Trocki seeks student ties with China

Tim Leeds

Montana State University-Northern Chancellor Frank Trocki returned last week from a trip to China to look into exchange programs.

Trocki took the trip as a member of the Association of American State Colleges and Universities to the 11th China Annual Conference for International Education in Beijing.

One of the main draws of the conference, according to Trocki, was the two-day student career fair, where 37,000 Chinese high school and college students met with representatives from universities all over the world, looking for the next step in their education.

"I went to find out if it makes sense for Northern to have a booth at the conference," Trocki said. "It does."

He believes an MSU-N booth at the fair could easily draw 50 to 100 students to Havre.

Trocki also met with officials and students from Chinese universities to talk about setting up faculty and student exchange programs with Northern. He said he was impressed by the dedication of the undergraduates he met.

"What I got from these kids is that they are serious about education, they want challenging educations and success is important," Trocki said. "They don't want to disappoint their parents."

Trocki was also impressed by the cosmopolitan atmosphere in Beijing, with a helpful bilingual populace and street signs, balmy weather growing hearty palm trees and bicycles by the hundreds outside of every campus building.

And the admiration is reciprocated.

According to Trocki, university officials who visited Havre and Northern's campus this summer were impressed by the people and the campus' integration with nature.

With this mutual appreciation, Trocki believes they could have a faculty exchange program going by the beginning of the spring semester, with a student exchange in place by next fall.

It has been years since Northern has had a student exchange program. Budget cuts forced the prior head of the program to leave.

Montana State University-Northern Chancellor Frank Trocki returned last week from a trip to China to look into exchange programs.

Trocki took the trip as a member of the Association of American State Colleges and Universities to the 11th China Annual Conference for International Education in Beijing.

One of the main draws of the conference, according to Trocki, was the two-day student career fair, where 37,000 Chinese high school and college students met with representatives from universities all over the world, looking for the next step in their education.

"I went to find out if it makes sense for Northern to have a booth at the conference," Trocki said. "It does."

He believes an MSU-N booth at the fair could easily draw 50 to 100 students to Havre.

Trocki also met with officials and students from Chinese universities to talk about setting up faculty and student exchange programs with Northern. He said he was impressed by the dedication of the undergraduates he met.

"What I got from these kids is that they are serious about education, they want challenging educations and success is important," Trocki said. "They don't want to disappoint their parents."

Trocki was also impressed by the cosmopolitan atmosphere in Beijing, with a helpful bilingual populace and street signs, balmy weather growing hearty palm trees and bicycles by the hundreds outside of every campus building.

And the admiration is reciprocated.

According to Trocki, university officials who visited Havre and Northern's campus this summer were impressed by the people and the campus' integration with nature.

With this mutual appreciation, Trocki believes they could have a faculty exchange program going by the beginning of the spring semester, with a student exchange in place by next fall.

It has been years since Northern has had a student exchange program. Budget cuts forced the prior head of the program to leave.