Xing Wei College: Shanghai - Semester or Summer in China

Stand out among your peers and become part of an experiment in the first liberal arts college in China!

Xing Wei College is located in the Nanhui region (college town) of Shanghai.  The college was founded by Harvard grad Weiming Chen as an experiment to see how an American liberal arts style college would function within China. As such, Xing Wei is the first liberal arts college of its kind in China. The classes are taught in English by PhD holding professors from the U.S.. Local Chinese students and American students are immersed into the same classes, to encourage cultural exchange.

Liberal arts is a bit of a radical idea in China, as most higher level education is very dictatorial, with the professors constantly experiencing censorship and coercion in terms of their curricula. Xing Wei is trying to redefined that, by allowing professors complete control over the courses and concepts they decide to teach and also allowing students to have a very open conversation with their professors. Another issue that comes up with colleges in China is that the student : professor ratio is unfortunately high.  At Xing Wei, the class size is kept small and some classes are taught by two professors to encourage a flow of ideas back and forth across the classroom.  Student voices are heard and valued highly. Especially since it is so new, the campus of Xing Wei is ultra-modern, with the dorms comparable to suites at a 4-star hotel and the classrooms being very state-of-the-art.  There is a lot of green space and one of the very old, very beautiful canals of Nanhui also crosses the campus – a great spot for a picnic by the water or studying outside.  This is also very different than many of the very under-funded colleges in China, where dorm rooms are a bit shabby and classrooms are characterized by harsh lighting and uncomfortable seats.

Xing Wei really is the first of its kind and choosing to study abroad there is choosing to become an active part of a project and a change in the educational landscape of China. To offer students the opportunity to be even more of an active participant in the experiment that is Xing Wei, the school is offering on-campus summer internships in the marketing of the school as well as in the building of partnerships between it and other schools in China/U.S. As the founder of the school has very strong connections with CELAP (Chinese Executive Leadership Academy of Pudong), study abroad students will also have the chance to visit the academy and sit in on lectures there, as well as work there as research assistant to foreign ministers in training.  This opportunity is a bit like the combination of a White House internship and classes at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. The academy is where governments of multiple countries send their ministers to be trained with the Chinese concept of leadership. This internship can offer a tremendous insight into how future leaders of China are trained, and a great opportunity to compare/contrast this with how this is done in the U.S.

No longer a “future superpower” in the world, China has already boomed, grown, expanded and continues to “wow” the rest of the world. You now have a chance to live and be a part of China’s biggest and most dynamic city, Shanghai. It has a rare combination of deep-rooted history, with thousand year old architecture, paired with modern designs and skyscrapers. Once you experience China and you may not want to leave.