Education partnership forged

By Tom Hintgen (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Thursday, May 29, 2008

Fergus Falls civic leaders, area educators, legislators, governmental leaders, Friends of Kirkbride and others witnessed the signing of educational agreements while hosting a Chinese delegation Wednesday evening at the Bigwood Event Center. The visit from the Chinese delegation is an important step in redeveloping the Regional Treatment Center.

The guests, from the province of Hunan, China, came to Fergus Falls and the surrounding area to establish working relationships with colleges and universities. Among them are MSCTC, Fergus Falls; Minnesota State University, Moorhead; Concordia College and North Dakota State University.

“The banquet this evening,” Fergus Falls Mayor Russ Anderson said to the Chinese delegation, “is a celebration of friendship from our part of the world to your part of the world. Tonight is a good beginning in our quest for an educational partnership.”

A major goal, with Wednesday’s educational agreements an important step, is to partner seven Minnesota and North Dakota universities with at least seven Chinese universities while turning the RTC into an international business college.

“It’s with a sense of hope that we can redevelop the Regional Treatment Center,” said Rick Anderson, Fergus Falls, president of the Campus Development Group (CDG). “With everyone working together, we can make this happen. This can become something really special.”

Members of the Chinese delegation, including Hunan International Economics University Vice President Li Zhao who signed an agreement with MSCTC, said they appreciate this region of the Upper Midwest as strong supporters of education. The key to a successful international college at the RTC, they said, will be highly qualified teachers and professionals.

Photo by Zak Holtan

Mr. Fu Huangxing, deputy director general of foreign and overseas Chinese affairs, stands with Richard Anderson, center and Harold Stanislawski during the National Anthem Wednesday at the Bigwood Center.

Zhao, Hunan Provincial Chairman ErYuan Liang and others in the delegation expressed confidence that the educational partnering can become a reality.

Harold Stanislawski, director of the Fergus Falls Economic Improvement Commission, was MC at the banquet and said Wednesday evening’s gathering was not only meant for the forging of an educational partnership.

“We’re here also to form a cultural partnership and establish new friendships.,” he said.

Jeff Schlossman, Fargo, a member of the Campus Development Group, said the United States and China have a great business relationships.

“Thousands of international U.S.-business relationships are in place,” he said. “It’s time to bring on the educational process as well. The time for us to do a project like this is now. That’s one reason we’re all here this evening.”

Hunan province in China is located at the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River with a population of 68 million. Richard Kagan, professor emeritus at Hamline University, St. Paul, told attendees last evening that Hunan has 99 universities and colleges.

Anderson and Stanislawski said the gathering Wednesday evening at the Bigwood Event Center, although only one step in the educational process for the Chinese delegation and Campus Development Group, is a major milestone. Several months ago the Minnesota Institute for Cross Cultural Studies (MICCS) expressed hope to see a long-term relationship between Fergus Falls and area educators and the Chinese.

The delegation from China also expressed appreciation from residents in this area and throughout the United States for their support following one of the worst earthquakes in decades that struck central China earlier this month, killing thousands of people and trapping more people in rubble. Stanislawski, in response, told the Chinese guests that close to $15,000 has been raised locally for them to bring back to relief workers in China.

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