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.

The University of Calgary has had an Academic Cooperation Agreement with BNU since 2002, and so the first order of the day was to meet with Dr. Zhen Han, the Vice-President of BNU, and sign the renewal of that agreement. There have been a number of exchanges of students (a U of C student is at BNU this semester) and we discussed ways of increasing connections between our faculty members, such as through collaborative research and visiting scholar arrangements.

After the signing ceremony we went first to the Faculty of Education, and then to the School of Educational Administration. The vice-dean of each unit met with us and we discussed some specific ways that our education faculties might consider as we further develop the partnership between our two institutions.

We then met with Dr. Lijuan Pang, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and also one of the National Education Supervisors, who are responsible for ensuring that educational standards are maintained at the provincial level. We had lunch with Dr. Lijuan, during which she described her travels to the various provinces of China to review and assess the implementation of policies with local educational leaders.

Her descriptions of her work underscored for me the reality that those things which look similar on the surface are, in fact, quite different in the implementation. It is hard to imagine having someone in Ottawa responsible for ensuring that the Alberta Ministry of Education is doing its job! It is the same with other aspects of education. We must not imagine for a moment that the learner-centered approach of Canadian teacher training institutions, for example, can simply be exported to a country such as China and be successful. China has a long-established centralized system with national examinations. This system works for them, so why would Canadians believe that their model was in any way ‘better’? Surely this is simply a contemporary manifestation of colonial thought?

In a sense, the same applies to a question raised by a reader of this blog. With reference to recent events, she asked me: “Assuming that the universities that we have ties with are government funded and supported, how do you negotiate your diplomatic ties, friendships, and agreements with the Chinese people, while you wrestle with whatever opinions you have about the condition of the Tibetan people and the Chinese government?” There is no easy answer to that question. Of course many of the universities with which we have ties are government funded and supported, in the same way as those in most countries. I am not sure that one can make the easy connection of one to the other.

I work with many international colleagues who do not approve or condone the international policies of their national government. I often share that disapproval. Does this mean that we should not work together? Should universities in a country which vehemently opposes Canadian policy on Aboriginal treaty rights refuse to establish relationships with the University of Calgary? Should we not establish relationships with institutions in countries such as Kenya or Sri Lanka? What about Israel, or Iran?

I believe that effective and sustainable social change in our world will only take place when it is driven by the people. Often it is those in universities who are in the vanguard of such change, as evidenced many times over the past decades. In some cases, educators and intellectuals have been the driving force behind social change; in others, they have been the first target of dictators such as Pol Pot or Miloşovič. I believe that it would be incredibly arrogant of me to impose my personal views on a conversation where I am representing the University of Calgary. In the same way I would not want to listen to a visitor lecture me on First Nations governance, or our role in Afghanistan, or the seal cull, or any of a myriad other Canadian policies which may be anathema to some. Such comments are not part of the institutional discourse.

The meetings at Beijing Normal University were a wonderful way to end our visit to China. It has been an intense 10 days. We have travelled thousands of kilometers; visited 10 institutions in four cities; met dozens of alumni, all of whom now occupy positions of power and influence in their fields and all of whom speak of their Calgary experience with great fondness; brought information on our graduate and English language development programs to potential sources of such students; discussed ways to further enhance seven existing partnerships; held preliminary discussions with two groups for the development of Calgary-based training programs; signed one formal university-wide agreement and laid the framework for two more; clarified and finalized the details for the Global Leadership and Innovation Program; met University of Calgary faculty and students who are in China on various exchange programs; identified eight promising research partnerships which can be developed, in the areas of engineering, social work, art and culture, law, education, veterinary science, business, and archaeology; and, more generally, “flown the flag” of the University of Calgary across China.

I shall close this blog with the final version of my quiz – and yes, the answer is still the same!

Which of these is the odd one out?

abalone, bamboo, beche de mere (sea cucumber), cabbage, cashew nuts, chicken, cow, crab, crayfish, cucumber, dragon (white), duck (Peking, regular, soup), eel, feet (chicken, duck), fish (pink), fish (red), fish (sort of striped), fish (white), fish (raw), fish eggs, fungi (black), fungi (grey), fungi (red), fungi (white), garlic, goose, jellyfish, kidney (pig - shredded), lamb, liver (duck – boiled, goose – fried), mushrooms (black), mushrooms (brown), mushrooms (white), mushrooms (which grow inside the bamboo plant after it dies), mushrooms (the thin ones which grow after the rain), mushrooms (the flat topped ones which grow on the pine trees up in the mountains), noodles (flat, thin, spicy), macadamia nuts, octopus, onions, ostrich, oysters, peanuts, peppers (green, red, yellow, incendiary), pickles (8 kinds), pig, pigeon, prawns, rabbit, rice (boiled, steamed), scallops, scorpion, seahorse, sea urchin, sheep, snails, squid, tea (light green, dark green, jasmine, yellow, black, scented), tofu (boiled, fried, braised, steamed), tongue (duck), tuna, turkey, walnuts, ….??

That’s right – still no turkey!