Vision/ Interest

Since its opening in 1986, world events have made the mission of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center more vital every year. In a world of increasing globalism and explosive growth in technology and communication, the relationship between the United States and China will remain a key determinant of world stability, development and prosperity. The Hopkins-Nanjing Center equips Chinese and Americans to better understand each other, an imperative for cooperation into the future.

From its founding the Hopkins-Nanjing Center has pioneered and refined a unique way of preparing talented graduate students and young professionals for leadership roles in Sino-Western relations. The Center contributes unmatched intellectual and human resources to communication between Americans and Chinese as well as to China's own development process. It offers its students - from across China, the United States, and around the world - an intensive residential learning experience in Nanjing, China. They live together and take post-graduate bi-lingual courses in international relations, economics and contemporary social and political issues.

The visionary presidents of Johns Hopkins and Nanjing University who established the Center intended "mutual understanding" to go far deeper than a cursory review. Their plan was for students to live closely together, to come face-to-face with their misunderstandings, and to work through them to reach a higher level of mutual respect and awareness, while enhancing their academic grasp of each other's history, political and economic conditions, and social realities.

They assured that freedom of inquiry is a fundamental principle of the Center. The faculty nurtures debate on topics not commonly addressed by other institutions in China. The Center's uncensored open-stacks library and the global reach of the internet support this intellectual freedom. Information access at the Center is unparalleled in China.

The success of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center can be read in its graduates. Our over 1,600 alumni are working throughout the public and private sectors in China and worldwide. They are making a difference in fields as diverse as high technology and manufacturing companies, financial institutions and investment firms, academia, journalism, foundations, international organizations and other NGO's, and national and local government. They are creating networks of alumni who stay in touch with each other and share their ideas and expertise.

The Center has been able to flourish and to remain at the forefront of international education in China thanks to the generosity of donors both western and Asian. Opportunities and challenges remain:

Resources
In advancing its mission, the Center seeks to strengthen the resources it offers students, faculty, and research scholars. These include enhanced technology, research opportunities, language training, and facilities for increased programs and enrollment.

Teaching
The Center remains the premier program in China for the joint training of Chinese and international students for professional careers in China and throughout Asia and the U.S. To assure the continued high caliber of the faculty and the programs offered to the students the Center needs to build its endowment.

Research
Strong interest by scholars demonstrates the need for the new Institute for International Research at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. The IIR is bringing top American, Chinese and international scholars to the Center to do collaborative and independent research on topics of value to China and the west. The IIR needs funds to build on the generosity of its founding donors to assure that we can accept the applications of top scholars, provide them with the space and tools they need, and build the symposia and workshops around their topics that will stimulate further research and learning.

Technology
We remain committed to giving the Center's students and resident scholars the best in available technological advances to better serve them and to provide a model for educational institutions throughout China.

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