Tim's blog
U of C visits China
Dr. Tim Goddard
As Vice-Provost (International) at the University of Calgary, one of my responsibilities is to establish and maintain our relationships with partner institutions around the world. China is an area of strategic focus for the University. We have a long history of working with our Chinese partners in joint academic, research and training programs. We have 26 active agreements with Chinese universities, institutions and corporations. From March 8 to 22, 2008 I will be in China meeting with 10 of those partner universities in various parts of the country. This will be my first visit to China, and through this blog I shall be recording my impressions of that country, as well as reporting on my meetings with various academic and administrative officers.
Heading home
March 20, 2008
Thursday afternoon, Beijing airport (again), this time on my way home.This morning we visited Beijing Normal University, which is the top-ranked teacher education university in China. I have been looking forward to this visit, as I also got to visit the School of Educational Administration and meet people involved in the National Training Centre for Primary School Principals.
Some reflective moments
March 19, 2008
I am on the plane flying back to Beijing, with two and a half hours to mull over what we’ve achieved on this trip. The seats are very crammed and the laptop is difficult to read as the guy in front of me has his seat back down into my lap. We’ve just been served some mushrooms and rice for lunch, together with a foil packet of something cold and squelchy made by the Chongqing Fish Well Preserved Vegetable (Group) Company … I’m not sure I want to know what’s in it!
24 hours in China
March 17, 2008
First, I’d like to thank all those who’ve written about this trip – it’s good to know that someone, somewhere, is reading this blog! Here are the answers to your questions:
Pandas and Xian
March 16, 2008
We have spent the weekend focused on travel and tourism, with Saturday morning in Chengdu and the afternoon flying to Xian, then Sunday in that ancient capital.
In addition to our partner universities, which we had visited on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,
Giant Pandas: Family picnics are a popular activity for Chinese families at Xian's Giant Panda research station. Chengdu is home to the world famous Giant Panda research station. Located only a short drive out of the city, this institute has the largest number of captive giant pandas in the world, and it was great fun to go and see them. Not that they did very much. They apparently spend most of their lives eating, sleeping and every so often going for a wander to meet a panda of the opposite sex. The ones we saw were sticking to the first two activities, which was a good job as a picnic in the panda park seems like a major Saturday morning event for many Chengdu families!
The human touch
March 14, 2008
So far we have visited seven institutions and a couple of things have stood out for me. First, I’ve noticed how people are much more focused on the details than we might be in Calgary.
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