Webster Co-Hosts University Conference in Beijing

Webster University China co-hosted a conference in Beijing featuring adjunct faculty member Indira Ravindran. Other hosts included members of the American Universities-China Association (AUCA) and the Schwarzman College of Tsinghua University. The all-day event included issues vital to U.S. universities that have operations inside of China. It was the seventh formal conference put on by AUCA.

Ravindran has been a regular instructor for the global master of arts in international relations for the past six years, focusing on U.S. Foreign Policy and Asia Pacific Security. She was invited to the Beijing conference to lead a section devoted to the current China-U.S. trade dispute.

Candice Zhao of Webster University's Shanghai campus said, “the AUCA members are concerned that trade strife might affect the movement of Chinese students who want to learn in the U.S.”

In addition to outlining the elements of the Washington-Beijing positions, Dr. Ravindran lead the general discussion of audience, all of whom are targets of the protracted strife. She was also able to speak to the audience about Webster’s work in International Relations for the past six years.

In addition to bringing Asian policy and breaking-news into the classroom, she has lead Webster cohorts on visits to Beijing political think tanks, The New Development Bank in Shanghai and a Webster Study trip to the North Korean border with China at Dandong.

Speaking to the audience of education specialists, Ravindran emphasized the importance of U.S. education, “What I learned most from my U.S. education is to take knowledge only for knowledge’s sake, education only for education’s sake, and openness only for the sake of openness. This has made US education the top of its game in the world.” She received her PhD in international relations from Johns Hopkins University.

Other significant presentations included: Jeffrey Loree, Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, in Zhang, associate professor from the Department of Leadership and Organization Management in Tsinghua University, and Xu Sun, manager, Office of Collaboration and Development, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University.

About American Universities China Association

AUCA is made up of USA universities who have physical programs or offices in China. These administrators and staff share information about operations in China and started the group in 2014. Members include: Arizona State University, Boston University, Fordham University, Indiana University, Miami University, New York University, Purdue University, The Ohio State University, The University of Tulsa, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Maryland, University of Minnesota, University of Southern California, University of Virginia, Washington University in St. Louis and Webster University.