One of Johnson's former colleagues, a professor at Purdue University and a native of Xuyi County, is going with the local trio and hopes to help them make connections that could potentially benefit not only Vincennes University but the city and local economy as well.
Officials here are heading to China next month to investigate the possibility of establishing ties with another Sister City.
Mayor Joe Yochum will be joining Vincennes University president Chuck Johnson and Kent Utt, president of the Knox County Development Corp., on a trip to Xuyi County in the Chinese coastal province of Jiangsu.
One of Johnson's former colleagues, a professor at Purdue University and a native of Xuyi County, is going with the local trio and hopes to help them make connections that could potentially benefit not only Vincennes University but the city and local economy as well.
“We've tried in the last year or so to raise our profile amongst prospective Chinese students,” Johnson said. “We want to enhance the internationalization of our campus, and I see this as a great way to exchange information and ideas.
“There is also increased investment from Chinese companies in the U.S.,” Johnson said, “and with this being recognized as an advanced manufacturing area, there is potential for economic development as well.
“Bringing the mayor and Kent Utt along with us just seemed like a natural fit.”
Johnson said he plans to meet with officials at a technical university there in the hope of creating some kind of faculty and student exchange program.
Officials in Xuyi are also interested in developing a Sister City program with officials here. Such a relationship would mark Vincennes' third, as it already has thriving student and adult exchange programs in both Vincennes, France, and Wasserburg, Germany.
None of the group knows exactly what might come of the 10-day trip, but they are hopeful nonetheless.
“If it benefits the university by getting students to come here, then that's great,” the mayor said. “But then maybe it will open up other relationships as well. You never know what opportunities might come from making this one connection.”
Utt called the trip one for “prospecting” and “relationship building.” And with the KCDC looking to partner with INVin, a not-for-profit looking to bring more businesses to Main Street, on developing a shared work space in the historic Pantheon Theatre, making connections with potential VU students might mean keeping some of them here upon graduation.
“Recently a student from China graduated from Purdue University, stayed on and created a business there,” Utt said. “We're working to build that same entrepreneurial concept here.
“Once we have them, we need to find a way to keep them interested in staying.”
VU years ago developed a relationship with Hong Kong with students coming here for a rare opportunity at a college education. Many VU alumni then went on to distinguished universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, Indiana University and Purdue University, to name a few, to earn advanced degrees.
Some of the went back home to Hong Kong, Johnson said, while others stayed in the U.S.
He recently visited a collection of VU alumni, all of them Hong Kong natives, living and working in San Francisco.
Since 1960, VU has graduated some 600 Hong Kong nationals.
So Johnson sees no reason why that Chinese relationship can't be broadened to include more, and doing so could benefit not only Xuyi County but Vincennes as well.
“VU is a better university when students and faculty and staff interact with people from other cultures and countries,” Johnson said. “We want to give people an opportunity to learn along side people from other cultures.
“Doing so enriches what happens both inside the classroom and out.”