Invited by the College of Education, three Chinese Fulbright Scholars at Yale University, Dr. Yizhong Ning, dean of the College of Foreign Languages at Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU), Dr. Yin Zhang from Beijing Forestry University, and Dr. Yun Wang from Northeast Normal University visited Niagara University on the morning of October 12, 2007. Dr. Debra Colley, dean of the College of Education, Dr. Chandra Foote, chairperson of the Department of Teacher Education, and Dr. Jinyan Huang, assistant professor of TESOL at the College of Education welcomed them at the new Education building. Dr. Colley first introduced Niagara and its education programs to the Chinese guests. Dr. Ning then introduced BLCU and suggested potential partnership opportunities with Niagara.

Founded in 1962, BLCU is the only international university in China with its main task set at teaching the Chinese language and culture to foreign students. It has grown into a university of approximately 9,000 students, who are from over 160 countries and regions in the world and 4,000 students who are from China. BLCU has its Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) Test Center, which was established in 1989 as the sole national organization exclusively devoted to Chinese language testing and research. The HSK, designed by the Center, is a national standardized test designed to assess the Chinese language proficiency of non-native speakers. It is also internationally recognized as a language requirement. Since 2004 HSK has examined well over 500,000 candidates from 120 countries and regions.

Like Niagara, BLCU also shares the values of international exchanges and co-operations. It has successfully built partnerships with 157 universities from 31 countries in the world. Dr. Ning suggested several partnership programs between Niagara and BLCU, among which are the Teacher of Chinese as a Foreign Language Training Program, Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) Program, and Chinese Teacher of English as a Foreign Language Training Program at Niagara, and student and teacher exchange programs.

On that afternoon, the three scholars were interviewed by our TESOL students at Niagara for a TESOL class project assigned by Dr. Huang.

Invited by both the College of Foreign Languages and the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange at BLCU, Dr. Jinyan Huang delivered a lecture on "Learning Strategies for ESL/EFL Learners" to graduate students at BLCU on December 17, 2007. http://www.blcu.edu.cn/WYXY/new/ArticleShow.asp?ArtID=821