Kansas University is hoping to tap into China’s booming economy.

Chancellor Robert Hemenway will lead a team of three KU officials to China starting today, with later stops planned in Taiwan and South Korea.

“That’s one of the real opportunities, and that’s why we’re going to China at this time,” Hemenway said. “There’s an economy of 1.3 billion people, and it’s really booming.”

Hemenway will be joined by Jeff Weinberg, assistant to the chancellor, and Diana Carlin, dean of the Graduate School and international programs. The trip is funded by private donations.

During the China portion of the trip, they will be accompanied by a friend of Carlin’s who lives in China and who will serve as a translator. However, KU officials said all of those with whom the three will meet speak English.

Forming affiliations

The trip is designed in part to expand the number of affiliate universities KU has in China and Taiwan. The affiliations allow faculty and students to conduct research and study at these universities.

The entourage will discuss a possible exchange agreement with officials at Beijing University, and sign exchange agreements with National Chengchi University and the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute in Taipei.

Other events on the agenda include:

¢ A dinner for KU alumni in Beijing.

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¢ A dinner given by the KU-Korean Alumni Assn. in Seoul.

¢ Lunch with Korean educational foundation leaders in Seoul.

¢ A luncheon for Mou-Hui King, a 1944 engineering graduate who is chairman emeritus of China Steel in Taiwan.

¢ Reception for KU graduates living in Taiwan.

KU officials said there are 2,000 KU alumni living in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

“I think what things like this do is, when we get back to Lawrence and the university, we’ll be so much better prepared to help students be successful in the global economy,” Hemenway said.

Degree program

Another state university, Fort Hays State University, already has tapped into the East Asian economy. FHSU has offered degrees in China for five years.

Ed Hammond, FHSU president, said the university expects to enroll 2,000 Chinese students at its four affiliate universities in China this fall.

The students take the usual course work for degrees at the affiliate universities, then take an additional 30 hours of courses taught by Chinese faculty specially trained in Hays or by FHSU faculty who transmit their courses to China via Internet-based television.

Hammond said students who graduate with a FHSU degree are more likely to be employed at graduation because they have greater English proficiency and more knowledge of technology because of their computer-based work.

“The need and the demand and the cry for education over there is just phenomenal,” Hammond said. “It’s a phenomenally fast-growing country, but it’s very, very controlled. In Beijing, you look out your window, and you see probably 100 (building) cranes.”

Not about politics

Hemenway, Weinberg and Carlin are heading to China and Taiwan at a time when tensions between the two nations are increasing. Officials in Beijing consider Taiwan a part of Chinese territory and have said they will use force, if necessary, to return Taiwan to Chinese control.

KU officials initially refused to release information about the trip, citing fears that publicizing the trip to Taiwan could harm the trip to China.

Hemenway said Wednesday that KU’s trip had nothing to do with politics between the two nations.

“The trip was set up to efficiently see as many people as we can,” he said.

Hemenway will return to Lawrence on June 20. Weinberg and Carlin will travel to Japan, where Carlin will deliver a lecture and meet with KU alumni and students who are at partner universities. They will return June 23.