Simpson to Participate in U.S. Department of Education Trip to Asia

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- University at Buffalo President John B. Simpson has been selected to accompany Margaret Spellings, U.S. secretary of education, and other federal officials on a nine-day trip to Asia to meet with academic, government and business leaders in China, Japan and Korea.

Simpson will be one of only 12 heads of American institutions of higher education participating in the trip, the goal of which will be to underscore this country's interest in enrolling students from the three countries in American colleges and universities.

In meetings and other sessions in the three countries, the delegation also will focus on the value to them of students obtaining degrees from U.S. institutions and then returning to their home countries, and the importance of higher education as a component of the relationship between the U.S. and other countries.

Among those with whom the delegation will meet is China's Education Minister Zhou Ji¸ who received master's and doctoral degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering from the UB School of Engineering and Applied Science,

Simpson and the other higher education representatives were selected to participate in the trip from Nov. 10-18 as ambassadors for U.S. higher education from among the fewer than 100 leaders in higher education who participated in a University Presidents Summit held in January in Washington, D.C. The summit, organized by Spellings and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, focused on the future of international higher education in the national interest.

"It is an honor to be chosen to represent the U.S. higher education community and I'm delighted to have this opportunity to help deliver the delegation's important message about what our nation's colleges and universities have to offer students from around the world," Simpson said.

"Given the long-standing leadership of the University at Buffalo in the arena of international education," he added, "this trip is also a valuable opportunity to showcase our strengths and resources as a public university with a truly global constituency and impact."

UB, recognized worldwide for its exceptional international education program, ranks 11th among 2,700 U.S. accredited universities in terms of international student enrollment. More than 2,000 of UB's 4,000 international students are Asian, and nearly 500 of those students are from China.

This will be Simpson's second trip to Asia in the past two months. In early October, he led a UB delegation that traveled to China to celebrate the 25th anniversary of three successful and historic partnerships in China that marked the first such agreements with any U.S. university following the normalization of relations between the U.S. and the Peoples Republic of China in 1979.

The agreements with Beijing University of Technology, Capital Normal University and Capital University of Medical Sciences opened the door for other U.S. universities to establish educational programs with China over the past 25 years.

During the trip, the UB delegation also visited Nanjing University, on behalf of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. SUNY is considering establishing a joint campus with Nanjing -- one of China's leading universities -- in Xianlin University City. UB is one of five SUNY institutions working with SUNY Chancellor John R. Ryan to establish the joint initiative with Nanjing University.

Among the 12 U.S. university presidents participating with Simpson in the upcoming visit to Asia are those from The Ohio State University, The Johns Hopkins University, Indiana University and University of Florida.

In addition to Spellings, U.S. government officials on the trip will include Dina Habib Powell, assistant secretary of state; Lauren Maddox, assistant secretary of education; Thomas Farrell, deputy assistant secretary of state; and Robin Gilchrist, senior advisor to Spellings.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York.