California State University, Fullerton, has signed a profit-sharing partnership agreement with Beijing, China-based Northern Jiaotong University and Hartcourt Cos. Inc., a Los Angeles-based holding and development company, to develop education projects in China.
The joint program will introduce American career training courses and graduate business programs in China, making use of one of the first online education licenses awarded by China’s Ministry of Education.
The project will provide both certificate and degree programs in business. Coursework initially will be offered in classrooms and later expanded to the Web.
The education initiative will recruit more than 1,200 students in its first year, with projected total revenue of about $11 million in 2004. Six business courses taught by Cal State Fullerton professors will start in September in Beijing, and will focus on teaching competitiveness, especially for high technology sectors.
“Education has always been the first priority in Chinese society, the Chinese family and Chinese culture,” said Hartcourt CEO Charlie Yang.
Yang also said that each year hundreds of thousands of Chinese students attend American and European universities at great expense to their families.
“By bringing American courses to China, we’re attempting help families save over 70% of their education expenditures,” Yang said.
Hartcourt subsidiaries StreamingAsia and Elephant Talk will provide broadband networking and Web-casting services in China.
