(Photo: (from left to right) – Lina Shi, Catherine Sun, George Schell, Jiangbo Wan, and Hongye Li.  Shi, Sun, Wan and Li are the first 4 faculty from Fudan University that taught Chinese foreign language courses for UNCW.)

March 2017 Editor's Note: This post was originally published in September 2016 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Guest Blogger: Dr. George Schell, Professor of Management Information Systems

In the summer of 2016, UNCW was chosen to be the host university for the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Fudan University in Shanghai and the UNC university system. UNCW and the Cameron School of Business (CSB) have had an ongoing relationship with Fudan beginning in 2005. Since 2007, Fudan University has sent faculty to teach courses in the Chinese language at UNCW - this year, professor Zhang Bangyin from Fudan is teaching in the Department of World Languages and Cultures. CSB students have consistently accounted for a third to one-half of the students taking Chinese language courses at UNCW, and Dr. George Schell, Professor of Information Systems, has worked with all of the faculty from Fudan over the past eight years.

Fudan University consistently ranks as the 2nd or 3rd most prestigious university in China. Its School of Management, which is AACSB and EQUIS accredited, has a world ranking of 47 by the Financial Times. Many of China’s most successful entrepreneurs are graduates of the Fudan MBA program.

In October 2016, a delegation from UNCW, including Chancellor Sartarelli, traveled Shanghai to formally recognize the special relationship between the two universities. Members of the delegation also visited Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and others.

The main goal of this initiative is to increase the number of students from UNCW’s partner universities that choose to study in Wilmington. Cameron School is also seeking to grow the number of students traveling to Fudan and other Chinese universities to pursue their studies.  Currently, students Xiao Yimin and Ying Nibo from Shanghai International Studies University are enrolled in CSB classes for the 2016-2017 school year. CSB plans to see a spike in the number of exchange students between Wilmington and China in the next several years.