UNION TOWNSHIP, NJ—Kean University's plans to open a full-scale American campus in Wenzhou, China are a bit closer to becoming a reality. The proposal earned another key approval, university president Dawood Farahi said, further paving the way for generations of New Jersey students to participate in a truly global college experience.

The Executive Committee for Substantive Change of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education at its March meeting approved Kean's application for an additional location in Wenzhou, China. A Commission site visit team will travel to Wenzhou-Kean within six months to confirm the Commission's decision, a standard protocol when an institution seeks accreditation for its first international location.

“In our knowledge-based economy, we must prepare students to think, share and innovate far beyond national borders. Our groundbreaking initiative in Wenzhou will do just that by facilitating both an educational and a cultural exchange between two of the world's most powerful nations,” Dr. Farahi said. “We are delighted the Commission voted to support our efforts, and I look forward to sharing the experience and the opportunities with the site team chosen to travel to Wenzhou.”

 Already more than 200 Chinese students are enrolled in the Wenzhou-Kean pilot program and dozens of Kean University students, faculty and staff have travelled to China to pursue their studies and research, and to assist in establishing the new campus structure.

“This is an historic moment,” Farahi added. “Our students now have the benefit of studying abroad, in the midst of the world's fastest-growing economy. Our rigorous curriculum in China, conducted in English, is designed to prepare students for the globalized economy and culture of the 21^st Century.”

Kean University is one of only a few American universities approved by the Chinese government to build a full-scale American campus in their country. Building a campus in Wenzhou, a city in the prosperous and growing Zhejiang Province, will give Kean a powerful presence in the world's second largest economy and help transform the next generation of relations between New Jersey and China, and perhaps the U.S. and China.

U.S. Consul General in Shanghai Robert Griffith called the Wenzhou-Kean initiative “life-changing” for the University, for New Jersey, for the United States and for China.

“I firmly believe that the educational initiatives such as the one joining Wenzhou University and Kean University can have the same kind of life-changing impact on our bilateral relations for the next generation as the Nixon trip did for the generation that is leading our two countries today,” Griffith said during the groundbreaking ceremony.

Griffith's remarks echoed those of the Honorable Xi Jinping, president of China, who visited Kean University in May 2006 and witnessed the signing of the agreement between Wenzhou and Kean University that ultimately led to the creation of Wenzhou-Kean University. At the time, Mr. Xi spoke of how important it was to bring high-quality higher education to the Zhejiang Province, particularly to Wenzhou.

“The footsteps of the Wenzhou people have spread all around China and now across the whole world. Wherever there are seas, there are Wenzhou people,” Xi said at the signing ceremony. “Wenzhou people are wealthy in materials but inadequate in education, especially higher education….But you come just in time and provide the education the Wenzhou people have been longing for.”

Xi was party secretary of Zhejiang Province during the signing ceremony. Today, he is the president of China.