Our pilot program will focus on China for multiple reasons. As shown by Table 1, China’s gross expenditures on research and development grew by more than 100% between 2000 and 2004, and that rate of growth has since continued, if not accelerated. This increased research activity is also reflected in the share of all science and engineering journal articles published by Chinese researchers. Between 1993 and 2003, the share of all such articles from China increased from 11.1% to 22.3%. [1]. China’s significant investment in research will ensure NSF’s grantees are developing research global competency skills and partnerships in a country with an increasing impact in the field of engineering. Furthermore, China comprises about 20% of the world’s population (Fig. 2). The importance of China is further underscored by the fact that in November 2009, during his trip to China, President Obama pledged to send 100,000 U.S. students to China in the next 4 years [2].

A second key reason for selecting China is that Purdue has many existing programs and relationships that will strengthen the orientation, placement and assessment aspects of this program. As detailed in Section III, Purdue Engineering is home to the Global Engineering Program (GEP) and the Office of Professional Practice (OPP). In just the three years since 2005, GEP and OPP have facilitated international research/study abroad experiences for 615 participants, including 158 in China. Also, The Confucius Institute at Purdue was established in 2007 in partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Chinese Language Council International, the latter being an affiliate of the Chinese Ministry of Education. The Institute is dedicated to providing expertise about Chinese culture and language education in business, global engineering and tourism for academic programs, research project teams, community outreach and K-12 schools. Finally Purdue, both institutionally and in terms of individual faculty relationships, has many active threads of collaboration with China.

References

[1] Asia's Rising Science and Technology Strength: Comparative Indicators for Asia, the European Union, and the United States, Special Report, in NSF 07-319. 2007, National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf07319/content.cfm?pub_id=1874&id=4.

[2] Obama Pledges to Send 100,000 Students to China in the Next 4 Years. The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Obama-Pledges-to-Send-100000/8903/