Under the academic agreements between BNU Institute of International and Comparative Education and both Teachers College at Columbia University and School of Education at Indiana University Bloomington, 8 PhD students, AN Yalun, CAI Juan, CHEN Xiaofei, PENG Teng, PENG Xuemei，WANG Xitong，XIAO Jun and YOU Zheng, with months of preparations and efforts, made a successful academic visit to Columbia University and Indiana University Bloomington between May 12th and 25th with the joint funding from BNU Office of International Exchange and Cooperation and BNU Faculty of Education.
During the visit, the PhD students group paid their visit to the Teachers College at Columbia University and the School of Education at Indiana University Bloomington, where they had series of constructive meetings, interviews and discussions with the team of leadership, Faculty members, administrative staffs and students at both institutions to explore the factors affecting the discipline construction, such as disciplinary orientation, students cultivation, scientific research, social service, internationalization, Faculty building and disciplinary evaluation.
The well preparations, professional design of research, comprehensive materials collection, in-depth interviews and group discussions make all members have a better understanding of discipline construction of top universities in both U.S. and China, which enables them to complete a fruitful academic report on The Experience of Discipline Construction in World-Class Universities-Taking Columbia University and Indiana University Bloomington as Examples.
On June 21st, the 8 PhD students shared their group gains with the Faculty members and fellow students of BNU Faculty of Education in the fields of Design of the Research, Disciplinary Orientation, Students Cultivation, Academic Research, Social Service，International Strategies, Faculty Building and Disciplinary Evaluations respectively from a comparative perspective. In the end, Professor Liu Baocun, Dean of the Institute of International and Comparative Education, spoke highly of this academic exchange, extended the gratitude to the strong support from BNU Office of International Exchange and Cooperation and BNU Faculty of Education and encouraged other students to actively participate in further exchange, striving to build this academic program as a continuous and benchmark project.
A group picture with Dr. Cheng Henan by the statue of John Dewey at TC
A group picture with Dean Terrence Mason at IUB
A group picture with Associate Dean Keith Barton after interview at IUB