Rensselaer Launches Five-Year Collaboration With Leading Chinese University
Troy, N.Y. â€" The Lally School of Management & Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the School of Management at Zhejiang University signed a five-year agreement to enhance and strengthen the global reach of each university’s entrepreneurial business and technology programs. The agreement is set to formally launch in November this year. Zhejiang, sometimes referred to as Zheda, is one of China’s oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher education.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Troy, N.Y. — The Lally School of Management & Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the School of Management at Zhejiang University signed a five-year agreement to enhance and strengthen the global reach of each university’s entrepreneurial business and technology programs. The agreement is set to formally launch in November this year. Zhejiang, sometimes referred to as Zheda, is one of China’s oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher education.
“In serving the mandate of The Rensselaer Plan to transform the Institute into a pre-eminent technological research university with global reach and global impact, the formal agreement with Zhejiang University certainly hits the mark,” said David Gautschi, dean of the Lally School. “Zheda is a pre-eminent university in China with outstanding faculties of science, engineering, and management. The fit with Rensselaer is very good in terms of research interests.”
The agreement formally links the Entrepreneurial Research Center of Zhejiang and the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship of the Lally School. For Zhejiang, the agreement augments a partnership with China’s Ministry of Labor to shift Zhejiang’s educational focus from employment to entrepreneurship. In addition to facilitating student and faculty exchanges, key initiatives will include joint faculty research, delivery of a virtual curriculum across the two institutions, and jointly designed and delivered executive programs on innovation and corporate entrepreneurship.
Dean Wang, executive dean of the School of Management, pointed out, “We are very enthusiastic about our collaboration with the Lally School of Rensselaer. Our two institutions have very complementary strengths relating to global entrepreneurship and technology commercialization. We have had very constructive discussions and plan on launching specific collaborative activities this academic year.”
The collaboration will also create internship opportunities for students from each institution at enterprises in China and the U.S. The Lally School sees this agreement as a model for additional international collaborations that involve industry players and academic partners, Gautschi noted.
The entire undergraduate experience at Rensselaer continues its transformation with challenging, engaging, and highly relevant academic and student life programs as outlined inThe Undergraduate Plan. A crucial component of this plan is the goal to provide an international educational experience for all undergraduates during their time at Rensselaer. Such opportunities include structured study abroad programs, as well as other international experiences such as internships, exchange programs, or other overseas opportunities.
“Zheda has almost 2,000 international students who follow studies in English and Mandarin, and is well situated to accommodate the rising demand for student exchanges from all academic units within Rensselaer,” Gautschi said.
About Zhejiang University Zhejiang University, considered China’s premier university with strong science and engineering programs, is located in Hangzhou, capital city of Zhejiang Province. The mission of Zhejiang University is to create new theories and methods to promote the development of social welfare and management science in China and cultivate innovative management talents who will lead and serve economic and social development. The strategy of the School is to integrate international management research with local business practice, enhance the special feature of research and development geared to innovation and entrepreneurship by convergence of talent resources and innovation of theories and methods, and establish several global research centers to form platforms for management education, research, and applications that link together the university, enterprises, and the government. For more information visit http://www.zju.edu.cn/english/.
About the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship Established in 1988, and centered in the Lally School, the Severino Center lies at the core of the school’s mission to educate future entrepreneurs in the conversion of technical ideas into new businesses, products, services, and solutions. The center provides a broad-based platform for entrepreneurs to make the transition from concept to company and serves as an intellectual gathering point for the study, research, and exchange of ideas regarding critical issues in the field of entrepreneurship studies. The center is named in honor of Rensselaer trustee Paul J. Severino ’69 and his wife, Kathleen M. Severino.
About Rensselaer’s Lally School Rensselaer’s Lally School of Management & Technology was founded in 1963 as an integral part of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the nation’s oldest degree-granting technological university. Building on Rensselaer’s heritage of more than 180 years of leadership in science and engineering, the Lally School is dedicated to advancing business through innovation. The Lally School’s curriculum is designed to produce leaders who combine creative passion with the ability to integrate technology across business functions.
The faculty emphasizes the value of hands-on experience available through campus resources such as the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship and the nation’s first on-campus business incubator. Rensselaer’s Lally School offers graduate and undergraduate degree programs in management, doctoral programs in management and technology, an Executive MBA program, and an expanding portfolio of collaborative programs with enterprises and academic institutions in the Indian sub-continent, China, Europe, and the Middle East. For more information on the Lally School, go to www.lallyschool.rpi.edu.
About Rensselaer Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824, is the nation’s oldest technological university. The university offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in engineering, the sciences, information technology, architecture, management, and the humanities and social sciences. Institute programs serve undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals around the world. Rensselaer faculty are known for pre-eminence in research conducted in a wide range of fields, with particular emphasis in biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology, and the media arts and technology. The Institute is well known for its success in the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the marketplace so that new discoveries and inventions benefit human life, protect the environment, and strengthen economic development.
Published August 5, 2008 Contact: Jason Gorss Phone: ( 518 ) 276-6098 E-mail: gorssj@rpi.edu
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