The 10-year-old Wenzhou-Kean University is a role model for Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools. [Photo/wku.edu.cn]
Starting from "zero", Wenzhou-Kean University, a cooperative higher-learning institution established by Wenzhou University in Zhejiang province and Kean University in New Jersey, the United States, took more than 10 years to develop a pioneering path of China-foreign cooperation in running schools.
Soon after its establishment in November 2011, WKU began to recruit 208 students in three undergraduate majors of economics, English and computer science in the form of the "China-US Cooperation Kean Project" in September 2012, exploring the implementation of a US educational model with small-size classes, English-only environment and inquiry-based learning approach.
Today, WKU has become an international university with 20 undergraduate majors and 11 master and doctoral majors.
It has been listed as "a key demonstration object of China-foreign cooperation in running schools and supporting the construction of international and high-level universities" by the Ministry of Education and Zhejiang province. It has also been approved to set up a Graduate Record Examination test center, becoming the only GRE test center in southern Zhejiang.
The area of its beautiful international campus is constantly expanding, and "studying abroad at home" in WKU has become a new option for Chinese students who want to have internationalized education.
The university has recruited 287 teachers from 41 countries and regions worldwide.
Over the past 10 years, WKU has trained hundreds of international students and students from China's Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
The total number of exchange students between WKU and Kean University has surpassed 1,200 to date.
The university has established research cooperation with world-class universities such as the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, Yale University, and Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and has cultivated a batch of international talents with global vision and patriotic sentiments.
By 2020, among the 1,600-plus graduates of the past five years, 126 have entered the University of Sydney, which ranks 40th in the QS World University Rankings, 35 have entered the University College London, which ranks 10th in the rankings, and 24 have entered Columbia University, an Ivy League school in the US, for postgraduate studies.
Its rate of graduates pursuing postgraduate programs in 2019 ranked 13th in the 2020 Shanghai Ranking's Academic Ranking of Chinese Universities.
In addition, WKU has established research institutions such as the Zhejiang Kean Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research Institute, the Wenzhou Industrial Economy Research Base, the Institute of Asian Industry Competitiveness, the Autism Research Center and Creative City Research Center, guiding college talents to carry out academic research in the fields of market expansion, business model innovation, business strategy and competitiveness to boost local economic development.
When drafting its strategic development plan for 2015-20, Dawood Farahi, former president of Kean University, proposed that WKU develop a world-class campus and facilities, world-class scientific research, world-class teachers and a world-class administrative management system.
In the 2020-25 period, the university will further expand its enrollment scale, increase investment in infrastructure construction, set up master and doctoral programs, and vigorously conduct scientific research. By 2025, the number of students in the school is expected to reach 7,000, including 500 master's and doctoral students, 31 majors and 11 master and doctoral majors.
