Sep. 10, UIC – Prof. Thomas Morgan, Special Assistant to the President of Augsburg, and Prof. Diane Pike, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, Augsburg College, US, visited UIC today in the hope of developing the relationship between UIC and the Augsburg College. They had meetings with members of the UIC Committee of Academic Affairs (CAA) and Executive Committee of Administration Affairs (ECAA) to discuss program exchange opportunities and have dialogues on teaching and learning.
With also the purpose of having first-hand observation of UIC, Prof. Morgan and Prof. Pike were both impressed by the rapid construction of the UIC campus and the excellent performance of the UIC students. At the meeting with the CAA this morning, Prof. Morgan said that since English is the main language of instruction at UIC, and the Whole Person Education model of UIC is similar to the liberal arts education of Augsburg, it would be natural for Augsburg students to come to UIC for exchange programs. He noted that Augsburg not only would like to develop student and staff exchange programs with UIC, but was also interested in developing joint graduate programs here in future.
(Meeting with the CAA)
Prof. Kwok Siu Tong, Executive Vice President of UIC, made a detailed introduction to the UIC quality assurance mechanism at the meeting. He said that teaching quality would be the focus in the development of UIC in the future one or two years. He also discussed in depth with Prof. Pike on the teaching and learning approaches of both colleges. Regarding the exchange programs, Prof. Kwok proposed to Augsburg a reciprocal internship program, which would provide internship opportunities for the Chinese students to go to the US and the American students to come to China for their internship. He also proposed that with the completion of the cyber-campus facility at UIC, both colleges could organize various student exchange activities via the internet.
（Discussed on Teaching and Learning）
Augsburg College is a liberal arts college with a mission “to nurture future leaders in service to the world by providing high quality educational opportunities”. It was one of the six MPCC member colleges that hosted the UIC Summer Minnesota Study Tour this year. Prof. Morgan and Prof. Pike will have dinner with UIC students who participated in the Summer Tour in the evening today.
（Souvenir Exchange at Reception Lunch）
（Prof. Morgan and Prof. Pike with Representatives of UIC）
Christy Zhao
Publicity and Media
