After years of waiting, Duke University has received official confirmation from the Chinese Ministry of Education to build a new campus in the city of Kunshan, the Duke Chronicle reported.
Duke officials submitted a 400-page application more than two years ago proposing the new international campus. On Monday, the Chinese government gave it the final nod of approval for the North Carolina, U.S. school to build its Kunshan campus, expected to open by the fall 2014 semester.
Now the school will hustle to recruit students for the inaugural Duke Kunshan University (DKU) class because it was not able to until the approval was official.
"Right now, we've got a lot of work to do," Nora Bynum, vice provost for DKU and China initiatives, said. "We need to focus on moving forward because we don't have much time."
One of the main objectives for both sides to agree on was tuition, but also could not undertake serious discussions until receiving establishment approval. Now, Bynum said the final costs should be straightened out soon and that U.S. Duke students who wish to study abroad can expect the tuition to be about the same.
The school has more than 50 faculty members ready to teach at DKU for its first few years.
"DKU will be a world-class center for teaching and learning, helping to develop a new model of global education," Duke president Richard H. Brodhead said in a news release. "It will be a vibrant place of inquiry where Duke faculty and students can have a deeper level of engagement with China, a part of the world that is rapidly increasing in significance. We look forward to welcoming students from all corners of the world to the new campus in Kunshan."
Li Xiaohong, Wuhan University president, said the school partnered with Duke "in a pioneering effort to drive Chinese higher education to new levels of quality, diversity and internationalization."
Kunshan mayor Lu Jun said there is plenty of support from the community for the new school.
"DKU's establishment has profound significance in supporting the city's social and economic development," Jun said. "Kunshan is committed to continuing its cooperation with Wuhan University and Duke University to build DKU into a world-class university."
