By Sophia Chang
“We welcome this opportunity to share our growing expertise with our colleagues from the People's Republic of China,” said Queensborough President Dr. Eduardo Marti. “We understand that Queensborough Community College is a very good school in the United States,” said Xue Qian Yan, assistant president and associate professor at the Chinese Youth Center for International Personnel Exchanges. He spoke in Mandarin to an audience at the Bayside school, with translation provided by Wang Jiatian, the deputy director and associate professor at the Guangdong Provincial Radio and TV University. The aim of the 20 Chinese educators from 13 radio and television universities was to learn how to reach students in the far reaches of China as the country begins to establish a nationwide network of distance learning and online courses. The group, on a two-week junket, has toured schools in California as well. At QCC, the visitors received a hands-on demonstration of the school's Internet offerings in the campus Academic Computing Center. The school offers about 32 classes of its semester courses online, according to officials. “We appreciate your contributions,” Yan told the Queensborough audience. “We hope we can establish ties for the future between our schools.”In addition, the visitors were introduced to the Port of Entry Program at QCC, which is the school's intensive English language training program. Florence Tse, the program's director, said the Port of Entry's curriculum is tailored to Asian students studying for the Test of English as a Foreign Language, which is required for admittance to most American colleges and universities. “For overseas students, the TOEFL can be very difficult,” Tse said in Mandarin. “We have helped over 3,000 students in 24 years. Some return back to their country, some stay and continue their education.”Marti said he hoped Queensborough would explore a relationship with the Chinese schools, particularly with language instruction. “I would like to see some sort of exchange with this Port of Entry program,” he told the visitors.Reach reporter Sophia Chang by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
