The Hopkins-Nanjing center, pioneer in U.S.-China joint ventures in higher education

Abstract

The Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies, founded in 1986 in Nanjing, was the first educational collaboration between a university in the United States and China since the 1940s. The Center is not a language program per se but is content-based, offering one- and two-year graduate curricula in Chinese History; International Politics; International Economics; International and Comparative Law; and Energy, Resources, and the Environment. Its student body consists of 45–70 international students, whose courses are mostly taught by Chinese faculty in Chinese as well as up to 120 Chinese graduate students, whose courses are mostly taught by international faculty in English. The Center includes outstanding library facilities with an uncensored, open-stack research library and freedom of expression within the building. This article discusses several issues related to the study of Chinese language and area studies in situ, including strategies used by instructors to facilitate comprehension and coping strategies that students have developed. Despite many challenges, the two partnering universities and their respective governments have long believed that both sides benefit in continuing to support and develop the Center. Having weathered the vicissitudes of ever-changing U.S.-Chinese relations for well over three decades, the Center is looking forward to the 40th anniversary of its founding in September 2026.