The partnership is the only educational collaboration between the United States and China that has lasted for 30 years, according to Asian and Middle Eastern languages and literature professor Alan Li. The College sent its first class of Dartmouth students to BNU in 1982 through its Chinese Foreign Study Program.
Folt and Mastanduno were among Dartmouth administrators who participated in the BNU celebrations which included a Lion dance performed by BNU students, exchanges between administrators and students from both universities, a presentation of gifts and remarks by Folt and BNU President Dong Qi on Sept. 24.
Folt's visit to the university is important for the relationship between the two schools, Li said.
"It shows that we really value this relationship and this is as a mutually beneficial experience on both sides," he said. "We want to pay respect to Beijing Normal University, too, and if our president goes there personally, it's a gesture of the way we look at this thing."
During the evening reception, Folt spoke with students currently studying in China on the FSP program, according to participant Max Samuels '15.
"I didn't realize the full significance of the occasion until after going into it, when I realized how long of a partnership this has been," Samuels said.
Both U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner '83 and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand '88, D-N.Y., studied abroad on the Beijing FSP in its early years. As Asian studies majors and two of the first Dartmouth students to study abroad in Beijing, Gillibrand and Geithner both honed skills that have likely helped them throughout their political careers.
Samuels said that listening to the interaction between Chinese students and Folt made him realize the potential for the future of the two institutions' partnership. Li, who has previously led three Chinese FSP trips, said that the partnership between the two universities is "predictable and reliable." He invoked the Chinese concept of "guanxi," or connections, to explain the importance of the close relationship between the two schools.
Chinese language professor Fang Min Wu, who will teach at Dartmouth for four terms before returning to BNU, said that Folt's visit is important for the Chinese university's students, faculty and administration.
"It shows that Dartmouth feels it's very important to cooperate with Beijing Normal University," Wu said. "It shows that we can cooperate in other areas perhaps besides language."
Wu said she hopes that Dartmouth and BNU can expand their academic cooperation to academic studies in business since Dartmouth has demonstrated excellence in that field.
Dennis Ng '12, the FSP director's assistant last summer, said that the language programs at BNU are high-caliber because the faculty understand how to teach foreign students with patience, dedication and support.
As a director's assistant, Ng's responsibilities included leading orientation sessions, advising the program director and acting as a liaison between students from Dartmouth and BNU.
Students participating on the FSP are grouped into two Chinese language courses based on their speaking level taught by from BNU, according to Ng. Students also elect a course on Chinese culture and history taught by a visiting Dartmouth professor.
Felicia Wilkins '15, who participated in the program over the summer, said that the FSP allowed her to test her knowledge of the Chinese language.
"It's very encouraging, because you get to see how much Chinese you do know and you get to see yourself improve," she said.
Chester Brown '15, who was also on this summer's FSP, said that the course offerings at BNU were both challenging and time-consuming. Brown and a group of his friends traveled to Shanghai during the sixth week of the FSP, which enabled them to test their language skills and discover that they were not entirely reliant on professors to move around the city. Brown said he connected with BNU students and neighborhood kids by playing soccer every afternoon at the local park.
"To be able to assimilate oneself into such an incredibly different culture and set of values is an invaluable experience for anyone our age," Brown said. "It's not easy and sometimes not too much fun, but overall this provides a very safe and fulfilling way to do so."
Dartmouth is launching its first Chinese Language Study Abroad Plus program beginning next year, which will feature three language classes taught exclusively by BNU faculty, according to Asian and Middle Eastern languages and literatures professor Hua-yuan Li Mowry. The LSA+ will supplement the FSP that offers two language classes and one cultural class, she said. The LSA+ was created to better emphasize intensive language study while refraining from sending faculty members from an already understaffed language department abroad, Mowry said.
Staff writer James Peng contributed reporting to this article from Beijing.
