Senior Chinese Officials to Visit Bunker Hill Community College
Thursday, May 31, 2012
A delegation of 50 senior Chinese government officials participating in the China's Leaders in Development program at the Harvard Kennedy School will visit Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) on June 5, 2012. This visit marks the second year of collaboration between BHCC and Harvard's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School.
The event will feature presentations on the College, the International Center, and BHCC's Workforce Development initiatives. Executive Director of the International Center Vilma Tafawa will also lead the delegates on a tour of the College.
"It's an honor for BHCC to be chosen as a partner by the Harvard Kennedy School to host the China's Leaders in Development program," Tafawa said. "It's also an opportunity for the senior Chinese officials to learn about BHCC specifically and about community colleges in the USA in general."
The China's Leaders in Development program, established in 2001, is eight-weeks long and is designed to prepare senior local and central Chinese government officials to more effectively address the ongoing challenges of China's national reforms. In addition to attending courses at Tsinghua University in China and the Harvard Kennedy School, the officials visit local, state and federal government organizations in the United States. David Luberoff, Senior Research Associate at the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at the Harvard Kennedy School, said the Chinese officials are faced with preparing people for China's rapidly changing economy. "They wanted to see how we do workforce training," he said, "and I immediately thought of BHCC."
There are currently 125 Chinese students at BHCC, some of whom will introduce themselves at the presentation.
Media Contact:
About Bunker Hill Community College
Celebrating 50 years of excellence, Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) is Massachusetts' largest community college, annually welcoming a diverse community of around 16,000 students. With campuses in Charlestown and Chelsea, BHCC extends its reach across several locations in Greater Boston. BHCC is celebrated for its diversity, boasting a student body where 65% identify as people of color and more than half are women. The College also embraces a global perspective, with over 600 international students representing 90 countries and conversing in more than 65 languages. Our commitment to diversity is further reflected in BHCC's designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI).