NEWS from Central Connecticut State University
Honored as a "Leadership Institution" by the Association of American Colleges & Universities

Media contact: Bart Fisher, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications
(860) 832-1624; Fisherb@ccsu.edu

Future Chinese Leaders Study Business, Government
at CCSU

NEW BRITAIN (August 1, 2007)  “It may not happen in my lifetime,” said Ed Rybczyk, managing director of Central Connecticut State University’s US-China Business Center,” but there’s no doubt in my mind that one day, the leader of the most populous nation on earth will be someone who has studied here on our campus in New Britain.”

How can Rybczyk be so sure of that bold assertion?  For starters, the Chinese “students” currently enrolled in a six-month-long special program designed to teach governmental structure and outstanding business practices, aren’t really students in the traditional sense.  They are already high-ranking officials in China, mostly mayors and provincial leaders from Shandong Province.   Located on the coast, east of China’s Taihang Mountains, Shandong is home to 92-million people noted for their production of quality cotton and jewelry items including diamonds and precious metals.

The province is also home to Shandong Normal University, one of China’s most prestigious institutions of higher education and a CCSU partner for more than 20 years.  That relationship has allowed scores of CCSU students and faculty members to work and study at one of Asia’s top educational centers.  “The exchange provides an opportunity for our students and faculty to gain genuine insight into emerging global markets and as well as a better understanding of China’s strategic planning,” says Rybczyk.

Governmental leaders from Shandong, which has typically served as a kind of feeder system for China’s national leadership, study business, political science and criminal justice systems while they are enrolled at CCSU.  Members of the current group of visitors, the fifth to attend CCSU overall, are housed off campus but are deeply immersed in learning from the moment they arrive in New Britain.  They spend their first month in an intensive business English course designed to make the rest of their stay more rewarding.  Next comes three months of study that includes courses in governmental and business “best practices,” visits to state offices and a number of globally successful Connecticut companies such as Pitney Bowes in Stamford.

Finally, many of the visitors serve internships with Connecticut business and governmental agencies in New Britain, Hartford, Manchester, New Haven and beyond.  The state Office of Policy and Management and the office of Attorney General Richard M. Blumenthal are among those that have been part of the program, Rybczyk said. 

Meanwhile Derek Pierce, the University’s manager of internet services, who studied intercultural communications as an undergraduate, recently accompanied another group of Chinese visitors to attractions in Washington, D.C., New York and Boston.  Pierce, who has traveled extensively in Asia, said members of the Chinese theater and cultural group he interacted with were very appreciative of Central’s efforts to show them the things they wanted to see. He also noted that because of Rybczk’s involvement and the efforts of CCSU Professor Dr. Yanan Ju, who is widely-known in China, almost everyone you might encounter with an interest in international business in Shanghai, Shandong or Wuhan is likely to have a favorable impression of Central and its role in Chinese-American relations.

Feedback from previous delegations has been “very positive,” Rybczyk said, noting that one woman who was here two years ago has recently been named president of Shandong’s University of Finance and a man who was part of the 2004 study group is now the third highest-ranking administrator in the provincial hierarchy. 

The exchange program essentially grew out of CCSU’s US-China Business Center, which works with small-to-medium-sized state company’s seeking to expand their business overseas.  “We’re talking about companies genuinely seeking to enter the global market here, rather than those who are looking for ways of lowering operational labor costs.  We simply won’t do business with firms that want to export Connecticut jobs.”

Rybczyk said both the US-China Business Center and the exchange program which has brought scores of future Chinese government and business leaders here are “Good for students, good for faculty and good for Connecticut business.

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