In Fall 2020, through a partnership between Trinity College and Fudan University, twenty-two of Trinity’s first-year students from the class of 2024 and twenty continuing students will enjoy a special semester by taking in-person classes at Fudan University in Shanghai. They will be enrolled over twenty classes through the School of Social Development and Public Policy at Fudan and receive transferred credits for Trinity college and major requirements. These classes include Shanghai Studies, Political Economy of China, Big Data and Research Methods. A number of the Fudan faculty teaching the Trinity students this time have taught some of these Trinity students when they previously studied away at Fudan. The teaching faculty also includes two professors who have previously taught at Trinity supported through the Fudan-Trinity faculty exchange program and by the Karen and David Thomas Endowment at the Center for Urban and Global Studies. Two Trinity juniors including an Urban Studies major studying there will serve as mentors for the new students.
The visa and travel restrictions due to the pandemic made it impossible for these forty-two Trinity students to return to Trinity. Instead of just taking classes remotely, they can take advantage of a special opportunity to learn at one of the top Chinese universities located in the top global and cosmopolitan city in China. This will provide these Trinity students with an extended opportunity to participate in engaged learning and field visits in the rich historical and cultural contexts of Shanghai in connection with their courses and beyond, giving the program a distinctive urban focus. Most of these students will stay at a housing facility minutes away from the Fudan campus. This recreates a residential community with easy access to the academic and recreational facilities on the Fudan campus. This special semester will allow these new and continuing students to balance learning at a top research university in China with their liberal arts education at Trinity. Trinity is grateful to Fudan University for going out of its way to support our students, which bodes well for an even stronger partnership between the two institutions for the future.
Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of Global Urban Studies and Sociology
