As many as 50 students are expected to come all the way from China to study computer science in Victoria as early as fall 2009 under a new program at the University of Houston-Victoria School of Arts & Sciences.

The school recently reached agreements with four universities in China to begin sending students to Victoria, Arts & Sciences Dean Jeffrey Di Leo said.

Jeffrey Di Leo

Under the new arrangement, four Chinese schools will recruit students to earn master’s degrees in computer information systems at UHV, he said. The schools are Xian Institute of Post and Telecommunications, Xian Polytechnic University, Ocean University and Qingdao University of Science and Technology.

“This new program will increase the international reputation of UHV and the School of Arts & Sciences,” Di Leo said. “It also has the potential to double the size of our CIS master’s program.”

This semester, 57 students are enrolled in the CIS master’s program.

The program will expand in the future to include undergraduates enrolling to complete their studies in Victoria, Di Leo said.

The formal agreements resulted from an Oct. 23 to Nov. 3 trip to China by a group of UHV officials that included Jifu Wang, dean of the UHV School of Business Administration, UHV President Tim Hudson and Di Leo.

In addition, the trip produced the framework for research collaborations between the School of Arts & Sciences and Beijing Normal University to develop computer applications for use in educating children, Di Leo said.

The discussions started the process of developing a program where UHV students and faculty travel to China to teach and study. Di Leo hopes to send the first faculty members over within two years and the first students soon afterward.

Those benchmarks can be reached sooner with the help of community supporters, Di Leo said.

“Right now, we are still working to find a place to house our new international students,” Di Leo said. “The more help we receive in implementing the first stages of this program, the faster we can implement the next steps.”

The new program expands on UHV’s existing collaboration with Chinese universities. This fall, 18 business students from five schools in China began working on a Global Master of Business Administration degree in Cinco Ranch this fall as part of a School of Business Administration program. Three students and one faculty member came to Sugar Land in the 2007 spring semester.

American partnerships will bestow prestige on the Chinese institutions and students but also will bring something special to domestic students at UHV, Di Leo said.

“The world is becoming so connected that a complete education must include some kind of international exposure,” he said. “This program will bring the world to students who might not yet be able to go to a foreign country like China.”

UHV’s Chinese collaborations are part of the university’s continuing growth and evolution, Hudson said.

“UHV rapidly is becoming a destination university for students from across the globe,” Hudson said. “We are playing a vital role in preparing students to live and thrive in a worldwide economy and society.”

UHV has a number of international initiatives and continues to explore additional collaborations in China and other countries, he said.