Ai Ping (second from right) with Mark Wang, Li Ping (VP of Chinese Program) and Ke Song (Director of Development)

At the invitation of the Changshu New & Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone and UWC Changshu China, former Vice Minister of the International Department of Central Committee of CPC visited Changshu and UWC Changshu China at the end of July. 

During his visit, Deputy Party Secretary of Changshu New & Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone Yiping Shen met with Ping Ai.  Yiping Shen gave a brief introduction of the recent development of Changshu and said that Changshu Government always attaches great importance to education.  He emphasized the value UWC China Changshu brings to the enhancement of international education in Changshu as well as Changshu’s exposure to the outside world. Ping Ai expressed his gratitude to the Changshu Government for its strong support to the founding of UWC in Changshu. Ping Ai hoped that UWC Changshu would help step up the development of international education in Changshu and become a window for young people from various parts of the world to learn Chinese culture while bringing opportunities to more Chinese students to study in a highly diversified environment.

As the first mainland student from China to study in UWC Pearson College in Canada, Ping Ai felt excited to visit the beautiful campus of the UWC Changshu China.  During his meeting with Jiapeng Wang, founder and Chairman of the Board of UWC Changshu China, Jiapeng gave an update on the development of the school since its opening in Sept. 2015. With the arrival of 2016 cohort, the total number of students will reach about 446 in August this year, representing 100 countries and regions. 

Over the past year, the founding year students achieved good results on academics and took active part in community services, demonstrating one of the key values of UWC.  As the first UWC College in the mainland of China, UWC Changshu China puts emphasis on the learning of Chinese language and the traditional Chinese culture, encourages students to pursue their dreams.  Jiapeng Wang and Ping Ai also shared their views on how to apply UWC’s mission statement to today’s even more complicated and challenging global issues.

Ping Ai said the founding of this college is a miracle, which was made possible  by putting the values of UWC movement and the dreams of UWC alumni into action, and the support from the local government. UWC Changshu China is of great significance to the promotion of UWC movement as China plays an increasingly important role in the international arena.