior to arrival.  |
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Guerciotti
Joined: 13 Feb 2009
Posts: 842
Location: In a sleazy bar killing all the bad guys.
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 8:01 am Post subject: |
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Do they want an exchange agreement or do they want to visit a college while they're in town for the training?
Sounds like email is your friend! Yes, it is a lot of work.
Like Non Sequitur said, you might end up acting as the cultural liason/facilitator for this trip.
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danasoverseasemail
Joined: 08 Jan 2012
Posts: 86
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 8:24 am Post subject: |
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| Non Sequitur wrote: |
| A US college would expect 3m firm notice of a visit. |
How do you know this? |
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Miles Smiles
Joined: 07 Jun 2010
Posts: 1294
Location: Heebee Jeebee
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 9:15 am Post subject: |
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| danasoverseasemail wrote: |
| Non Sequitur wrote: |
| A US college would expect 3m firm notice of a visit. |
How do you know this? |
Anyone who has attended or TAUGHT in an American college or university has probably noticed that schedules for events are PLANNED as much as a year in advance. Course schedules are usually planned as far as a year in advance. Departments have committees that plan events and coordinate them with other departments so that there are no schedule conflicts. Teachers usually must submit syllabi that indicate test dates before the next semester.
Three months might be a very optimistic window of opportunity because one or more persons must take responsibility for the visiting delegation, and they will probably be faculty members. Those faculty members must schedule meetings with a visiting delegation, coordinate its visits and activities with their own schedules. American (and probably most--- if not all-- other western) colleges and universities plan well in advance, unlike Chinese schools where nobody seems to know when anything will happen until the last minute. American university and college departments just don't cancel classes for a a day or a week at short notice because something came up unexpectedly.
In addition, money must be budgeted to pay for expenses related to such a visit. Just getting the university and department bean counters to "find" the money may take three months or more. |
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shadowrider
Joined: 05 Feb 2012
Posts: 208
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| Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 12:00 am Post subject: |
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| Miles Smiles wrote: |
| danasoverseasemail wrote: |
| Non Sequitur wrote: |
| A US college would expect 3m firm notice of a visit. |
How do you know this? |
Anyone who has attended or TAUGHT in an American college or university has probably noticed that schedules for events are PLANNED as much as a year in advance. Course schedules are usually planned as far as a year in advance. Departments have committees that plan events and coordinate them with other departments so that there are no schedule conflicts. Teachers usually must submit syllabi that indicate test dates before the next semester.
Three months might be a very optimistic window of opportunity because one or more persons must take responsibility for the visiting delegation, and they will probably be faculty members. Those faculty members must schedule meetings with a visiting delegation, coordinate its visits and activities with their own schedules. American (and probably most--- if not all-- other western) colleges and universities plan well in advance, unlike Chinese schools where nobody seems to know when anything will happen until the last minute. American university and college departments just don't cancel classes for a a day or a week at short notice because something came up unexpectedly.
In addition, money must be budgeted to pay for expenses related to such a visit. Just getting the university and department bean counters to "find" the money may take three months or more. |
Of course he knows. He is an "expert" on all things legal in and outside of China.
No seriously, even 3 months is not enough time - especially at State Unis. US/ Western universities do things at least a semester in advance. We were normally scheduled for the next term by week 4 or 5 of the previous term (division of faculty) That's when preliminary class schedules were printed. The yearly schedules that go into the still printed catalog are considered golden. |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 7:21 am Post subject: |
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| danasoverseasemail wrote: |
| Non Sequitur wrote: |
| A US college would expect 3m firm notice of a visit. |
How do you know this? |
I'm extrapolating from two organisations I've worked for who hosted visiting Chinese. One was a civil aviation regulator and the others a state corrections organisation.
The corrections people demanded 6m, the Chinese wanted access to a recidivist sexual offender programme. The civil aviation people needed 2m, but the task was just registering a new airline to fly into my home country.
A US college timeline would depend on the time of year ie no point in visiting July/August.
The point dana is that Chinese are notorious short notice operators - even among themselves. |
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