A delegation of seventeen higher education and other officials of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. sponsored by the City of Houston, visited the Houston Community College System (HCCS) where they met with HCCS officials to exchange ideas on collaborative plans between HCCS and selected institutions from the Xinjiang Region.
Dr. Bruce Leslie, HCCS Chancellor, welcomed the visitors and introduced a program of activities that included presentations by Jose Villarreal, Vice Chancellor for Economic Development, Juan C. Perez, Executive Director of International Initiatives, Stephen Levey, Executive Director of Distance Education, Patti Canton, Executive Director of Contract Training and Continuing Education, Madelyn Burillo, ACT Center Director, and Dr. Yueh-Neu Lin, Academic Dean at HCC-Southeast College.
Roger Boston, HCC-Southwest Computer Science Department instructor and Rockwell Foundation Chair, who has traveled on several educational missions to China, made a demonstration on distance education for credit instructional programs and low cost video-conferencing.
The delegates also visited the newly established Houston Community College Systems ACT Center, which provides state-of-the-art online training and testing services to help business and industry with their workforce development as well as professional online certification and licensure testing services to individuals.
After the presentations, members of the delegation exchanged ideas with the presenters on possible ways to expand the contacts between HCCS and technical institutions of higher education in the Xinjiang Region of China.
The discussion topics included possibilities of student and faculty exchanges, distance education programs as well as technical assistance projects that would benefit students and the business and industry sectors served by institutions in Xinjiang and Houston. Plans were made for future contacts and consultations between all of the institutions involved.