Interim President Welsh in Asia courtesy of Clay Hickson

Interim President Marcia Welsh went overseas this summer with Gov. Martin O’Malley and other higher education officials to strengthen and secure the academic relationship between Towson University and several countries in Asia on a 10-day economic development mission.

The trip went from May 31 to June 11. Clay Hickson, director of Towson Global, a globalization center and international incubator, and Associate Professor Stephen Phillips also went on the trip.

Phillips is an author of numerous books about Asia and China, according to Marina Cooper, assistant to the president for external relations and communications.

“It was an interesting experience to go with that many people anywhere on a trip. We went over there to talk to University leaders and see if there’s anything we should or could be doing and to stay connected,” Welsh said.

According to Welsh, the trip served as a means to bring students from Asia to Towson. Some come for science, applied information technology or business programs.

“We obviously recruit students from Asian countries, and we now have a significant number of students from Asia that come to Towson. Most come from agreements when we go to visit the country,” she said.

It’s also a way to make sure the area is suitable for Towson students to study abroad.

“We don’t just send [students] somewhere where they won’t be taken care of,” Welsh said.

But students are just one part of the academic relationship. Welsh said the University receives $1.7 million from a funding agency for education initiatives in China to prepare Chinese teachers to teach in public high schools in the United States. According to Welsh, Towson is the first university to participate in this, so there’s a strong relationship between the University, China, Korea and Vietnam.

During what Welsh said was a multi-pronged trip, the University attempted to find connections for new companies in the Towson Global Incubator.

Hickson, who has been to Asia several times, said that Towson has relationships with businesses in China that developed over several decades.

“We developed some new relationships and maintained some long-standing relationships,” he said. “We brought back new opportunities to explore, so we still have our homework to do to make the most of those opportunities. We have a strong history with them, but there’s still a lot of work for us to make the most of future opportunities.”

After returning to Towson Welsh began working a memorandum of understanding, or an agreement to have an open dialogue between two or more parties, between TU and several Chinese institutions.

“In China, you need to find an MOU that allows you to discuss possibilities and other potential programs,” Welsh said. “We will be doing a few of those for the actuarial science programs and signed a five-year contract with the Pudong Institute of Educational Development and the General Plan Education Institute to train K-12 and institute administrators, as well as teachers.”

Welsh said she thought the trip was very successful and thinks it’s important for Towson to be seen as an economic engine of Maryland.

“To be there side by side with other universities was important for us,” she said.