Administrators held the first student-oriented public information session about Duke Kunshan University Wednesday night as part of ongoing efforts to acquaint students with the new China campus.
Nora Bynum, associate vice provost for the Office of Global Strategy and Programs and managing director for DKU and China initiatives, presented general information about DKU to fewer than 10 students and responded to their concerns—including questions of campus life and academic freedom. A similar meeting will take place March 20. By hosting these presentations, creating a student interest group and hiring a student liaison to the Office of Global Strategy and Programs, the administration hopes to increase undergraduate and graduate students’ involvement in the development of DKU, which is slated to open Spring 2013.
“There is a lot of interest in the student body in DKU,” said Junyang Wang, assistant and student liaison to the Office of Global Strategy and Programs and Trinity ’11. “The function of a DKU student interest group is to ensure the developing progress of programs at DKU to fit students’ interests.”
Gauging student interest now will be important in getting Duke students to go to the DKU campus later, said junior Chris Woo, who is part of the DKU student interest group. Woo had the opportunity to visit the DKU campus last Fall while abroad in Shanghai, which is several miles away from the city of Kunshan.
Bynum said that by DKU’s fourth year, administrators hope enrollment will be around 500 students and composed of approximately 50 percent Chinese students and 50 percent international students.
“It is certainly our hope that a number of Duke students will choose to attend DKU, too,” she added.
During Phase I of the project—a five-year trial period—most students will study at DKU for a single semester, and no degree programs will be offered.
The first program to be offered at DKU will be a semester abroad for students pursuing the Master of Management Studies degree through the Fuqua School of Business. Students in the program will spend one semester at the Kunshan campus and two in Durham, and they will receive a degree from Duke—not DKU. Two non-degree undergraduate programs through the Duke Global Health Institute are currently under review.
Although administrators are still at a preliminary stage in developing Phase I, they anticipate that additional undergraduate programs will be offered in clusters. Courses within these clusters would be centered around a particular academic theme—such as art, literature and culture students—Bynum said.
“The clusters are designed to have internal coherence,” she added. “This would be most appealing to some sophomores, juniors, for sure, and probably first-semester seniors.” One attendee questioned how students are expected to stay involved in extracurricular activities at DKU, because students would only be staying at the campus for one semester during Phase I. Bynum acknowledged this problem but said she and other administrators will consider student feedback to try to improve continuity as much as possible.
In response to another student’s question about air and water pollution at DKU, Bynum said administrators have worked closely with contractors and are confident about having a clean air and water system. Data collected by administrators also indicates that air quality in Kunshan is better than that of several other cities in China.
Some students are concerned about academic freedom on a Chinese campus, Bynum noted. Duke’s pending proposal to the Chinese Ministry of Education—whose approval is required to open a foreign university in China—included a statement regarding academic freedom. The statement insists that DKU faculty members will have the freedom to teach, research and publish in the spirit of free academic inquiry, and students will be guaranteed the right to pursue academic topics of interest.
“We’ve had no negative reaction from the Ministry of Education to our statement on academic freedom... [but] it’s a situation that will require continual monitoring,” she said. “We can have a reasonable expectation that we’ll be able to operate according to our fundamental principles.” During the next six months, administrators will focus on the status of DKU’s application to the Ministry of Education, oversight of campus construction, a continued search for a vice chancellor and identifying at least one more program for Phase I, Bynum said.
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