Sacramento State signed a memorandum of understanding with one of the top universities in China at a recent luncheon at the University Center Restaurant.

The agreement, reached with Beijing Normal University, is the second to implement a new “Two-plus-Two” transfer program.

This program allows Chinese students to complete the first two years of their college career in China and then transfer to Sac State to attain a degree for their final two years.

This semester, there are 144 students from the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan at Sac State, according to Jack Godwin, chief international officer on campus.

“The analogy is like having a California community college in Beijing,” Godwin said.

Currently most international students come to the United States for all four years of college, or for one year as “visiting scholars,” Godwin said.

However, ensuring that course work will count toward a degree at one’s final university and the expense involved in studying abroad, make the “Two-plus-Two program” gives students an alternative.

Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies Greg Wheeler said the costs for one year of attendance at Sac State for foreign students ?” including housing, food, transportation, books and regular out-of-state fees ?” can run more than $25,000.

Additionally, these students aren’t eligible to receive financial aid from the university or the U.S. federal government.

Wheeler said the price tag is prohibitive to all but the top economic 1 or 2 percent of Chinese families.

The “Two-plus-Two” program aims not only to ease the burden on these families, but to expand the opportunity of obtaining a Sac State degree to more Chinese students.

At a brief round table discussion on Feb. 16, following the luncheon signing ceremony, Chengwen Hong, director of the office of international exchange and cooperation for Beijing Normal, expressed similar sentiment.

“I hope the ‘Two-plus-Two’ lets more students enjoy Sacramento State’s culture,” Hong said. “It’s very beneficial for Beijing students to get more and different knowledge from (culturally) diverse professors.”

However, it will be years before Beijing Normal, the oldest university in China, sends students here under this program.

Gordwin said the articulation process, making sure that courses at the two universities are equivalent, requires an “incredible amount of foundation work.”

Wheeler estimated that some Beijing Normal students participating in this program probably would arrive on campus in three years.

Students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, which just started operating a “Two-plus-Two” program with Sac State after a few years of articulation groundwork, will be at the university sooner.Godwin expects that these students will begin their final four semesters here by fall 2007 semester, at the latest.

When the students do arrive, they will be among the best and brightest from China.China regularly ranks it universities and Beijing Normal (Normal indicates that it initially focused on training teachers) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong always are near the top. Beijing Normal consistently places first or second, Wheeler said.

“Beijing Normal is very impressed with what we have to offer,” Wheeler said.” They don’t have an agreement with Stanford or Harvard, which are the equivalent universities in the United States.”

Sac State is working on a memorandum of understanding with a third highly-rated university in China, Beijing University of Technology, and Wheeler said an accord might be reached with hat university within three or four months; then the course articulation process starts.

Godwin said Sac State is a party to 130 memorandums of understanding with institutions in countries ranging from “Argentina to Zimbabwe.”

Various agendas are used, some agreements are with one department within a university, and the future of the “Two-plus-Two program” depends on the success of its current incarnations, Godwin said.

The understanding with Beijing Normal also contains a provision encouraging faculty and staff exchanges and a postgraduate single-semester abroad option.

Norm Erickson can be reached at [email protected]