Following this fall’s announcement that Qingdao Agricultural University will become Murray State’s new sister university, a group of University members will travel to China this summer to further this relationship and develop academic programming there.

The 10-day trip, beginning May 15, is the result of years of negotiations and planning between QAU and Murray State, who have traded off visiting each other’s universities. Murray State visited the QAU campus last May.

Luis Canales, director of the Institute for International Studies, said these trips primarily facilitated the professional development of the visiting professors.

He said they hope during the upcoming trip Murray State faculty and staff will be exposed to different ways of doing things so they can see that there is not only the American way of doing things.

Ted Brown, dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, who will be co-leading the trip to QAU, said faculty and staff will not only have the opportunity to learn from this new trip, but also begin the formative stage of developing new study abroad opportunities.

“Many programs at Murray State parallel programs they have over at QAU so we’re hoping to figure out different ways to work together,” he said. “Teachers from here going over there, teachers from there coming over here and more importantly students visiting and studying at the other institution.”

Brown said he wants to look at whether Murray State can advance in Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages program by allowing faculty to teach English at QAU.

Six students will be traveling with the Murray State ambassadors to China where they will take basic Chinese language classes.

Brown said establishing a study abroad program with QAU faces difficulties different than with establishing other study abroad programs including both China’s very different academic calendar year and the fact that English is not as commonly spoken there.

Despite these difficulties he said they could have a study abroad program set up in one to two years.

Story by Ben Manhanke, Assistant News Editor