Two area SUNY campuses this year will enroll 22 students from the earthquake-stricken Sichuan province of western China, and state officials hope leadership training taught here will help recovery efforts at home.
Four students will attend SUNY Delhi and 18 will enroll at SUNY Cobleskill through the SUNY China 150 program.
The program will have a presence at 22 of SUNY's 64 campuses. The students, primarily sophomores and juniors, will study for two semesters as full-time students. Each student has committed to return to China after the program ends in May or June.
"SUNY will provide these students with valuable leadership training, which will help prepare them to return to China to assist with rebuilding efforts and the aftermath of the earthquake,'' said Gov. David Paterson in a news release.
At the State University College of Technology at Delhi, two female and one male student will study architectural technology, and another female student will take humanities courses. The students were selected based on proficiency in English language. They are the only students from China studying at SUNY Delhi this fall.
"We have a long-standing tradition of reaching out to help those in need, and we will do everything we can to ease the transition for these students during this difficult time," SUNY Delhi President Candace S. Vancko said in a media release.
SUNY Delhi officials said it wasn't possible for more students to have enrolled through the SUNY China program because the college expects record enrollment for the fall semester.
The State University College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill will enroll 18 students. The students were matched with SUNY Cobleskill because of its technical and applied programs, including early childhood, agriculture, business and culinary arts.
The Chinese government is providing travel fares and visa costs, while SUNY is providing tuition, room, board and other expenses for the students, state officials said. SUNY has been fundraising so the program won't result in costs to New York state taxpayers, the release said.
There are more than 2,316 Chinese students studying at SUNY schools, the state release said, and there are exchange agreements between 15 SUNY campuses and more than 30 Chinese universities.
The participating students include 53 men and 97 women and there are about 10 percent who are Chinese minorities, meaning they are from the Zang (Tibet) and Qiang ethnic groups.
The State University College at Oneonta opted not to participate because it has been without a an international program director until this month, said Carol Blazina, SUCO spokeswoman.
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