BGSU's College of Business Administration is forging new opportunities for students to study in China, allowing them to be more immersed in the Chinese culture and for a longer period of time. Dean of the College, Dr. Rodney Rogers, and the College's coordinator of study abroad programs, Dr. Mark Bennion, recently headed to China to sign agreements with officials from Hong Kong Baptist University, the University de Macau, and Lingnan University. With this unique study abroad program, BGSU will have the largest number of students studying in Hong Kong and Macau of any other Ohio public university, according to Dr. Bennion.

Signing ceremony at U de Macau, Dean Roger and Iu Vai Pan, Rector of U de Macau Center

Up to 15 BGSU students will be able to study at either Hong Kong or Macau every spring semester. University students could begin studying there as early as 2009.

What is so unique about this opportunity, according to Dr. Bennion, is that BGSU students "will be integrated into the classes at a foreign university with no reciprocal exchange." Since the students there speak English, the American students won't have to learn Chinese but they will be exposed to the Chinese culture. This new study abroad program allows for a longer educational experience, a full semester, compared to the shorter summer programs that are more common.

Dr. Bennion recognizes that study abroad programs help prepare students to face a global economy and can make students more marketable.

Dean Simon Ho of Hong Kong Baptist University and Dean Rogers, sign the agreements

Another element of this new educational program will be a faculty exchange program as well.

To read more about this outstanding educational program for the College of Business Administration, click here.