Students will attend UIC for four years. While there, their education will be guided by several areas of emphasis: language, stamina and persistence, sports culture skills, environmental consciousness, an emotional quotient, culture and arts, voluntary work, adversity quotient. And all classes, unlike typical Chinese schools, will be taught in English.

The 17 institutions in the Minnesota Private College Council have long-standing ties with China with some dating back to the 19th century. The colleges have 15 exchange programs in place that will be complemented by the new partnership with UIC. Minnesota students from all member institutions will have an opportunity to study side by side with Chinese students in a Chinese institution where all courses are taught in English.

“This partnership is another sign of the private colleges’ commitment to deepening students’ understanding of the world we live in today,” said James Peterson, president of Gustavus. “More than half of the Minnesota college students who study abroad come from the state’s 17 private colleges.”

Bethany Lutheran College spokesman Lance Schwartz said Kwok came armed with a lot of information and is clearly enthusiastic about promoting UIC and working with private colleges in Minnesota.

“It almost seems to me that the situation — as most of the landscape of China — is evolving rapidly. Kwok is looking for partnerships on many levels. The opportunity, as I saw it, is to be part of a ground floor vision,” Schwartz said. “China is certainly the country with unbridled potential; the opportunity to bring American expertise and ingenuity is exciting.”