Chinese Tidings Lecture: Jackson Boyar

The Center for Chinese Language Pedagogy presents the Chinese Tidings Lecture Series.

Speaker:

In 2009, Shenzhen authorized the establishment of the Southern University of Science and Technology of China (SUSTC). With over 2.4 billion RMB of financial support, Shenzhen hoped to champion SUSTC as a revolutionary model of Chinese higher education, emphasizing the cultivation of an unprecedented capacity for intellectual inquiry and innovation in its students. In its inaugural year, this Shenzhen experiment has already reimagined the constitution of the Chinese university, but not without inciting a reprimand from the Chinese Ministry of Education. Without the recognition of China’s central government, Shenzhen and SUSTC have been forced to pioneer an episode of higher education reform without state support, and although Shenzhen has battled similar odds before, the process of reform has been turbulent at best. This Chinese Tidings Lecture will examine the political context in which SUSTC is forced to operate, asking the question: Why would Shenzhen give SUSTC the financial backing and administrative autonomy to challenge the Ministry of Education?

Expand your horizons--come hear the latest Chinese Tidings!

Jackson Boyar is an Indiana University undergraduate and Chinese Flagship alumnus. As an East Asian Languages and Cultures major, Jackson has largely devoted his undergraduate studies to understanding Chinese society, with a particular focus on political economics. Jackson began studying Mandarin during his Junior year of high school, when he spent the year in Beijing living
with a Chinese host family. Since then, Jackson’s Chinese has benefited greatly from studying at Princeton in Beijing and Nanjing University. Following his May 2012 graduation, Jackson will begin his professional career as a consultant in Boston, MA.

Chinese Tidings is an annual series of lectures presented entirely in Chinese. Offered to stimulate discussions on a range of topics while fostering cultural literacy and language skills, the series is open to native speakers of Chinese, students of the language, and even those with no proficiency, since simultaneous summary translations are provided throughout the lectures by Flagship students.

*Light refreshments will be served*