UK Hosts Chinese University Students for Unique Programs
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 25, 2017) — Doing business in America and the mining industry were among topics studied at the University of Kentucky by a delegation of university students from China during a recent two-week visit.
UK’s Gatton College of Business and Economics and its Don and Cathy Jacobs Executive Education Center (EEC), along with the UK College of Engineering, conducted classroom workshops, in-person visits to major companies headquartered in Central Kentucky, and trips underground to coal mines in the region for the 80 students, most of whom are about to enter their senior year of college back home in China.
About 15 Chinese students focused on the business program, which included American culture, entrepreneurship, angel funding, the U.S. regulatory environment and team building. In addition to learning from a host of leading Gatton faculty and staff, the business group interacted with leadership at Alltech, Valvoline, Clark Material Handling and MakeTime.
Some 65 students from China took part in the summer mining institute program and traveled to Alliance Coal’s Tunnel Ridge facilty, the Leer Mining Complex and CONSOL Energy’s Bailey facility, as well to UK’s Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) and other facilities. The students learned about what UK is doing on the forefront of research and about the importance the U.S. places on worker safety.
Lorna Patches, director of the Don and Cathy Jacobs Executive Education Center and UK’s director of the UK-UofL Executive MBA Program, said, “Our corporate partners love to engage with the student community, be it UK students or those visiting from foreign lands. They get to hear what this up-and-coming generation thinks about what they do, and even make connections for potential future hires as they expand their efforts internationally.”
Patches added, “We have broad and deep connections to several universities in China which allows us to develop content and programming of great value, while utilizing the amazing faculty and students within our community to virtually eliminate language and cultural barriers.”
The visiting students also got a taste of other aspects of Kentucky, including a visit to Natural Bridge, taking in a baseball game, touring a horse farm, and other excursions.